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They look at the ID card or passport you present. They may make a record of your entry and may look up whether your ID was stolen or there is a warrant for you.
by germanier 11y ago
They look at the ID card or passport you present. They may make a record of your entry and may look up whether your ID was stolen or there is a warrant for you.
They certainly don't look up in a database whether you are a citizen. Such an EU-wide thing simply doesn't exist. Heck, even the entry and exit records are not in a common database. At the moment many borders can't even verify the government signature saved on the chip.
That's the same how other government officials determine your German citizenship in most circumstances. Only very few people go through the process of getting definitive proof of their citizenship (Staatsangehörigenausweis) in any point of their life as there is simply no reason to. This process takes quite some time, often including looking at some non-digitized paper documents archived somewhere.
- kafkaesq 11y agoThey certainly don't look up in a database whether you are a citizen. OK, "citizen or valid resident / visa holder / having some other legitimate reason to be holding something that looks like an EU identity card", then. Whichever -- I was just simplifying. But something tells me that something at major border crossings (e.g. hub airports) has to at least authenticate your right-of-entry -- and that your travel document isn't outright fabricated -- at least a significant portion of the time. Again, as applies strictly to cases of persons attempting to enter the Shengen area, on the basis of possession of an EU identity card, or a similar travel document asserting current legal residency in one of the member countries. I just don't see how they can (effectively) tell whether the document hasn't been forged or revoked, without comparing against a master list.
- germanier 11y agoI can assure you that they do not check for positive entry in any database when crossing into Schengen whatsoever. Usually they check if the presented document is marked stolen but even that is sometimes skipped as the database (SIS II) is rather slow. This database contains around 50 million entries which shows that it can't possible hold information on all residents. There is neither an EU-wide database of citizens, nor of permanent residents. They do have a database of most issued short-term Schengen visa nowadays (VIS) but even that took a lot of effort to implement. And as said, at the moment they can't even verify all electronic signatures in electronic passports but that should be fixed soon. I'm not even sure how they would create such a database of citizens as even not the German government has a conclusive list of all citizens and I presume it's similar in other member states. That check for the right-of-entry is done with the presented document alone. Revocations are checked against and while it's possible to forge the documents it's not easy. But yes, there are known cases of people successfully entering with forged documents.
- kafkaesq 11y agoThat's actually reassuring, in a way. Thanks for the detailed response.
- fapjacks 11y agoI have a question: Does your passport have a number? Just wondering. Thanks for the cool info.
- germanier 11y agoYes it does (and this is required by international agreement). The number contains an identifier for the issuing authority (and its name is also printed on the passport) so they know where to look for info if they need to.
- darkhorn 11y agoI'll tell you something interesting. I crossed from Bulgaria to Turkey without presenting my ID to Bulgarian authorities. I crossed into Bulgaria by just showing my ID to Bulgarian authorities. Turkish side stores detailed records but Bulgaria is not interested where I am. They don't know wheter I'm in Bulgaria or not. On the other hand they know my fingerprints.