one way or return airline ticket?

[johncar54]

Apologies that this not exactly equal, but when my wife came to Spain with me after we were married it was on a One Way as the visa was for 'family reunion' i.e. to settle in Spain with me.

There was a ‘funny’ situation thro. We first arrived in Europe at Frankfurt and, as I discovered later, that was where my wife should have ‘been admitted’ to Schengen Area. I was a bit stroppy with the official who started looking at my wife passport and told him we were in transit to Spain. He let us pass.

When we arrived in Malaga we just walked through, no immigration control, so I told a police officer that my wife had just arrived from Phil. He said we were just to go to our nearby police station the next day.

When we went there, they asked where the arrival stamp was. So back to Malaga, they said the stamp should have been done in Frankfurt and implied we should return there for it. I am a former UK police officer and for 15 years have been a voluntary translator at a police station in Spain, so I chatted around the problem and finally we got the stamp.

[A_flyer]

That's an usual problem with Schengen. Your POE is the first airport in the schengen space. That's where immigration and customs are done. After you're inside Schengen and so even going to another country it's a domestic flight (meaning no immigration nor customs).

I know several people that had problems to prove the entry in the final country to start the residency card process.

For my Wife, as I was aware of the issue we kept all the boarding pass till Toulouse and with them and the passport stamped in Amsterdam we were able to prove the date of entry in France.

For all entering Schengen space in another country that the future residency country, it's important to find a way to prove the entry date in the country. John use the Spanish one, me the French one. It all depend on the country. Best is always ask police or immigration at the airport of the residency country when you arrive there.