Passports at EU Borders Now?

Have you noticed that the date on that article was last May, nearly 6 months ago, and despite the fact that it says all sorts of stuff will happen right away - none of it has.

Considering the fact that the author doesn't seem to understand the difference between Schengen and the EU, can we believe him? Next he's going to say that Schengen will require Switzerland to adopt the Euro.

I would still like to know why, on the bus from Budapest to Krakow last July 1, at the border the bus was boarded and everyone had to show passports. As best as i could tell, all they did with ours was note that we had them. But 3 passports were taken from further back in the bus and returned 15 minutes later with no explanation.

True, but I had heard from Germans, ( if their information is correct,) that since 2008 thanks to an agreement any border check (Paßkontrolle) between Germany and Poland didn't exist anymore. When I was there in Küstrin-Kietz in 2009, I was a passenger in a car, saw none of either border personnel on the way in. On the way out. since parts of the roads were cordoned off, we had to find one that led back to the bridge and by coincidence, and luckily too, saw two Polish border personnel who signaled to us by hand that this was the way back to Frankfurt an der Oder and thus to Berlin. If you were crossing the Oder from Görlitz in 2008 or later and went through Paßkontrolle, then I really don't know why. My last border check was in 2005 from Berlin to Poznan (Posen), when the Poles stamped it at Kunowice, (Kunersdorf), just across the river.

There is no regular passport check between Schengen countries. However police can still randomly check you if they are looking for illegal immigrants, drugs, criminals, etc.

Well I didn't read the article, but for a US citizen, you must have your passport wherever you travel and each time you cross the borders. And occasionaly they still do check (such as on overnight trains).

Regardless of EU or Schengen and it is normally a good idea and practice to have your passport on you when crossing borders, you don't need it at all as regards to Poland and Germany. This summer I took a day trip from Berlin to Frankfurt an der Oder, walked from the station to the Oder River bridge, (worth seeing....the Oder), and crossed over on foot, as the locals, both Polish and Germans, were doing. As I had been told, no border checks or personnel whatsoever. Still, I had the passport on me since I was leaving Berlin. It's just as if I were walking across in one city, but you know and see it's Poland instead. Two years ago I did the same thing at another site on the German-Polish border at Küstrin (Kietz) an der Oder, also a day trip from Berlin. No sight of any border personnel, no checks. And, the Poles most likely do accept Euro in cash in these border towns, based on the one experience in a restaurant in Küstrin-Kietz.

Regardless of local rules, if I'm a tourist and I'm crossing a border from one country to another, I'm having my passport with me. Too many things can happen.

These days, if you are a foreign national traveling in some places in the U.S., not having your passport subjects you to arrest: Mercedes manager from Germany arrested in Alabama. Alabama out-Arizona'd Arizona with a draconian anti-immigration law and an executive from a celebrated auto plant located in the state got caught. The Legislature wasn't aiming at West Europeans, of course, but that's what happens sometimes when you take a shot. As I understand the law, if you speak with an accent, or give a policeman any reason to suspect you might be foreign, and if you don't have any U.S. government issued I.D., the policeman has to arrest you. Sigh . . . .

"There is no regular passport check between Schengen countries. However police can still randomly check you if they are looking for illegal immigrants, drugs, criminals, etc." Exactly! And they DO! I have seen it and others have reported it. Maybe not often. But never, NEVER cross a border without a passport.

The article is outdated, and written by someone with clear no knowledge of the inner workings of Schengen, and the difference between Schengen, free travel and free movement. I'll try to chime in: <b>Free movement of European citizens</b> Eu citizens can freely move from one state to another unimpeded as in regard of immigration obligations, if their stay is temporary (ppl from Romania and Bulgaria do not have free work rights, but do have free movement rights) <b>Schengen common travel area</b> The Schengen treaty (which concerns other matters such as police collaboration and extradition as well) created a common travel area commonly known as "Schengen area". It also created "Schengen (tourist) visas" and "Schengen visa exempted travel" concepts that all countries within that area are as if they were one as for time spent in each of them, common visa application (for those requiring it), and travel between countries that is treated as domestic (e.g., no border posts will checks on all trucks and cars, airports etc). <b>Border controls</b>
That travel is free doesn't mean travel is anonymous! In continental Europe, for a variety of legal tradition reasons, it is a non-issue that countries can set up internal checkpoints on roads, rails etc. and in most of them all people are required by law to carry valid ID, all the time, period. A policeman can ask for an ID without "probable cause of a crime being committed" to a bloke on the street (which means valid passport for non-Europeans).

A few years ago, I was staying in Strasbourg for a few days and took a city bus to Kehl, Germany. On the return trip, the bus was waved into a checkpoint on the French side of the border and immigration officials boarded and checked everyone's ID', passports or whatever. Several individuals were asked into the offices, were eventually re-boarded and then we were on our way. Random private vehicles were also waved in and checked.
The place had the appearance of being an occasionally used place rather than a permanent, daily operation.