Non-EU passport holder travelling with EU passport holder

[yorkshirelad1]

Saw this in today's (Sat 4 Mar 2023) Times Travel section.

Q: I have an Irish passport and my wife a British one. Since Brexit, I have been accompanying her through the British passport channels. Recently we both waited some time in the “Brit” queue at Zurich airport and when I got to border control I explained I was in that queue to keep my wife company. The border control officer said that as an EU national I had the right to take my wife though the EU channel regardless of the fact that she didn’t have an EU passport. Clearly we’d need to go to the counter rather than through automatic barriers, but I hadn’t heard that before and have never seen advice to that effect. Could you confirm if that is the case?
Kevin White

A: It’s true that you can go through the EU channel with your wife and that her travel with you doesn’t count towards her “90 in 180 days” limit for stays in Schengen countries in Europe. I’ve found it impossible to get granular detail on this from an official EU source but page 20 of the Practical Handbook for Border Guards is useful (search on ec.europa.eu) and if you need further reassurance, email the EU Contact Centre (european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu); you should get a response confirming the rules within three working days.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/is-my-british-wife-treated-as-an-eu-citizen-while-travelling-because-i-have-an-irish-passport-skvf3lq9b (paywall)
http://archive.today/2023.03.04-054948/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/is-my-british-wife-treated-as-an-eu-citizen-while-travelling-because-i-have-an-irish-passport-skvf3lq9b (not paywalled)

EU document refered to may be found at: (page 21 of the pdf, page 20 of printed page number)
https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-11/Practical%20handbook%20for%20border%20guards_en.pdf#page=21

[Lootman]

Yes and I believe this is a common arrangement. So for instance when my wife (US passport) and I (UK passport) travel together, we go through the UK gates together at Heathrow, and the US gates at LAX, JFK etc.

Border/immigration guards in both countries have told me that it is better for couples to do that: Stay together and go through as if you both hold the passport of that country as long as one of you holds it.

[Sobraon]

Yes can confirm this is the procedure at Malaga (flight from Brum), but the rest of our flight queuing didn't look wonderfully happy as we were directed off to the EU passports desk (I'm dual).

[DiamondEcho]

Yes and I believe this is a common arrangement. So for instance when my wife (US passport) and I (UK passport) travel together, we go through the UK gates together at Heathrow, and the US gates at LAX, JFK etc.

My wife and I used to separate for EU/Schengen border control, and we'd meet up again post-immigration. So I hadn't heard to this 'arrangement' before.

Does it require husband and wife to at least have the same last/surname? Carry evidence of marriage? Otherwise wouldn't it just be prey to randome unmarried couples opting for the faster lane for them both?

[richfool]

Yes, I too can confirm that it is quite acceptable for a non EU/UK spouse to accompany their British husband/wife through the UK passport holder channel at British borders. I have personal experience of doing so.

[Lootman]

Yes and I believe this is a common arrangement. So for instance when my wife (US passport) and I (UK passport) travel together, we go through the UK gates together at Heathrow, and the US gates at LAX, JFK etc.

My wife and I used to separate for EU/Schengen border control, and we'd meet up again post-immigration. So I hadn't heard to this 'arrangement' before.

Does it require husband and wife to at least have the same last/surname? Carry evidence of marriage? Otherwise wouldn't it just be prey to random unmarried couples opting for the faster lane for them both?

The important factor, as far as I can determine, is that you are both in the same travel party and are personally connected. I have never been asked for proof of marriage (*), although I do always carry that just in case. This is for UK/US travel and I cannot speak for EU travel, although we always go through border control together there as well.

(*) Except for during Covid when that enabled me to still enter the US despite the US ban on European visitors.

[Gerry557]

I wasnt aware of this but thanks, it might be useful.

[richfool]

Yes, I too can confirm that it is quite acceptable for a non EU/UK spouse to accompany their British husband/wife through the UK passport holder channel at British borders. I have personal experience of doing so.

Even when we had different surnames in our passports.

[didds]

which leads me to wonder (cos thats how my brain works!)... how do they "know" ?

How could they know if a couple of same or mixed sex were married or not? They can only just take it as presented and allow both through as long as one has the requisite passport?

didds

[Lootman]

Yes, I too can confirm that it is quite acceptable for a non EU/UK spouse to accompany their British husband/wife through the UK passport holder channel at British borders. I have personal experience of doing so.

Even when we had different surnames in our passports.

Yes, I believe that you can do this as long as you are travelling with someone. It does not have to be a spouse.

It would not be smart to try this with someone you just met on the plane. But as long as you are genuinely travelling with someone then it seems to be fine.

[AF62]

Perhaps part of the reason for the non-EU spouse going through the EU queue is so the border guard can appropriately mark the non-EU spouse’s passport so it doesn’t trip the 90/180 day rule.

It will be interesting to see what happens when EES (the Schengen electronic Entry Exit System) is eventually turned on.

Anyway, when I traveled out to the Canary Islands at the start of January, so Spain and Schengen, I was surprised that all the Brits were being waived to use the electronic gates and not a border guard or stamp in sight.

