das_das_das

I am a Canadian citizen and have been living in Norway, I had a residence permit which expired but I applied for a new one was allowed to continuously stay in Norway. I have been granted a new residence permit but I have not received it yet.

Currently the only papers I have:
- An expired residence permit
- A letter from the Norwegian immigration department stating that I have the same rights as before (work, stay, travel) while I waited for a decision on my permit.
- A letter stating I have been granted a residence permit.

I currently find myself in Germany and also need to travel to France before I can go back to Norway to get my residence permit. Due to the 'temporary' reintroduction of border controls in Germany[1] I wonder if this will present a problem for me, I technically do not have a residence permit, only a letter that a border control guard may or may not be sympathetic to.

Any advice? Will these papers be enough? It would be a big loss to cancel these trips, they are business related.

[1] http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0RN1XA20150923

das_das_das

I should add my travel plans are to travel from here (Germany) to France, then back to Germany.

bvlenci

I have traveled in Europe with an expired Italian residence permit and a letter saying that I had applied for a new one. (At that time, you often didn't get the new one until after it too had expired.) However, I don't know if this has any applicability to your situation.

hetismij2

Unless you are going via Austria or the Czech republic I can't see you having a problem with border controls.

das_das_das

@bvlenci
Did you go past any border controls? That is exactly my situation that I have only letters and no residence permit.

@hetismij2
http://www.thelocal.fr/20150916/germ...-french-border

hetismij2

Well I guess it depends on where you plan on crossing into France, and how you are going to France. Plenty of small unmanned crossing points between the two countries, or if you are really worried go via Luxembourg, Belgium or the Netherlands if going by car.
Going by train it matter not - you will always run the risk of a passport check on an international train.

bvlenci

This was over 15 years ago. I remember re-entering Italy from outside the Schengen area, but I don't remember where I was coming from. Probably the UK or the US. However, Italian immigration probably knew well the situation with getting residence permits renewed.

das_das_das

It is via airport

Cowboy1968

Border controls only affect land borders.
For air travel it is the same business as usual if you depart from Germany to a Schengen country, i.e. no border control.
Depending on which airline you use, you will not even show ID to anyone at the airport in Germany.