Probably easily answered. A non-EU citizen flies from one EU country to another (for example, from France to Italy). Does she have to go through a customs or naturalization process when she arrives? I know that the answer is “no” for train travel, but I’ve never flown inside the EU. I’m helping someone set up a set of plane-to-bus transfers and realized I don’t know if there’s any frontier to get through or if she can just walk off and walk out. Thanks.
Even 19 years ago when I flew from Madrid to Amsterdam there was no customs or checkpoint at all. Ditto a few years ago when we flew from Berlin to Barcelona. It is not functionally different from flying inside the US. When you come from outside the EU you go through immigration and customs, of course.
I’ve flown from Britain to Bulgaria and just been waved through at that end. Had to show the passport back in Britain though. We are a very suspicious people.
Which EU countries? There are normally no immigration checks in the Schengen Area, but there are a few EU countries that aren’t in that, as well as a few non-EU countries that are (although there might still be customs when traveling to or from the latter).
Most countries in the EU are part of the Schengen area. This means that there’s effectively no borders between them and air travel is like domestic air travel elsewhere. If you’re from a country for which a visa is required, you get a Schengen visa which is good for the whole Schengen area. When you travel within Schengen you don’t go through immigration or customs, although sometimes there are extra immigration checks at airports and around borders, so be sure to always have your documentation with you.
Things get more complex for the countries that are EU but not Schengen (Ireland, UK, Romania, a few others that I don’t remember) and non-EU but Schengen (Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, IIRC). When traveling to/from EU / non-Schengen countries you go through immigration but not customs, for non-EU / Schengen countries you don’t go through immigration but you go through customs. Also note that there’s effectively no border between Ireland and the UK.
Typically none of this is a very big deal except this one time I returned from Scotland and there was a 45-minute line.
If you fly from the UK to Ireland you will have to go through immigration (as well as customs). There are sometimes immigration checks for ferry passengers, too. Generally no land border, although Irish police have been known to stop trains and buses arriving from the North and racially profile passengers for immigration checks.
Naturalization takes years, it’s the process of acquiring citizenship.
You’re supposed to declare certain things whether you’re an EU citizen/coming from another Schengen area country or not, it doesn’t depend on citizenship (you do have different ID Check lanes if moving between a non-Schengen country and a neighboring one, in this case your friend takes the non-EU lane); you always go through Customs when you’re exiting the safe part of the airport, but most people simply take the “nothing to declare” lane. Anybody can be pulled off that lane, although it’s not supposed to be at random. Unless your friend is carrying half a winery in her bags, she should just take the “nothing to declare” lane along with everybody else.
Thank you for the correction–I thought I’d pasted “customs or immigration,” but apparently grabbed the wrong phrase.
Yesterday I flew from Reykjavik to Copenhagen to Prague and never had to pass through immigration.
Taking advantage of the fact that, as Iljit****sch mentioned, the Schengen zone extends beyond the EU to include EFTA countries Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.
Thanks for the replies. Much appreciated.