Passports, please.

September 10, 2008 11:40 AM

What, exactly, does a Schengen-zone immigration officer at an airport see on his screen when he scans my machine-readable, has-entered-the-Schengen-zone-before non-Schengen passport? I'd love to see a screenshot, or just an explanation of the information available to the officer at first glance.
posted by mdonley to travel & transportation (4 comments total)

The bar code just contains the information that is written on your passport. It is fed into their database and compared with names of wanted individuals or people denied entry into the country/EU. Your passport doesn't contain any secret files on you and the customs official doesn't have a dossier on you.
posted by JJ86 at 1:43 PM on September 10, 2008

the customs official doesn't have a dossier on you

This is probably not true. Many (most?) countries keep detailed records of people's travels and (I'm told) a surprisingly large amount of other information, but lack details as I would have needed a security clearance to find out what kind of details are assembled. I don't know if these records come up on-screen when the official scans the passport, but I imagine at least the more pertinent vital statistics would be available if the officer wanted it.

(I have also used a sort of freedom-of-information kind of law to access some of the departure records kept on me by customs/immigrations of a country to use as proof of my whereabouts to another country's govt.)
posted by -harlequin- at 4:00 PM on September 10, 2008

the customs official doesn't have a dossier on you

they have one on me and I don't have any kind of criminal record (but I do have a EU-passport). one guy at heathrow made a passing comment on me being so well-travelled, another one in hamburg welcomed me back "after all these years." at the very least they know where I've left to and come from and of course when.
posted by krautland at 4:52 PM on September 10, 2008

When I entered Austria (on my way home to the US) after being in the Republic of Moldova during Christmas/New Year's/Orthodox Christmas for the second time in two years, the Zollbeamter raised his eyebrow and said “What is going on in Moldova that time of year?”

The only thing the American officials said when I arrived home was “next, please.”
posted by vkxmai at 6:40 PM on September 10, 2008