An interesting article in the Times says partners of EU citizens do not follow 90 day rule or have to use the non EU queue at the airport.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/i...ssport-skvf3lq

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I pasted it. There is a lot of discussion.

Question.

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


Response.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.

You can certainly use the EU channel if you are travelling together and your spouse is a EU citizen. Should work at most airports but then ymmv. It definitely works this way at Helsinki airport.

As for the '90 in 180 days' rule I think this could be a tough one and the example given still means that there is a 90-day limit in each Schengen country, so in effect you cannot stay longer in any one place.

On a side note, does the Schengen border control system log and keep track of all your historical entries/exits to/from the Schengen area, or is this data not saved and only passport stamps provide info on those dates?

The ETIAS system will bring consistency when it arrives.

Yes, but where do we stand now with travel tracking (before the ETIAS system is introduced)?

When leaving I know the system can definitely show when you entered, but once you leave does it stay in the system along with all historical entries/exits to/from the Schengen zone or are passport stamps the only proof?

I haven't been on BE a lot and just now saw this topic.
I'm an EU pport holder. We travelled in/out of Munich airport since 2021. The rule to use EU channel doesn't seem to apply there. I was sent to automatic gate, hubby had to get the pport stamped. Queue was long.
We stayed in Austria but frequently travelled to Germany. There is border control by German border police. Several times he was asked what the reason for the visit was and could they see the confirmation of the med. appointment.
Don't know if the guy had a bad day or what the reason is.
UK friend travels in/out Frankfurt airport (no accompanying EU partner) & exceeds 90 day stays. No problem so far.
Go figure.
I also understand that the 90 day stay rule is not per Schengen country but for the total Schengen area.

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