By forever changes - 17 May 19 7:13 PM
I have just been to Greece and I was stopped on entry at passport control and told to stand to one side. After about 5 minutes the officer came out of his booth and asked in front of and within earshot of other travellers if I had "had some trouble with the Police". I asked to be able to talk somewhere more discreetly and told him I was on SOR (at least I soon won' t be anymore thankfully). I felt very uncomfortable telling him anything not knowing what he knew about me and why I was being asked this and what the effect my answer would have. I was subsequently asked to provide evidence of all my booking details, boarding pass, where I was staying etc and this was taken away, photocopied and returned to me. All this took 30 -40 minutes and I was warned I would be stopped again when I left the country, and worrying about that certainly made me enjoy my holiday less.
He also explained that since April 6th this was a new procedure in Greece applying Schengen area rules. I missed my transfer to the hotel and had to get a 20 euro taxi and make up an excuse to the travel rep as to why I was late. On leaving Greece I was stopped again at passport control holding up a lot of people in the queue behind me while the officer got on the phone to someone for about 5 minutes and then photographed my passport and boarding pass without saying or explaining anything to me while I just waited nervously and embarrassed. God know what the ppl behind me thought.
I intend to travel elsewhere in Schengen area this year so I am anxious as to what it is going to be like when I arrive and depart and how I can be better prepared / informed. For starters I'll be taking copies of all holiday documents to give them so I don't have to wait for them to be photocopied. I gather from reading the part of the forum that I can access that there might be something called a Schengen notice or green flag / notice on my passport, but I am not clear what this means in terms of who put this on my passport and what info it gives. I'm worried how the information will be used in future, if it'll be stored, shared among Schengen countries etc, I'm also worried they could create their own 'flag' on me after my time on SOR ends. BTW will the flag/notice automatically be removed when my term on the SOR ends or do I have to take some action myself to get it removed?
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By AB2014 - 5 Sep 23 2:11 PM
+x+x+xWhen our convictions are Spent, do we have to disclose our conviction on applying for a visa? They often ask " Have you ever been convicted of....?" In the Uk we can say no, but when applying for visas, how do other countries view our "pardon"? The new Shenghen visa application which comes into force in 2024 will not ask about convictions over 10 years old. Is this correct? Convictions from UK courts are only spent under the law in the various parts of the UK. That law doesn't apply anywhere else. Having said that, many countries would only want to see a police certificate for a full visa. For a travel authorisation, they would probably just ask the disclosure question(s) and rely on your honesty. The exception would be the USA from 2027, as the Enhanced Border Security Partnership agreement means they should have access to the UK's biometric information database. If your fingerprints generate a hit on their system, they will probably assume that you had been arrested at some point and will require a visa or proof of no criminal record. In terms of the EU system, ETIAS, that is another travel authorisation system, so they will ask you politely to disclose, but if you don't disclose, then if they have nothing on their databases they will issue an authorisation. All Schengen system alerts added by the UK were deleted by the time UK left the EU. Disclosure would only be required for a full Schengen visa for convictions in specified categories of offence in the previous 15 years. After 15 years, you wouldn't have to disclose. Credit to tedstriker for finding so much of this information and posting it on this forum. So when I am ready to visit a Shenghen country, I really should be honest, as they would surely have links to the UK database? Thank you for giving this some clarity. I am sure it will be asked many times, and maybe UNLOCK can have a comprehensive guide for all ?
As far as I'm aware, they have lost those links, so they have to make a formal application for any information they want. I think Unlock's guidance is comprehensive for the countries they include, but I doubt they will ever include every country in the world.
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