And then when I came back last Friday there were no passport controls on exit at all for anyone.

[Gerry557]

Probably on strike!

[stevensfo]

I'm glad I didn't know this when we went on holiday to Cyprus last year. I used my UK passport, my wife, her Polish passport. (She has both).

Both ways, I went straight to the guard's little booth, whereas my wife had to faff around with an automatic machine to photo her passport and get a print-out. But then, she still had to go to the guard's booth to show him!

Keeping fingers crossed that it's just a matter of a few years till the UK joins the EEA and we can dispense with this dystopian nightmare!

Steve

[didds]

Keeping fingers crossed that it's just a matter of a few years till the UK joins the EEA and we can dispense with this dystopian nightmare!

Steve

No chance - that is FAR too sensible!

[floyd3592]

Perhaps part of the reason for the non-EU spouse going through the EU queue is so the border guard can appropriately mark the non-EU spouse’s passport so it doesn’t trip the 90/180 day rule.

As an aside, any days a 'non-Eu' passport holder spends with their EU passport holding spouse in a Schengen country do *not* count towards that person's 90/180 day rule...

[AF62]

Perhaps part of the reason for the non-EU spouse going through the EU queue is so the border guard can appropriately mark the non-EU spouse’s passport so it doesn’t trip the 90/180 day rule.

As an aside, any days a 'non-Eu' passport holder spends with their EU passport holding spouse in a Schengen country do *not* count towards that person's 90/180 day rule...

Absolutely. The EU Border Guard’s manual in section 2.1.2 on pages 21 and 22 is explicit on this point and has three clear examples -

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/do ... D-1/en/pdf

What is not clear is how this will operate with EES, the new entry, exit system which will electronically monitor non-EU citizens entering and leaving Schengen and automatically identifying ‘overstayers’ and which is starting in November this year (2023).

https://travel-europe.europa.eu/ees/faqs-ees_en

Article 2 1(b) of Regulations (EU) 2017/2226 on EES says that EES does apply to non-EU family members if they don’t hold a residency card.

However it then says under Article 2 4 that those non-EU family members are excluded from the 90/180 day’s calculations and any overstay alerts.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content ... 1e957-20-1

Further sections in the regulations say that non-EU family members must be identified as such when they are joining their EU family member, but what I can find no details on is exactly how those non-EU family members will be identified, particularly as is clear from the Border Guards manual, they don’t have to be travelling with the EU family member. Do they actually have to tell the border guard? How would that work with electronic gates? Etc.

My assumption had been that it must be incorporated into the ETIAS details as I could see no other way it could work, but as ETIAS is now not due to start until some time in 2024 (having been postponed multiple times) then that obviously isn’t the case.

So any family with an EU citizen who are making use of these rules to allow non-EU family members to stay more than 90 days will need to be damn careful they don’t inadvertently trip the flag in EES, which makes it more important than ever if they are travelling together to both go to the same border guard to minimise the risk they are entered into EES with an incorrect status.

[floyd3592]

What is not clear is how this will operate with EES, the new entry, exit system which will electronically monitor non-EU citizens entering and leaving Schengen and automatically identifying ‘overstayers’ and which is starting in November this year (2023).
the EU family member. Do they actually have to tell the border guard? How would that work with electronic gates? Etc.

So any family with an EU citizen who are making use of these rules to allow non-EU family members to stay more than 90 days will need to be damn careful they don’t inadvertently trip the flag in EES, which makes it more important than ever if they are travelling together to both go to the same border guard to minimise the risk they are entered into EES with an incorrect status.

Interesting comments regarding the new EES many thanks!

The border guards at Alicante airport just look at me as if i've got two heads when I explain that I am accompanying my Irish passport holding wife... What I am doing for now is taking a paper copy of my marriage certificate with me and a paper copy of the spreadsheet showing the record of the dates we are both in Schengen, together with copies of the relevant boarding cards for each flight. Hopefully this will be able to clear me should any e-system flag me up as exceeding the 90/180 day rule.

[AF62]

Interesting comments regarding the new EES many thanks!

Glad someone else finds it interesting other than me!

The border guards at Alicante airport just look at me as if i've got two heads when I explain that I am accompanying my Irish passport holding wife... What I am doing for now is taking a paper copy of my marriage certificate with me and a paper copy of the spreadsheet showing the record of the dates we are both in Schengen, together with copies of the relevant boarding cards for each flight. Hopefully this will be able to clear me should any e-system flag me up as exceeding the 90/180 day rule.

The new EES system regulations say it should incorporate a calendar that non-EU citizens will be able to check on the web to see their entry and exit, and will show how many days they have left. That should be helpful to you so you will be able to see that the border guard has correctly registered you as a family member.

For myself, when we married my wife didn’t change her name as she didn’t want to have to spell my name forevermore (the perils of having an Irish surname), so to avoid any issues at the border she is changing it on her passport but will use the ‘also known as’ facility the UK passport allows so it shows her ‘real’ name as well.