Kerey

Hi,

I am an Irish Erasmus student staying in France.

I just travelled from France to Switzerland for a weekend trip, and only realized this morning that I had forgotten my passport back in my apartment in France. I was not checked entering Switzerland. Luckily, I found a scanned copy of my passport on my computer and hope to present it at customs in Basel Train Station via my Android Phone. Will this suffice? I also have my Irish bankcard and the punched train tickets from entering Switzerland, etc, to confirm my identity.

Basel is my interconnecting city from Zurich this morning, so I will only have 40 minutes to make my connection. I am truly terrified. On one hand they, could wave me through once I explain, or they could detain me and fine/arrest(?) me. If anyone has some practical advice for me, it would be much appreciated. Has anyone experienced a similar instance?

-Kerey

waggis

Kerey, since you're leaving Switzerland, this should present less of a problem than if discovered at your entry.

Good luck!
Waggis

Kerey

Waggis, thanks so much! Fingers crossed.

thursdaysd

I can't imagine what Wiggis is basing that rosy prediction on.

Before you get your hopes up, I recommend reading this:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...prosecuted.cfm

Kerey

Read it all, the reason I joined this site actually. Simular but different situation. I don't think they even had a photocopy.

thursdaysd

A photocopy is not a legal document.

You are in Switzerland without legally required documentation.

If stopped, you may be fined.
If stopped, you may or may not be allowed to proceed.
NO-ONE can predict whether you will be stopped. Certainly no-one on this site.

flanneruk

The overwhelming likelihood is that you won't be checked at any point. There's no automatic system of ID checking on train journeys between Switzerland and its neighbours. Or, indeed, on any other surface journeys.

It's also true that in Switz, as in France, you're legally required to carry ID - which has to be (for most Western Europeans) a national ID card, or (for Brits, Irish and non-European) a passport. But it's also true that, in not having one on you, you won't be the first (or even in the first ten million)

If it comes to light you're without legal ID - in France or in Switz - you're liable to some kind of legal sanction. Your most sensible course is to go back to Paris more or less as soon as possible, and explain your situation to any policeman or (unlikely) border checker you might be stopped by as politely as possible. The overwhelming likelihood is you'll be sternly told not to forget your passport again. No policeman's likely to want the paperwork of detaining you, as long as you look otherwise legit.

Whatever you do: don't worry or do anything stupid.

I once smuggled a colleague over the France/Switz border near Basle in the boot of a car under circs like yours, back in the (long dead) days of passport control. We got away with it: but in retrospect it was an object lesson in turning a trivial gaffe into a serious criminal offence.

Kerey

Hi Flanneruk, thank you so much for your brilliant comment. I don't expect a miracle, but your words help me find the courage I need to power on and deal with the consequences, whatever they are.

I do feel an itch to to do something rash; like book a hostal for the week, while I wait for my roomate to ship it over, but there is so much that could go wrong with that and my money limited.

Yeah, it's so weird. In Ireland we never need or have anything like that. Number one leason for passports is to tuck it away and only carry it when getting a plane away on vaction. Still, lesson learned. It will be glued to my person from now on.

Bording in ten, will let you all know how I get on.

X

bilboburgler

Do not get picked up by the police for anything, J walking, sleeping on a bench etc are all crimes in that country and no passport will be an issue, take care.

As I always say, my parents fought a war so as to not have to carry a passport at all times (amongst other things).

Cowboy1968

While it is of zero relevance for OP, Switzerland is one of the countries in Europe that does NOT make it mandatory for ITS citizens to have or carry a national ID card or passport.

WeisserTee

The OP should be safely back in France by now, but overall, be careful. You are not likely to be asked for ID, but you might be. In recent weeks, when I've taken the local bus from Basel to France and back (it's a 10 minute trip), French and Swiss border control police have boarded the bus on about 50% of those trips and demanded to see everybody's ID. The Swiss ID cards get a cursory glance; every other form of ID gets carefully checked. I've also seen border police walk through the regional TER trains, spotchecking people for ID.

It's much less likely to happen on a train, but all the same, it can and does happen.

Hope the OP is more careful in the future!

sandralist

Just curious, but is there an Irish consulate someone could go to for assistance who might provide temporary documents? Surely there are situations where Irish or other European citizens lose a passport in Switzerland, or have it stolon or ruined when inadvertantly dropped in water, etc. I suppose in this situation the Irish citizen was morally to "blame", but functionally he or she is in the same boat as someone innocent of any wrongdoing who finds themself without a passport?

In Italy, I would go to the American consulate for help. There are several in Italy, in the larger cities.