Schengen Zone reentry via state other than residency

[marm1te]

I would like to know if anyone has ever encountered or heard of problems returning to the Schengen zone via a country other than where one's residency* is held? I'm hoping I'm right in expecting the EU territories would recognise & respect the permit on arrival however perhaps more concerned by airport staff in Morocco looking at her Spanish permit when looking to board a plane to Paris, for example.

* My wife is Moroccan national who is resident in Spain (5yr residents permit exercising treaty rights as the spouse of a EU national resident in Spain).

[taiwanluthiers]

I would like to know if anyone has ever encountered or heard of problems returning to the Schengen zone via a country other than where one's residency* is held? I'm hoping I'm right in expecting the EU territories would recognise & respect the permit on arrival however perhaps more concerned by airport staff in Morocco looking at her Spanish permit when looking to board a plane to Paris, for example.

* My wife is Moroccan national who is resident in Spain (5yr residents permit exercising treaty rights as the spouse of a EU national resident in Spain).

It doesn't matter... they all have common borders so if you boarded a flight to Spain, and have a connection in Paris, then your passport control is in Paris. There are no controls from Paris to Spain.

I entered Netherlands with a residence permit from Germany...

[marm1te]

taiwanluthiers, thank you for your answer however you misunderstand my question. I am aware that travel within the Schengen Zone is fine and I even believe that re-entry into the Schengen Zone where the entry point is a state other than where residency is held should always be fine at that European entry point. My concern however is at the departure point and check-in Africa or Asia - they usually err on the side of caution for fear of huge penalties when papers are not in order. Hence my question is seeking absolute knowledge of the rules on this and, just as importantly, any cases where problems might have been encountered despite the law.

So - for the holder of a 5yr Spanish residency permit - who would otherwise require a visa to enter the Schengen Zone - is boarding a flight in Casablanca, Bangkok or Buenos Aires, TO Paris or Berlin or Venice, going to cause issues?

Thanks.

[taiwanluthiers]

You are allowed to stay in any Schengen countries for up to three months (official rule) if you have a residence permit for any of its member states. So you will not encounter any problem. Also (I got this from the German embassy when I had my residence permit) you're allowed to transit/stay in any member state other than the one you have a visa for 5 days IF you have a type D visa and haven't changed it into a national residence permit YET. After that you may stay for up to 3 months.

I believe they changed the rules to where you can go anywhere in the schengen area on a type D visa for up to 90 days. I still recommend changing the type D visa into a residence permit ASAP though... but that is a moot point for you since you already have a residence permit so you can go to any schengen country for up to 3 months (and it's not like they're going to know anyways since they don't check when going between schengen countries)

[MSH]

marm1te:

Listening to advice given over the internet can bring about a slew of nasty consequences if said advice is WRONG.

You do what you deem the best, this is your prerogative of course, but I would make damn sure by writing the airline as well as the Morrocan embassy in my home country to ask how they view a person in your wife's situation as well as what their standard modus operandi is.

DO NOT GO thinking it'll PROBABLY be OK, or that 'someone on the internet told me it would be a cake-walk..'

THAT's a recipe for disaster. Ask me how I know..

Best of luck,

MSH.