Timeline for Which European countries accept an expired national French ID?
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15 events
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| Sep 30, 2016 at 20:06 | comment | added | phoog | @Tor-EinarJarnbjo But a French ID card (issued in the relevant period) isn't legally expired for five years after the printed expiration date. So there's no need for a statement that "expired" ID cards are allowed because such a card is not expired. | |
| Sep 30, 2016 at 15:31 | comment | added | Crazydre | @Tor-EinarJarnbjo Could you please link that Statement? I do know that this has been historically accurate, but in all likelihood they simply haven't updated it, or maybe they don't define Extended ID Cards are expired. In any case, EU/EFTA states are obliged to accept any valid EU ID Card or passport. Since extended ID Cards are valid according to French law, i.e. a valid EU ID documents, EU countries are obliged to accept it | |
| Sep 30, 2016 at 15:28 | comment | added | Crazydre | @Vince Again, you will not even see any border guards, because France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy are part of the same "country", the Schengen Area. Only if you were to fly to/from the UK (for example) would you be checked by border guards. | |
| Sep 30, 2016 at 15:07 | comment | added | Tor-Einar Jarnbjo | According to the German Federal Ministry of the Interior's list of officially recognized foreign id and travel documents, French passports are also recognized if they are expired less than 5 years ago, while there is no remark that expired id cards are recognized. I would assume that this answer is wrong. | |
| Sep 30, 2016 at 14:34 | comment | added | Vince | @Crazydre the issue is precisely that it depends on so many individuals. If timatic says it's ok and the measure happened a year and a half ago I can expect border police are fine. But if a single one of them is not familiar and that's the one that checks my card, my entire trip is over. I will have my passport anyway, but for the future I prefer to keep in mind that 1. in theory it should be fine but 2. France does not guarantee the countries I am visiting are fine with it. | |
| Sep 30, 2016 at 13:27 | history | edited | Crazydre | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Sep 30, 2016 at 13:19 | comment | added | Crazydre | @Gilles I don't see how an embassy would get closer to the truth than Timatic. Like I said, airline employees go by Timatic, whereas border guards, of course, have the final say if you are checked by any to begin with (such as in the UK and Turkey). In this case the best thing would be to contact the immigration authority directly. I am at Zurich airport as we speak and just spoke to the airport police (who perform the border checks) and they said "of course" when I asked whether extended French IDs were valid. So at least for Switzerland we've got it from the horse's mouth so to speak | |
| Sep 30, 2016 at 13:14 | comment | added | Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' | Early on some people did get turned round at the border (non-Schengen, IIRC either Turkey or UK) despite Timatic claiming it was ok. Maybe these problems have been solved, but if so you should cite a source that isn't the one that was wrong before. Whether an extended French ID card is valid is (or was) a matter of contention — some states were saying that they would use the face reading, and not some separate claim of the French government, to decide on the expiration date. Maybe the lawyers proved them wrong, but what matters is what the border guards and airline employees think. | |
| Sep 30, 2016 at 13:08 | comment | added | Crazydre | Also @Gilles Within the EU and EFTA a French national with a valid ID card cannot be refused entry (again, not that there are any border checks). And an extended French ID card, although appearing to be expired, is 100% valid | |
| Sep 30, 2016 at 13:04 | comment | added | Crazydre | @Vince Timatic is what is used by all airlines when deciding whether to let a passenger board. And because Germany, Switzerland and Italy are Schengen countries there is no border control, so it's all up to the airline. That said, very often you won't even need to show any ID, just the boarding pass (except if checking in luggage) | |
| Sep 30, 2016 at 13:00 | comment | added | Crazydre | @Gilles Timatic gets their info directly from the border authorities, who regularly inform them of updates. The French government mainly relies on embassies, who are less authoritative than the border authorities in the destination countries | |
| Sep 30, 2016 at 12:56 | comment | added | Vince | @Gilles I think this is the official source I am looking for. I let you post it as an answer. | |
| Sep 30, 2016 at 11:43 | comment | added | Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' | Are they? Where does Timatic get its information? The French government says differently (many states have not officially said that they would accept cards after the printed expiration date). | |
| Sep 30, 2016 at 11:22 | history | edited | Crazydre | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Sep 30, 2016 at 11:14 | history | answered | Crazydre | CC BY-SA 3.0 |