Having lived in the EU for a while now, random passport check roadblocks can appear at any border and can occur within a country’s border (including on a local bus, train, etc) - it happens in most Schengen countries and Germany’s random checks are some of the most frequent and annoying.
Never had problems in Germany, ever. And it was not a random check: I was in a line of people waiting, with 2 booths and signs saying passport control. That was after checking my luggage and having already gone through security.
Having my passport checked by border agents to exit a country rubs me the wrong way.
The equivalent here in the US would be if everyone was asked to show a passport by border agents after having gone through the TSA, when flying from say NYC to Miami - not acceptable.
I'd sure like to know if other people also experienced that in the Schengen area.
Pretty normal to have passport check on exiting a country. You might have overstayed your visa and you are going to be fined or banned, or you might be a criminal and they will arrest you.
Problem is that nationals are usually not extradited for crimes done in other countries, even if it happens in shengen area. So each country better check who is leaving to get criminals / fines not paid / avoid child leaving with one divorced parent.
I guarantee you that if you fly from NYC to Miami, you will not be asked for your passport after TSA checks. You can freely travel between the states.
I think that you may be European. Here we have freedom of movement, and used to laugh at the USSR where people needed papers for internal travel. Sad to see it returning, and the Shengen idea now being dead for practical purposes.
Thanks, this confirms what I experienced. And the bad news is Germany is also affected now :-/ I remember reading in school that freedom of movement of goods and people was one of your founding principle, so I was very surprised.
Temporary? lol! that's what was said here for the patriot act too.
Looks like the EU is scraping Schengen. I think this cast a cloud of uncertainty on EU future.
List from the page you linked of countries with "temporary" controls that don't seem temporary at all to me:
Norway (12 November 2019 - 12 May 2020)
Terrorist threats, secondary movements; ports with ferry connections with Denmark, Germany and Sweden;
Sweden (12 November 2019 - 12 May 2020)
Terrorist threats, shortcomings at the external borders; to be determined but may concern all internal borders;
Denmark (12 November 2019 - 12 May 2020)
Terrorist threats, organized criminality from Sweden; land border with Germany and with Sweden, ferry connections to Germany and to Sweden;
Germany (12 November 2019 - 12 May 2020)
Secondary movements, situation at the external borders; land border with Austria;
Austria (12 November 2019 - 12 May 2020)
Secondary movements, risk related to terrorists and organized crime, situation at the external borders; land borders with Hungary and with Slovenia;
France (31 October 2019 - 30 April 2020)
Persistent terrorist threat, upcoming high profile political event in Paris, secondary movements; all internal borders.
> I remember reading in school that freedom of movement of goods and people was one of your founding principle
Freedom of movement != not showing documentation. (And it doesn't need to be a passport)
The simplest example is getting into any country you're a citizen of from abroad.
Some Schengen airports have security->passport (example AMS), some others have passport->security (example CDG T2), it's a non-issue.
Pretty much every country checks passports when you're leaving. The US doesn't as I pointed out in another comment, so they can charge you for a transit visa. (Some other countries allow sterile transit and don't check passports on exit - UK comes to mind - but you need a passport to travel to pretty much anywhere else from there)
> "temporary" controls that don't seem temporary at all
They have an end date. That's pretty much the definition of temporary. And yes there were previous temporary checks that have come and gone.
(If temporary checks weren't possible I guarantee how we would be reading about how the EU was undemocratic for not allowing member states to control their borders yada yada yada, the usual cynicism and uninformed rants that are so common here)
To be fair, some of these borders are de facto permanently closed and the listed end dates listed are bullshit. Some have been maintained for nearly 5 years, with a new “temporary” 6-month closure being announced immediately after the last one ends. These countries are pretty blatantly violating Schengen but no one is going to enforce anything because that would probably force the dissolution of or withdrawal from the treaty.
Are you American by any chance? "freedom" isn't doing anything you want whenever you want. You're absolutely free to travel within EU if you can prove your identity and prove that you are legally staying here. Just like you're free to buy a car as long as you can pay for it.
An illegal immigrant or a terrorist traveling with an ak47 aren't included in the freedom of movement and goods, of course we have random border checks...
> The equivalent here in the US would be if everyone was asked to show a passport by border agents after having gone through the TSA, when flying from say NYC to Miami - not acceptable.
