Hi all,
A few friends and I are traveling to London,England in May and staying for 4 days and then heading to Italy. We do have a VERY short layover in Copenhagen before we go to Rome, will we have to encounter customs and immigration? Just trying to know in advance in case we should try and change our flights.
Thank you in advance!
No customs until you reach Rome, but since you are first entering the Schengen zone in Copenhagen, I would assume you'd have to go through immigration/passport control there.
England is not a part of Schengen, so you will have passport control where you first enter the Schengen zone, in Copenhagen. England is still in the EU (customs union) so you probably won't have customs in Italy. However, even if there is, customs usually has a line or aisle signed "Nothing to declare". If you are not carrying anything that requires custom, you just walk out without stopping through that line. In 13 visits to Europe, I have never once had to stop for customs.
As stated above, you'll go through passport control in Copenhagen and customs (if at all) in Rome. Your flight into Copenhagen will arrive in one of the terminals for non-Schengen flights, and your flight to Rome will depart from one of the terminals for Schengen flights. To get from one to the other, you'll pass a desk where you'll get your passport stamped.
Passport control for entering or leaving the Schengen zone is not a complicated process. If you're thinking of the long lines, paperwork, and questioning you have to endure to enter the US, UK, or Canada, it's nothing like that. You might have to wait in line for maybe 5 minutes. You probably won't be asked any questions.
CPH is not a large airport, they pride themselves on running things efficiently, and they're used to facilitating tight connections. If your layover is at least 40 minutes (the minimum for connecting from non-Schengen to Schengen, as listed here), you'll be fine.
