Wingover wrote:
Do you have to do it in the “first port of entry” or can you do it at the final destination?
In principle, it is very much done on first port of entry. 100% so if you exit airside at any point, and theoretically also 100% in other cases.
However, I’ve seen some airports in Central / Eastern Europe will treat a fuel stop as a fuel stop without clearing customs nor immigration (when I stayed purely airside). But then the system breaks down somewhat, the next country sees an intra-EU flight and doesn’t send their customs officers. 🤷
Wingover wrote:
My issue is that I am a Canadian citizen living in Portugal and was told that I could run into problems clearing customs in other EU countries and should fly directly to Portugal when coming from outside the EU since other EU countries don’t really care that I live in Portugal and may count my stay as “over stay”.
Claptrap, assuming your have a Portuguese resident card. With that resident card (and your passport), you have (for temporary stays) freedom of movement in all of the EU+EFTA, and within the Schengen zone without undergoing any border check. Now, if you want to move to another EU country, that’s another question.
However, I’ve seen some airports in Central / Eastern Europe will treat a fuel stop as a fuel stop without clearing customs nor immigration (when I stayed purely airside). But then the system breaks down somewhat, the next country sees an intra-EU flight and doesn’t send their customs officers.
There was one very famous German pilot who fairly forcefully argued here that a “tech stop” works in Europe but I now think he either was not actually doing it, or he was doing it in Belgrade where it didn’t matter because he departed from Stuttgart and flew on to Alexandria or Cairo, so both ends had Customs/Immigration anyway so would not have cared about what happened in Belgrade.
Peter wrote:
“tech stop” works in Europe
Tech stops do work, but at some places you have to taxi first to apron, get your wrenches and screwdrivers out, open the cowling, nod your head visibly for the tower and all of a sudden decide the mysterious engine problem must be checked with brand new fuel … ;-). There is a reason refuelling can take an hour.
However, I’ve seen some airports in Central / Eastern Europe will treat a fuel stop as a fuel stop without clearing customs nor immigration (when I stayed purely airside).
I used to do that regularly at some French airports before Croatia joined Schengen, depending where was more convenient to perform immigration check.
My issue is that my residence card expired a few weeks ago and Portugal is so behind on renewals. I’m told by my lawyer that it can take up to 6 months since there are over 400,000 people waiting.
