Europe: 90 days in 180 customs check

Purrfecttune

Purrfecttune

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Hi all

I understand the ruling and how to work it out. My question is this:

Julie and I travel abroad a lot (so far not in the motor home) and consequently our passports have loaaads of stamps, some for Europe and others for long haul and some for european non-euro countries.

Some of the stamps are quite hard to read and thus not very clear.

We intend going to France/Spain in April in the motor home for the first time for a prolonged period, if we inadvertently break the 90 day rule, how likely is it that customs will take the time to scrutinise our passports long enough to decipher which of the many stamps/dates are actually relevant?

The reason that I ask is that we booked our return ferry ages ago within the rules with a couple of days margin for error but forgot about our recent long weekend in Malta which will put us 4 days over (the ferry booking is obviously amendable but I thought that I would ask the question anyway).

All opinions grateful recieved 👍
 
This might assist your decision making :)
www.schengenvisainfo.com

The Schengen Area 90/180 Day Rule Explained

The 90/180-day rule states that any foreign national who enters the Schengen zone (any country within the area) can stay for up to 90 days within any 180 days. At first glance, it seems a very simple rule, but it’s often misunderstood, and many people overstay it, resulting in them facing...
www.schengenvisainfo.com www.schengenvisainfo.com

ignore the visa app bits .
 
I am interested in the penalties applied if someone with an EU Residency, who is therefore only permitted to stay 90/180 days in Schengen outside his/her host country, overstays in the rest of Schengen.

We know that with open borders being found to have overstayed is unlikely, but is possible.

What I find particularly interesting is the penalty of Deportation. Would it be to the country of EU Residency or to one's country of Nationality?

Have the country in which you have been caught or the host country the right to terminate one's EU Residency status?

I am unaware of any information being published on this type of overstaying.
 
I keep saying this , electronic scans only pick up “naughty deeds” that have been entered. Nothing to do with number of days you’ve stayed in Schengen countries. Daughter and partner who work for FCDO tell me this so I think they’re likely to know. Obviously it will change if/when ETIAS is up and running.

The stamps are a different matter. On our return from a 2 month tour including a few weeks in Turkey so we were well within our 90 days the French chap was very interested in Nick’s passport stamps. Couldn’t find one , we did subsequently find it but he just got bored and let us through. Ironically one of my Turkish ones which I could have used to show I was OK because of other earlier holidays was illegible (no ink) so I couldn’t have proved I was OK without trawling through payment for stuff on my phone. He’d barely looked at mine though. Seems like luck of the draw.

There was an earlier thread that said that on the whole France and Spain aren’t too bothered but the Dutch ports are more particular. No idea if this is true.

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I'm assuming if you are in Europe and you go into a non-Schengen country for a period of time the clock stops ticking so to speak? I'm thinking, Montenegro, Albania etc.
 
I know for a fact a very good friend of ours has overstayed the 90 day by weeks and hasn’t been pulled in the last four years BUT he enters and leaves Spain at Santander. That I think is the difference between the French and Dutch.
 
The statement reproduced from schengenvisa is not quite correct. At the moment there is no electronic means available to Customs officers to check length of stay by UK citizens in Schengen. We inadvertently overstayed in Schengen last year despite having residence cards for Croatia. If you have many short term visits to Schengen countries and lots of passport stamps the chances are that an officer won't be motivated to do the maths. On the other hand, if you return when the last stamp in your passport is more than 90 days old it makes the calculation easy and the odds of being found out are, therefore, not in your favour. Dates for the introduction of the EES and ETIAS schemes keep being pushed back and it seems unlikely that they will be in place before 2025 or even 2026.
 
I think EES is still on course for October of this year.
 
Last year we inadvertently overstayed by 24 Days, the French border guard asked where we had been, had a good look at our passports then stamped them whilst wishing us a bon journee.

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We have come out of both France and Spain after around thev88 day mark and the custom guys have always made a remark about the closeness to the 90 days. We have loads of stamps in our passports from quite a few East European countries that stamp all over the place.
 
Just dont do it..im sure 85 days will be enough? Also its probably the last few stamps they look at? Im sure it wont cost too much to change return trip?
 
Badknee said:
I know for a fact a very good friend of ours has overstayed the 90 day by weeks and hasn’t been pulled
Click to expand...

I know for a fact that others who have overstayed have been fined.

Where does that leave us?🤷‍♂️

Ian
 
We
Purrfecttune said:
Hi all

I understand the ruling and how to work it out. My question is this:

Julie and I travel abroad a lot (so far not in the motor home) and consequently our passports have loaaads of stamps, some for Europe and others for long haul and some for european non-euro countries.

Some of the stamps are quite hard to read and thus not very clear.

We intend going to France/Spain in April in the motor home for the first time for a prolonged period, if we inadvertently break the 90 day rule, how likely is it that customs will take the time to scrutinise our passports long enough to decipher which of the many stamps/dates are actually relevant?

The reason that I ask is that we booked our return ferry ages ago within the rules with a couple of days margin for error but forgot about our recent long weekend in Malta which will put us 4 days over (the ferry booking is obviously amendable but I thought that I would ask the question anyway).

All opinions grateful recieved 👍
Click to expand...
Got a visa so we can stay in Austria for four months this winter.
A few weeks after we get back I am going to Spain for 10 days.
That is no problem because the time spent with the visa is separate from the 90/180.
You can get a visa and be worry free.
Birty said:
Just dont do it..im sure 85 days will be enough? Also its probably the last few stamps they look at? Im sure it wont cost too much to change return trip?
Click to expand...
 
