Help! Is there passport-control between France & Spain at the airports? I ask this question because my US passport is going through the infernal stage of renewal. I am leaving for Barcelona in mid-June, probably before my passport is ready. I have a French carte de résident. Will this be enough ID? I looked up the Schengen site and could not find specific wording on this.
Sometimes I find ST gives better info than the official sites. One example is Kevin Widrow's page on the SNCF train info. It is so much clearer than SNCF's own site !
There won't be passport control. The issue is if the airline will find this carte de résident to be acceptable ID. What is the policy as stated on your airline's site?
Thanx, Willtravel, for your prompt answer. I just called Iberia and was told my French carte de résident will do. Yippee. Its website also said I need to show either my passport or my "DNI". -- Does it mean I(something) National Document, or does it mean Driving Non-Inebriated? All the passport renewal backlog horror stories were making me tear my hair out.
We recently drove from France into Italy and there was no border control at all, but one of the people in our group said that when she did the same thing on a bus, they came on and checked passports. Does it make a difference how you travel? A former student of ours came on bus from the Czech Republic, which is part of the EU, to France last year- they pulled over the bus, made everyone get off, checked passports and searched the luggage!
Ethrush, Czech Republic is part of EU but not part of Schengen. The Schengen agreement is supposed to waive passport control among the signatary countries once you have entered. I took Willtravel's advice and called the airline and was told I could use my carte de résident. A State Dept friend also said so.
Am still trying to everything possible to get my passport on time... Thanx for everyone's advice. Will keep you updated on this passport panic routine.
Czech Republic is part of EU but not part of Schengen
No part of it since 2004. what she encounter was a spot check done on the roads of any country in Europe; this is to check for illegals.Nothing routine.
Not sure how they can be illegal if they're coming from within the EU. But none of this addressed why my other friend had a passport check at the border on a bus between France and Italy.
the bus is from the EU but the passengers may not ;get it. this is routine checks in Europe; it could be just for drugs,or driving licenses check, etc it is a random check. we encounter once in a while and have not been stopped yet but just have the papers in order thats all.
Ethrush, What your friend experienced might not have been an actual passport check. Could have been for drugs as Pedmar suggested, or counterfeit bags! On the Riviera the French police check a lot of the tourist buses from Italy, in order to catch day-shoppers with fake goods that they have bought in San Remo.
Americana--my husband is German and has travelled throughout Schengenland very extensively AND England / Switzerland and ONLY used his German Ausweiß - his German Identity card. If you are a French citizen with an official French identity card, you will be fine. If it is an identity card like we have here in Italy, which is issued by our commune, it will probably get you nowhere fast.
Diana, thanks for your information. I am not a French citizen. I am a resident of France with a carte de résident. My passport is being renewed. Just writing the last sentence gives me a headache.
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