FTR, I’ve been to France numerous times, under an American passport, and never been required to even show it. In fact, when the Chunnel lets you off at Gare Nord, there’s not even a customs or immigration agent in sight - you just walk on downstairs to the Metro and go. Or walk East a bit and see the prostitutes by Pigalle…
This is the important point, but one that has not been sufficiently clear. The Geneva airport has two exits, and depending on your flight you might end up on the Swiss or the French side of customs. (The airport straddles the border; when it was made the French cut a deal that they gave some territory to the swiss in exchange for having a French sector of the airport. It all runs as a Swiss airport, but certain flights take off and leave from ‘France’.) I think it’s only AirFrance flights to other parts of France, but I’m not sure. I suggest you verify on which side of the border you disembark. As far as I know most regular flights from the UK fly from the Swiss side, but there may well be weird charter deals.
I don’t know much about how passports are checked on the French side, but there shouldn’t be any problems for Schengen members / EU nationals.
The Swiss on the other hand routinely check passports. Not very well though, and often it’s enough to show the outside to be waved on. I know that my passport was on the verge of running out once, but I was not stopped. I’m not sure if it was because they didn’t look, or because they don’t mind. I would assume the latter.
That’s irrelevant. The OP is a british (hence also an European) citizen, not a mere resident. He doesn’t need any visa to enter and/or stay in France. Only a valid ID. The passport will do. I strongly doubt the ID needs to be valid for six months after his entrance on the french territory (once again since he’s an EU citizen), but I wouldn’t say for sure. The OP should call the nearest french consulate or embassy.
It seems to me that some posters are mistaking two different sets of regulations. The first applying to all EU citizens, and allowing them to enter/stay in another EU country with only an ID proving their citizenship, and the other applying to citizens and residents of countries which are part of the Schengen agreement (and not necessarily part of the EU : Norway) which allows them to move freely within the Schengen area.
For instance, as a french ** citizen **, I can enter and stay in both Germany (part of the Schengen area) and the UK (not part of the Schengen agreement) with only my french identity card, at any moment. Only difference : there won’t be a border check upon entering Germany, but there will be one upon entering the UK.
A friend of mine, Ukrainian citizen and legal **resident **in France, will be able to enter freely in Schengen Germany with a document proving she’s a legal resident in France (though she most probably won’t be asked to show it, since there’s no border check), but will need a visa to enter the non-Schengen UK.
I presume the arrangement for landing into the French side is the same as at Basle airport - two exits from the baggage hall, with the relevant flags above them. Pretty simple
Nope!
At least not last time I flew to Geneva. If you fly to the Swiss side, you have to pass through passport control before even getting to the baggage reclaim. And then there’s no way of getting to France - except going out in to Switzerland and walking around the entire airport.
But, as I said, it’s possible that Bromley is on some kind of charter trip where he will actually land directly in the French sector.
I don’t think so. The Schengen agreement lets citizen travel freely, but they must be able to prove their citizenship.
I have a driver’s license with the EU symbol and the Swedish ‘S’ in the center of the ring of stars. This is not enough to let me travel within Schengen, because it doesn’t tell my citizenship. There are quite a few immigrants/refugees in Sweden, with Swedish driver’s licenses, that look exactly the same, who will not be able to travel freely under the Schengen, because they are not citizens.
.