StCirq

I don't have, or need, a residency permit, though I can apply for one if I want. As an Irish citizen I have the right to live here permanently. I have two passports - one U.S. and one Irish. My husband has the right to live here, as e is married to me, but will have to get a carte de résidence. I'll have to check and see if his U.S. passport has stamps in it from our recent entries into the country.

PalenQ

Of course, an Irish passport lets you move throughout the EU - stooopid of me not to think of that!

Cheers!

StCirq

Yep.

kerouac

Both my French and American passports are stamped only about once every 3 or 4 times in Europe or the U.S. Always stamped in Asia.

janisj

My experiences is similar to kerouac's (US Passport only) . . . sometimes stamped/sometimes not in the UK and Europe - always stamped in Asia.

hetismij2

My British passport is always stamped for teh US, and rarely even looked at when returning to Schengen. Going to UK they scan it and examine it, and question us, but never stamp it.
Of course should Brexit happen I will be in a very different situation.
At the end of this year though I qualify for Dutch nationality with the ability to retain my UK nationality too, something I haven't been able to do until now. When I turn 60 though I can. I shall look into the cost of it, and if Brexit happens I shall probably do it. It will just make life easier.

PalenQ

Passport stamps are archaic - with readable passports do they scan them as they should and then scan them on your way out - a stamp today may be not needed.

hetismij2

True, but people like collecting the stamps,don't they?

fourfortravel

The stamps may be archaic (in the EU), but I love collecting them nonetheless. We were driving into Croatia from Slovenia about a week before the country officially joined the EU, and at the border I asked if our (US) passports could be stamped. The border officer looked at me as if I were nutty, but, he did stamp our books!

I miss visas, too. Thankfully not every country has gone to an electronic version (yet), so there are some travel reminders still in my passport book.

thursdaysd

You miss visas? Are you nuts? Passport stamps are one thing, but visas cost money and often a lot of time and effort. Have you ever applied for a Russian visa, for instance? An Indian visa?

thursdaysd

Sorry - had not had my morning coffee. Realize you meant the physical existence of the visa, not the visa itself. I'm considering a trip to Central Asia, and am not looking forward to the visa situation there.

emilya4

Apparently this happens a lot in Vienna, and it is a shame. I do think it's intentional and they do seem to target tourists.

janisj

>>Apparently this happens a lot in Vienna, . . . .>I do think it's intentional and . . . > . . . they do seem to target tourists.

PalenQ

Apparently this happens a lot in Vienna, and it is a shame. I do think it's intentional and they do seem to target tourists.>

Yes I join janis in asking what you base that on- those damning comments on Viennese transit authorities - that don't pass the smell test- intentional and target tourists - what leads you to say that - any proof?

Don't confuse an entity that does rigorous checks and perhaps has a zero tolerance policy with downright chicanery as charged.

So yes what do you base that on?

I think the Viennese transit enforcers should give legitimate tourists a break like the OP but an't argue with what the law says and in no way would they get away with targeting tourists IMO.

nytraveler

Don't understand why tourists should get a break. As every cop says when they stop you - ignorance of the law is no excuse.

This applies to transit in europe - as well as a lot of other things.

I'm amazed that so many tourists think they are so special they deserve so many extra chances to do things wrong.

And Austria/Germany are not places where one should be given a special deal when breaking the law.

fourfortravel

thursdaysd, as a matter of fact I have applied for a Russian visa as recently as last fall. A bureaucratic (and expensive) adventure, to say the least. It arrived in the last hour of the last business day before we traveled. Whew. (And yes, I miss the stamps, not the process. )

nytraveler, sight topic hijack, but why did you all usher in this arctic weather for our holiday? DD, her BF and I arrived yesterday for the half-term break and we are COLD! No ice skating for us today--we will be warm and toasty inside a museum.

Back on topic...just for fun when I return to Vienna, I am going to attempt to recreate the OP's original complaint, right down to speaking English to a ticket officer. I'll even take photos to show the ease of purchasing and validating a transit pass. Not that I have any crazy notion that doing so will end this discussion...

nytraveler

My guess is that you can't recreate this. The more I read the story the less sense it makes. If the OP has a pass and walked over to the agent to ask how to use it why would they start yelling? Sounds much more like the OP was caught and tried to play the stupid tourist card.

And the cold we're getting now is only a balance the weirdly warm Nov and Dec we had. And last year in Feb the average HIGH was 22. So a couple cold days are not unexpected.

justineparis

Well we give our tourists a break.. being Canadian and all.. we would rather be nice then right..

( Tourists who park incorrectly in our inner harbour area are given tourist warning tickets.. locals get fined)..

Cowboy1968

How do your cops know?
Last time I visited Canada my rental car had the plates of that province I rented it.
So how would the cops know that I was a tourist, but not a local?

Whathello

Fun thread.

Cops are usually nicer to tourists in my experience.
In Vancouver I got stopped by 2 cops.
I said 'yes hello what can I do for you ?' Answer (polite but bemused) : what ? Don't you realize what you just did ?
Me : what did I do ?
After more I realized I had crossed the street outside zebra crosses.
The other cop then said 'let him go he is from Europe he doesn't even realize ...
Got stopped by police in U.S. When drinking from a can of beer in the street : cop 'sir you cannot go that ! Were you not given s brown paperbag ? - err yea, I threw it away, why ?

Maybe I am nicer in real life than on forums but I got away unscathed a few times.