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[Closed] Does anyone actually know what country I'm in?

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When you go abroad on holiday and your passport is checked are you then registered on some kind of data base as being abroad, - or is it merely an ID check from the photograph?
- just wondered because they often scan it under the table, but I thing they're just checking the authenticity of the passport.


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 11:33 am
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I believe the country you are leaving are informed of you leaving, I would assume it would be the same for entering a country. There are ways around it tho 😉


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 11:43 am
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Really? The thing I find odd is that if you travel by coach etc, you are often not checked on departure, but on the way back. Wouldnt that be very confusing if that was recorded i.e. the country is only notified that you are re-entering (having not known that you'd left in the first place!)


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 11:49 am
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Some countries want advanced info of your arrival from the airline


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 11:49 am
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Oh boo hiss. I thought from the title it was going to be a competition 🙁


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 11:53 am
 hels
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The airlines are supposed to tell immigration that you have left too. Thanks Iceland Airlines, for not telling US Authorities. That was a fun couple of hours next time I went via USA.

Lots of folk have two passports,as I do, and the Israeli guy that was killed in the EQ in Chch had five, some people eh ?


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 11:59 am
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I believe the country you are leaving are informed of you leaving

Except of course the Schengen area, where it'd only be when leaving a Schengen area country for a non-Schengen area country.


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 12:00 pm
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ha, no it's a little more dry binners..


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 12:00 pm
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So its just airlines then? I'm pretty sure the eurostar doesn't do anything that sophisticated


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 12:01 pm
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What might be intereting is why you ask / what have you done ?


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 12:32 pm
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[i]Does anyone actually know what country I'm in?[/i]

Ask Matron, I'm sure she'll tell you.


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 12:34 pm
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From watching CSI etc you can get the impression there is a wall of information that ‘the man’ has on you.

In reality things are not that efficient unless they need to be i.e. immigration will be tracking certain things but otherwise know one will care where you are (other than your mum).


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 12:41 pm
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I'm sure you can drive across borders in Continental Europe without having your passport checked. In fact I've done it on a couple of occasions between Portugal and Spain. And i think i was driven from France through Belgium to Holland without being checked too (it was night, I was asleep & wasn't woken up to dig my passport out).


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 12:46 pm
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Yes all the way from Portugal to Estonia thru every country in between (possibly excluding a few microstates).


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 1:03 pm
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Interesting stuff, as I suspected really. well uwe-r I'll leave you guessing.. 🙂


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 3:31 pm
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Some countries do, some don't. I can drive from here (Germany) to Austria down the road without any checks. Only people who check round here are Switzerland and the UK I think. Having said that, Switzerland didn't really check, they just made me go and buy a motorway toll sticker..

The US on the other hand clock you in and out. You used to have this little green card stapled into your passport that you had to hand in when you left, otherwise they didn't know you'd gone and complained next time you tried to come back. Different system now tho.


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 3:37 pm
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I'm sure you can drive across borders in Continental Europe without having your passport checked. In fact I've done it on a couple of occasions between Portugal and Spain. And i think i was driven from France through Belgium to Holland without being checked too (it was night, I was asleep & wasn't woken up to dig my passport out)

See Schengen Agreement, above.


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 3:40 pm
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Switzerland = Schengen too, now, hence why the check is just for the toll sticker.

Have been stopped at Dutch-German border once, despite Schengen. Don't know if there was a G8 conference or something? Often gets temporarily suspended for things like that.


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 3:50 pm
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From a country that once had laughable security, especially when leaving, the Yanks have gone totally overboard since 9/11.

You have to have an [url= https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/ ]ESTA[/url] to get in these days and ALL airlines are legally required to provide full passenger manifests to the Merkins before their planes can take off.

We've provided similar information on other long haul trips to the far east though I doubt this is shared in a live and online basis.

The FCO has a voluntary system in place called [url= http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/staying-safe/Locate/ ]LOCATE[/url]


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 3:50 pm
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It leaves me miffed that Sleazyjet et al claim that they need your passport info for flights within Shengen before you fly (as in, "you cannot fly without giving this information").

Which, I'm pretty certain, is a lie.


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 3:54 pm
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Are you in France?

EDIT:

It leaves me miffed that Sleazyjet et al claim that they need your passport info for flights within Shengen before you fly (as in, "you cannot fly without giving this information").

Which, I'm pretty certain, is a lie.


Probably for ID purposes when they crash rather than crossing borders.


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 3:54 pm
 aP
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The Border checks at Dover last week were considerably more onerous than anything I've seen before. Queried and under bonnet and boot inspected on the way out and queried about what and where we'd been on the way back in. On the way out they were searching about 1 in 5 cars, and on the way back about 1 in 3 cars.


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 4:05 pm
 beej
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If you carry a switched on mobile, it's fairly easy to know which country you are in (provided there's a compatible mobile network there).


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 7:26 pm
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From a country that once had laughable security, especially when leaving, the Yanks have gone totally overboard since 9/11.

Which is somewhat ironic, because when the rest of the developed world asked the US to sort their 'laughable' airport security out (as it was THE loose link in the chain) pre 9/11 they told us all to get stuffed.


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 8:04 pm
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Andy - yeah the customs booth confused me in Switzerland. All you get most of the time round here is a sign saying 'Welcome to Austria'.


 
Posted : 20/07/2011 8:19 pm