I am very worried about my friend who doesn't seem to worry about her situation. I hope you can give me some advise here. She came from Chile to Switzerland in June 2008 ( she can visit Switzerland without a visa but only stay for 3 month) By that time Switzerland was not part of Schengen so she decided to leave Switzerland by airplane to Italy and then she returned by car and stayed in Switzerland since then!!!!I told her that she will have problems if she wants to get out of Schengen because she overstayed in Schengen even though she has a stamp in and out of Switzerland, isn't that right? She thinks that she can just go to immigration and stamp her passport as if she just arrived by car from outside CH...is that possible? I know she is nervous now but she doesn't want to show it. Her boyfriend got in a fight with her about this as well, he is Swiss...I just belive that she will be questioned by immigration about the time she left Switzerland and enter Italy....where did she go from there!!!she has no other stamp but the one entering Milan or Rome ( I'm not sure where in Italy)so it looks as if she stayed in Italy for 1 year and half!! Switzerland will care about her where abouts or maybe they will ignore that since her entry and exit from Switzerland is in order?

Thanks for any comments

Yeah, it all depends on the border official your friend gets. However, they have become more strict - especially since CH entered the Schengen. I have heard about more and more people getting fined after overstaying (this occurs when Non-EU/non Schengen members try to exit the area and must go through border control. In addition to fining they can also face harsher penalties (such as not being granted future visas to visit schengen). It's also possible that your friend gets randomly checked (her passport) while in CH/Schengen and if the officials sees the lack of stamps then she could face deportation. While this is a borderless area I do hear about random checks - of course when traveling between countries but also if a police sees someone that is clearly a foreigner. As an foreigner/expat we are required to carry our passports at all time (however I don't think anyone does this).

Not sure on what the good advice is here as the situation does not look promising. Either way she should prepare herself for all situations and I would also suggest not lying to border officials... they hear everything in the book and best to be just honest with them. good luck

Wow. This isn't just a simple case of overstaying - it's obviously a deliberate attempt to evade the process defined by the immigration law in Switzerland and the Schengen countries.

My guess would be a minimum of a lengthy ban on returning to Switerland and probably the same for the Schengen area. I would also expect the boyfriend, with whom I am guessing she is staying without having registered, to be in big trouble.

on the bright side, she's lived with her boyfriend for 15 months and it must be working. Marriage can save the day

What does Schengen think of Chilean visitors? Crossing the border in a car is not hard; why not apply for a permit to come for marriage and go collect it in Stuttgart?

Or she can keep hiding under the bed every time the doorbell rings, I suppose

There are quite a lot of people in the same situation. You can consult this website for more information: http://www.sans-papiers.ch/site/index.php?id=13&L=5

Q: if one schengen country has stamped passport during entry to Schengen (for those who need visa and stamp), then will another country stamp it again?

One post with comments from an overstayer.

but I can't find the one I am looking for, from the Indian business professional who had been permanently (ie - for life) banned from all Schengen countries for overstaying.

Thanks for your your reply...yes that is what i think, at the end all depends on the officials. What if she "looses her passport and get a new one to go back to her country, could be effective? or they will still have her passport number in the computers?

yep, they are planning on getting married next year but with all this issues I think will be very difficult to do the paper work with her passport been under the knife

Hmmmm good question but in her case she already overstayed, I think it doesnt matter where she stamp her passport at this point

I didn't want to create a new thread.

Came back to Osaka thorugh frankfurt.
The customs guy asked for my Swiss permit (biometric, if that matters) but he didn't stamp my passport. I was flipping through the pages and I noticed it.

Are there any problems I might get into?

I travel through Milan airport quite often out of Schengen area and while departing, the officials never look at the passport but open the first available space / page and stamp it. Some of my peers have traveled through Milan and Paris and the passports were never stamped but scanned by using the passport scanners. So i guess it all depends on your / your friends luck.

However, since your friend traveled to Italy from Switzerland, she would have a corresponding exit(Switzerland) and entry(Italy) stamp as Switzerland was not part of Schengen until December 2008. how does one explain the missing exit stamp?

Now I remember why I shouldn't do this.. the almighty "reply to first post"...

at least we have good intro

actually, the answer is there......the passport has been scanned and thus no stamp is needed - the information is in some database somewhere.......

I'm just paranoid worried about not officially being in CH. My passport would say that I left Japan. (Interesting to note, the stamp for Japan is a QR thingy)

After 25 years of traveling between Italy and Swizerland, I have NEVER had a passport stamped.

Tom

dude in 10 years of IT/CH border-crossing, I have never shown my passport!!

They definitely scan your passport and store the info when you come through - I returned last year to Switzerland after a short holiday in my home country (Australia), on an expired residency permit, but with a letter to say it was 'approved'... there was a paperwork problem when we moved house, and we thought the permits were just 'in the post'.

My passport scanned up immediately. The border control officer then requested my residency card, pointed out that it was expired (the passport scan told him that) and I produced the letter.

Lucky for me, the letter was enough to allow me through, and a follow up with the Gemeinde urgently on return had things sorted pretty quickly...

There is a *big difference* between overstaying your visa, and having the right to live in Switzerland and travel around the EU. They may not 'stamp' passports any more, but they definitely scan your passport and store that data...

Did you fly between Switzerland and Italy before Dec 2008? Are u NON-EU