Soycd said:
I'm assuming if you are in Europe and you go into a non-Schengen country for a period of time the clock stops ticking so to speak? I'm thinking, Montenegro, Albania etc.
Click to expand...
Yes your correct

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I returned on Wed using all my allowance.
In a Motorhome through the tunnel.
The customs guy opened the passport stamped it and continued speaking to his colleagues.
My thoughts were I could have stayed longer but you never know what custom’s person you will get.
 
nicholsong said:
I am interested in the penalties applied if someone with an EU Residency, who is therefore only permitted to stay 90/180 days in Schengen outside his/her host country, overstays in the rest of Schengen.

We know that with open borders being found to have overstayed is unlikely, but is possible.

What I find particularly interesting is the penalty of Deportation. Would it be to the country of EU Residency or to one's country of Nationality?

Have the country in which you have been caught or the host country the right to terminate one's EU Residency status?

I am unaware of any information being published on this type of overstaying.
Click to expand...
I don’t know about other eu countries but here in Hungary are residence permits under the withdrawal agreement have to be renewed in 2026 and you have to fulfil all the requirements ie time out of the host country and criminal record ect in order to have it renewed ! and yes they can revoke the residency ( visa / permit ) as your not a citizen of that country same as any country in the world
 
Captain Birdseye said:
We

Got a visa so we can stay in Austria for four months this winter.
A few weeks after we get back I am going to Spain for 10 days.
That is no problem because the time spent with the visa is separate from the 90/180.
You can get a visa and be worry free.
Click to expand...
What visa is that?
 
carolyn said:
I keep saying this , electronic scans only pick up “naughty deeds” that have been entered. Nothing to do with number of days you’ve stayed in Schengen countries. Daughter and partner who work for FCDO tell me this so I think they’re likely to know. Obviously it will change if/when ETIAS is up and running.

The stamps are a different matter. On our return from a 2 month tour including a few weeks in Turkey so we were well within our 90 days the French chap was very interested in Nick’s passport stamps. Couldn’t find one , we did subsequently find it but he just got bored and let us through. Ironically one of my Turkish ones which I could have used to show I was OK because of other earlier holidays was illegible (no ink) so I couldn’t have proved I was OK without trawling through payment for stuff on my phone. He’d barely looked at mine though. Seems like luck of the draw.

There was an earlier thread that said that on the whole France and Spain aren’t too bothered but the Dutch ports are more particular. No idea if this is true.
Click to expand...
My impression is that the French take their responsibilities seriously (they have had their fair share of problems). These guys are not mugs and do this job all the time. I suspect they can smell a chancer a mile off. As Carpmart said “how lucky do you feel” and is it worth future hassle?
 
WESTY66 said:
I think the passport is scanned electronically so really no need to go scrawling through the stamps!

I will stand corrected if I’m wrong👍
Click to expand...
I can only speak about Portugal and from Experience. We fly in and out fairly regularly (from time to time) and still have British Passports. OK our circumstances slightly different but our passports are definitely electronically scanned when enter Portugal and when we leave. I know Spanish seaports are the same, but our Experience of French Seaports pre dates Brexit.

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Just done a 85 day trip round Belgium Germany France Spain and Portugal, upon arriving at Calais ferry port the French border person asked where we had been and I explain we are close to the limit, she said quote Its not us you have to convince its the guy at UK borders, when we arrived at UK borders (only 20yrds) he was more interested where we had got to on our trip, did not look at PP just waved us on after about a 10 min chat, so I think its who you get at the border..
 
The POPs said:
I can only speak about Portugal and from Experience. We fly in and out fairly regularly (from time to time) and still have British Passports. OK our circumstances slightly different but our passports are definitely electronically scanned when enter Portugal and when we leave. I know Spanish seaports are the same, but our Experience of French Seaports pre dates Brexit.
Click to expand...
At the moment they are principally looking for people with markers against them for wrongdoing but post EES / ETIAS it will track movement too.
 
TONCAZ said:
Just done a 85 day trip round Belgium Germany France Spain and Portugal, upon arriving at Calais ferry port the French border person asked where we had been and I explain we are close to the limit, she said quote Its not us you have to convince its the guy at UK borders, when we arrived at UK borders (only 20yrds) he was more interested where we had got to on our trip, did not look at PP just waved us on after about a 10 min chat, so I think its who you get at the border..
Click to expand...
Presumably that ferry was booked some time ago. They have had ages to trawl through data and work out who is an interesting subject to look at. 10 minutes chat is an age for an experienced agent to suss you out. Do you remember how they managed security during the IRA campaigns? Just talked to someone in each car as a first filter.
 
TONCAZ said:
Just done a 85 day trip round Belgium Germany France Spain and Portugal, upon arriving at Calais ferry port the French border person asked where we had been and I explain we are close to the limit, she said quote Its not us you have to convince its the guy at UK borders, when we arrived at UK borders (only 20yrds) he was more interested where we had got to on our trip, did not look at PP just waved us on after about a 10 min chat, so I think its who you get at the border..
Click to expand...

Assuming you are British Citizens then that is nonsense, because you are free to exit and enter UK as you wish - unless there are criminal reasons why not.
 
I’ve got lots of stamps and it’s luck on who looks at them, no one really scrutinised my passport before but when I came back from dieppe on Boxing Day she (French) had a real good look and was going back and forth between pages…

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