How authorities are managing the law of freedom of traveling

[Yasser::Norske]

Hi! I'm non-EU spouse of EU citizen. I'm curious about the law of free movement of union citizens, because when I was traveling with my wife from an EU state to another, authorities didn't stamp or even checked passport of my wife (She is carrying a biometric Polish passport). According to the law, each EU citizen has the right to stay up-to 3 months in each state of the union states. My question is, how does the authorities count the 3 months as they DON'T stamp or check passports of the union citizen who arrived to their borders...

[John]

Under the terms of the EU Treaty they are not allowed to stamp passports when moving from one EU country to another.

As regards the question you pose, there is a further aspect of this, namely the Schengen Agreement, and most EU countries are signed up to that (but not the UK or Ireland). Indeed some non-EU members are also members of Schengen, such as Norway and Switzerland.

Between Schengen countries there are no immigration controls. For example, if you take a flight from Spain to Denmark, and we have actually done that, there is the normal check-in desk, to check in for the flight, but absolutely no immigration-style check, either on leaving Spain, or on arriving in Denmark.

So getting back to your question, the truth must be that EU countries do not have records of arrival or departure, on movement between EU countries, but that is not to say the matter is not important. For example say someone moves to another EU country, and starts exercising Treaty Rights as a self-sufficient person, within 3 months they will need to acquire sickness insurance in order exercise Treaty Rights in that way. But if it is clear they have been in the country for more than 3 months, and do not have the needed insurance, there could well be problems.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

So getting back to your question, the truth must be that EU countries do not have records of arrival or departure, on movement between EU countries, but that is not to say the matter is not important. For example say someone moves to another EU country, and starts exercising Treaty Rights as a self-sufficient person, within 3 months they will need to acquire sickness insurance in order exercise Treaty Rights in that way. But if it is clear they have been in the country for more than 3 months, and do not have the needed insurance, there could well be problems.

This is interesting. I was going to say almost the opposite. Or maybe I would say it is important and it isn't.

It is important, because after you have been resident for 5 years, you will have PR. And so measuring when those 5 years began can depend on the initial 90 days and what happened just after that. So it can put off PR.

It is not important because, as long as the EU citizen is working, the non-EU spouse has a clear right to reside. The couple could possibly be proportionately fined/punished for failing to apply for a Residence Card (which typically requires some exercising of treaty rights) after the initial 90 days, but they can not be kicked out of the country or refused a Residence Card if they are now (at the time of the delayed application) properly working.

[mastermind]

It is important, because after you have been resident for 5 years, you will have PR. And so measuring when those 5 years began can depend on the initial 90 days and what happened just after that. So it can put off PR.

It can't "put off PR" as PR is not "granted" by a member state, it is rather automatically "acquired" by a person after exercising treaty rights for 5 years.
Of course it can put off acquiring papers [from bureaucrats] confirming PR status which does not matter much for EU nationals but might be important for a non-EU spouse for example. To avoid this one might gather their own records of arrival, residence etc. (e.g. tickets/boarding passes, utility bills etc.)

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

It is important, because after you have been resident for 5 years, you will have PR. And so measuring when those 5 years began can depend on the initial 90 days and what happened just after that. So it can put off PR.

I agree. PR just happens, as is clear from the first highlighted section.

But when your period of residence starts depends on what the EU person was doing. If they Eu person starts working 60 days after arriving, then PR happens 5 years after arrival. But if the EU does not start looking for work until half a year after arriving, and starts work a little later, then that will PUT OFF when the PR happens since they were not exercising treaty rights between 90 days and when they started looking for work. See http://eumovement.wordpress.com/2011/05 ... nce-begin/