DBurg

Hey everyone, first time posting here. I just have a couple of questions related to movement in the Schengen zone.
I have a TIE (5 year residency) card here in Spain. According to people in the know, I can be outside of Spain for 10 months collectively in a period of 5 years. They check the stamps on my passport when it comes time to renew (in 2026), and if, according to the stamps, I've been outside the country for longer than the allocated time time, I can lose said residency.
Now, I'm curious about travelling to the remainder of Schengen for holidays (as well as meeting some friends with whom I work on farm projects). How strict are the passport controls crossing borders? Basically, how likely am I to get stamped travelling from Spain to, I dunno, Slovakia for example (overland or by plane)? Obviously, I live and work in Spain and want to make a life here. However, I don't want to lose my residency because of being a couple of weeks/months over the limit, or confusion because of inconsistent stamping making it look like I've been away for longer than I have.
Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance for any info you lot can give me!

DB

Dxf

Hola,

Whilst in theory you can "hop over a border" say to Portugal or France, should you get caught for whatever reason, then you could come unstuck. I know the border with Portugal / Spain N22 / A49 is normally not checked BUT sometimes they pull you over because they are looking for something (practice possibly) but sometimes just a research project).
Stay within the rules and life will be better?

Davexf

EU.flag

Common with some post to be lite on details and expect people to have crystal balls.

I can presume your TIE is under WA, and you have less then 5y residence under belt. In which case absence up to 6 months in year are allowed. This is not calendar year, but from your 1st day of residence.
More then 5y residence, absence up to 5y allowed. Google WA document. You need to rely on official documentation and not on "people in the know" (who usually know all after few pints).

Schengen rules 90/180 will apply to you. Stick with rules and keep copies of boarding pass/hotel invoices/etc.
Later this year stamping will be abolished, EES.

Joppa

If you don't leave Schengen, your passport won't be stamped - there won't even be any passport check, except for ID purpose when boarding flight etc. Inter-Schengen flight will be treated like internal flight within Spain. Of course you still have to comply with Covid rules, which each country draws up. When I returned to UK for a trip a few months ago, when I showed both TIE and passport at Malaga when leaving and coming back, I was waved through without any stamping or even opening my passport.

DBurg

OK thanks for the info. I have currently 5 years under my belt as of the time of writing, but when I got my TIE I didn't, so it's the 5 year document which applies. I´m not sure what a WA document is, however. Does it stand for something? I know about the 6 months in the year rule, but according to this person (who was a lawyer specialising in this field), the collective 10 months/5 year rule also applies. So if, I was to be away for 6 months in one year, I would only have 4 months left to "spend" in the remaining four years, from what I understood.
I assume that if stamping is abolished they have some other way of checking it, electronically, etc.

Thanks for the info so far guys!

DBurg

OK interesting. On the note of COVID, I assume getting the EU pass is better than showing my UK proof of vaccination (a hard copy). Makes things smoother and more intergrated in to the European system, no?

Joppa

Shouldn't make any difference. Valid NHS covid certificate is fully accepted in EU. A lot of family members have travelled to Spain with NHS certificate and encountered no problems.

airways

The 10 months in 5 years does not apply to residency granted under the WA. The 6 months a year applies. When travelling in the Schengen area there are no border controls and no passport stamping which is the exact reason that it exists. It treats the EU Schengen zone as a single country. Your Spanish residency allows you free movement anywhere in the EU without border checks. You are subject to the 90/180 rules outside of Spain but as there is no actual way of checking them and you don't just move to another country then you will no problem. Basically if you keep your home in Spain and are "active" in Spain there is no way of actually tracking you inside the Schengen zone.

astera

Technically they could just check your mobile and where it was logged in throughout the year but this is probably reserved for serious inquiries beyond the scope of simple residency issues.

Only real trail is the QR code required by health services when coming back, though so there would be a number of incoming dates but no outgoing ones in the system.

DLC

There's a tiny chance you might get stopped in the street by police, and you should make sure you have your passport. Also your TIE with you as well to explain why you're there and that they should ignore any stamps in the passport (I.e. you're not an overstayer).

You shouldn't get stamped, you're not at the border. But then again who's to say and the police as a rule usually don't react well to someone telling them how to do their job.

The police in other Schengen countries might ask you for proof of financial support (credit card) and address where you're staying as you could be asked on the border in Spain if you were visiting as a tourist without a TIE.

airways

Technically the could not. Not without evidence of serious crime which would require a court order in every country they think you might have been in to have the data released. Unless you have missed it, the EU is very hot on data privacy. And why would they want to track our movements inside the Schengen area where we are perfectly entitled to visa free movement under our resident permits,

airways

There is no border with Spain. Even if they put a temporary one in for some reason you just show your TIE and passport when asked for ID.

In my 40 years of travelling around the world for work and fun I have never been stopped by the police and been asked what I am doing in any country and I have been to some pretty dodgy places in my time. If you are travelling in the EU carry your TIE as proof of residency and your passport. Its how I travel for work and how I reenter the EU every time even when coming via other EU countries. I dont get my passport stamped and am quick to stop them when they try. I never have an issue.

Do you guys really live on paranoia? Its a very British thing to find ways to make our lives as hard as possible for no reason........

DLC

You can get stopped, it'd be wrong to say you can't, it'd be wrong to say not to carry your passport (in those countries where you have to carry ID), it would be wrong to say not to show you TIE with your passport, and it's be wrong to say you can be asked for reasons for your stay in Schengen countries which aren't your country of residency.

It's also right to say that at the border, border police shouldn't stamp your passport when you show it with a TIE but remiss not to mention that they can stamp if they get out of bed the wrong side that day and you probably aren't going to get it fixed and it means nothing anyway if you show your TIE along with your passport.

I showed my TIE first, I showed my passport second, I said I was a resident, he wrongly said it didn't matter and unless I was carrying a family member EU residency card I would be stamped and stamped it. Now what do I do? Get into an argument? Tell him how to do his job? Pull out a copy of the Schengen code that I'm sure he'll read carefully while there's a queue building up? None of that will get me very far, all I want to do is get through the border.

Paranoia? Not really, these are things that happen. And there are other nationalities that like to make life difficult for no reason whatsoever too.

airways

Nobody suggested not carrying your TIE and Passport.

You have cleared been cowed into a fear of authority. I have had my passport stamped and have stood there until they crossed the stamp back out again and I don't give a toss if a queue builds up behind me. You let it go once and it becomes the norm. Belligerent? Maybe, but exercising my rights as we don't actually live in a police state.

DLC

In the end they always have discretion to stamp and discretion to not allow me enter. The most I can say is I don't agree with what he's done, but I would have be some kind of idiot to have a strop on the border because he's just done something which he's legally empowered to do.