Thanks to the many readers who have written in to share their experiences of entering France through border controls after we reported on the subject of which is the best lane for residency card holders to use when coming into the country.
Below we run a selection of your responses:
L.K: In December, I stood in the long non-EU queue at Carcassonne airport when returning from the UK. When I reached the desk, I presented my 10-year WARP titre de séjour along with my passport. The border officer told me I could have saved time by using the EU queue... It seems there is no real consistency.
C.T: I travelled from the UK on a ski trip and joined a long queue of several hundred British passengers (not EES-related, but apparently normal according to another traveller I spoke with). I managed to show my French titre de séjour to a passing Swiss airport official, who escorted me out of the non-EU queue and directed me to the much shorter EU queue, where only a handful of people were waiting... On my return a week later, I went straight to the EU lane again and had no problems. These were staffed booths, not e-gates... There seems to be some local variation, particularly where staffed booths are involved.
C.M: I have just returned from a one week trip to Uk via Lyon airport where I was “ ordered” by an extremely officious man to join the “English Passport -that queue” .He refused to accept that my Brexit card allowed access to the European queue.In fact I was told that it’s not an ID card therefore doesn’t count and I would have to queue like everyone else. The “English passport-that queue” was being processed by , mainly, one border official, occasionally joined by a second, doing photos and finger prints for over a hundred people. I, and a couple of other Brexit card holders waited, with everyone else, for 2 hours, missing buses and connections. The lady who processed my card( in a couple of seconds ) was very pleasant and when I suggested that they needed more staff she asked me to write to the airport management to complain as the staffing decisions are theirs. A frustrating afternoon.
S.C: On a recent late flight from Heathrow, I stood in the non-EU queue with my carte de séjour for over an hour, while the EU queue moved through in about 10 minutes... When I reached the border officer, I was asked why I had not used the EU queue. I was told that in future I should do so, as residency card holders do not require EES registration and already have fingerprints and photos stored on their cards.
J.T: At Nice, on our last trip in April, we were directed to the EU queue when we showed our residency cards. However, on previous visits we were told to use the non-EU queue... At Geneva, we were instructed to use the e-gates and then present our cards to an officer on the other side... It is all rather unclear.
B.B: I am a UK citizen and have been a Monaco resident for nearly 40 years. On my most recent arrival at Nice airport from the UK, I faced a very long non-EU queue. A fellow traveller asked an airport staff member overseeing the immigration hall whether we could use the EU queue and showed our Monaco residency card. We were told we could, and we moved to the much shorter queue.
A.C: I am a US citizen with Portuguese residency. Recently, I entered the EU in Germany from the United States and used the “all passports” queue. At the front, the immigration officer specifically advised me to use the EU lane next time.... At Lisbon airport, there is a sign directing Portuguese residents to the EU queue, and I have also used the EU lane when entering Porto from Morocco... It does seem that rules vary by airport.
L.M: I am writing about our trip to France on April 14. The trip began at Eurostar in London and the experience was unpleasant: we arrived at 7:30am for a 9:31am departure (two hours in advance). Security was straightforward, but what we encountered (in hindsight) was a partial implementation of the new EES procedure.
We had to queue with all non-EU passengers while a staff member called out EU passport holders to be fast-tracked through security. Of course, there were few EU passport holders on the train, and the non-EU queue was very large.
There was no signage explaining what would happen after security.
Each passenger had to enter a small holding area of about 3 square feet. Once inside, you could not leave. At the exit was a face scanner and fingerprint scanner. My face was scanned, and then nothing happened for 2-3 minutes while the machine processed the data. I asked whether this was really necessary and showed my residency card, but the staff were abrupt and unhelpful. I overheard one French official speaking very harshly to a young teenage girl who appeared close to tears.
I had read the day before that fingerprints would also be taken, but this did not happen in my case. I assume this reflects a partial rollout. The French state already has my facial and fingerprint data, as you cannot obtain a residency card without providing it initially. There were no signs explaining what data would be stored or for what purpose.
After leaving the holding area, a border official still checked my passport and residency card.
In conclusion, I believe staff were stressed and undertrained. They clearly did not know how to handle residency card holders. Perhaps the situation will improve once procedures are fully implemented and staff are properly trained.
J.W: I returned from Japan and transited at Paris CDG Airport early in the morning at 6am to catch a connecting flight home to Nice.
With my British passport and Brexit residency card in hand, I approached the non-EU queue, which was relatively short. However, staff stopped me to check my boarding pass and redirected me to the business class queue, where there was nobody waiting. It seems there is no dedicated queue for “Brexit” residents.
J.W: I hold a British passport and a recently renewed 10-year (Brexit) residency card. I recently returned to France after a short stay in the UK (3 May) on a Ryanair flight into Limoges.
After disembarking and approaching border control, I noticed a small sign indicating that “EU passport holders and residency card holders” should use the same queue, leaving the other queue for everyone else. I therefore joined what was a much shorter queue and passed through without issue.
D.H: I hold a Carte de Sejour with a UK passport. When entering Geneva airport from the UK there are often enormous lines of non EU passport holders. I always bypass this line, walk up to the E gates where there is also a second, separate entry controlled by an official.
I show my residency card and I get ushered to a dedicated lane for pilots, diplomats and residency card holders. I often get through quicker than my French wife when she is travelling with me. No such option exists at Lyon, though it’s a smaller airport.
A.M: I travelled from CDG yesterday on my British passport with my husband on his Irish passport. (I have a carte de séjour).
At the point in the line where we were separated into EU and non EU passports the officer directing the line absolutely refused to allow me to go with my husband. I had to go in the non EU line which was considerably longer. I explained I had the right to go with my family member but she refused to let me.
Ironically we both arrived through the gates at the same time because there were many more Non EU gates than EU gates, so it wasn't a problem.
A photo our reader sent us, the sign is located on the lower right side
Which passport lane do you use when arriving in France with a residency card? Let us know at feedback@connexionfrance.com
