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My daughter was ticketed 1200 Euro for staying in greece about 5 months instead of 90 days. She left via train leaving behind most of her belongings to go to Turkey (troy & ephesus), and they pulled her off in the middle of the night, made her sign the ticket and let her proceed. Do you think the amountt is correct, and any other helpful info on how the law is supposed to work and how it does really work. We had gotten poor info from the embassy before she left and had issues getting them to return messages. I am sincerely sorry to hear about your daughter's bad experience at the border. I will be glad to provide you with what I hope will be some helpful information. 1. The penalty amount of Euros 1200 was
correct. The minimum penalty amount is Euros 500 if someone exceeds their
automatic tourist visa stay for a period of less than an additional 30
days. If someone is caught having resided in Greece for more than an
additional 30 days, but less than an additional 90 days then the penalty is
Euros 1200. If someone exceeds their tourist visa by more than 90 days,
then the penalty is Euros 1500, which is the maximum penalty.
2. The border police who are stationed at the
Greek-Turkish border are typically in a bad mood as this duty assignment is
generally viewed as being a kind of official "punishment" for the individual
Greek police officers who get placed there. Its considered to be a
bad assignment and they typically hate every minute that are forced to work
there. Thus, they typically try their best to be as efficient as they
can and catch as many "law breakers" as they can so that they can show
their superiors that they are "good" cops who deserve another chance at
doing real police work in the real world. Unfortunately, your
daughter's honest mistake of exceeding the 90 day limit provided one of those
cops with an easy "gold star" on his "good behavior" report card.
3. You are correct in that she would
never have been fined if she did not try to go to Turkey. If she had kept
her touring itinerary limited to Greece, France, Italy, and Germany, she would
never have been fined in any of those countries. These countries are all
"Schengen Treaty" countries. This means, that all persons who are located
in any of these countries can travel from country to country freely and without
going through passport controls. To better understand it, its like an
American traveling from State to State. Anyone in America, including
illegal immigrants, can travel across state borders without needing to show
anyone their passports or any other form of identification. You might need
to show a picture ID when you "check-in" at the airport when boarding a flight
from New York to Los Angeles, but you certainly don't need to have a
passport. But, countries who have not signed the Schengen Treaty,
including Turkey and England, do require that everyone entering or leaving their
countries produce valid passports. Thus, if she did not go to Turkey and
instead went on to Italy or France, she would never have been fined by the Greek
police authorities. However, if she flew from Greece to London, then she
definitely would have been fined just as she was fined for going to
Turkey.
4. She will not be fined in Germany or
anywhere else. The people who work in Greek embassies are often not very
well informed and sometimes mislead people or, as you noted, give poor
information. The Border Police were correct. If she pays the fine,
then her 90 days will start anew. When she left Greece on the train to
Turkey, the police stamped her passport with an "Exit" stamp along with a
"Penalty Stamp", which indicates that she was fined for exceeding her stay for a
certain number of days and that she had not yet paid the fine. When she
returns to Greece, she can pay the fine and that will automatically renew her
tourist visa for another 90 days. Until the fine is paid, her name will
appear on a "black list" of persons who will not be allowed entry into
Greece. The list is maintained for 5 years, therefore if she decides to
return to Greece within the next 5 years for whatever reason, she will be asked
to pay the fine at the border before she is allowed to re-enter Greece. If
she does not return to Greece, then she does not really need to pay the
fine. The fine could have been completely avoided if she had applied for an
extension to her regular tourist visa. This is a mild hassle that would
have cost her about Euros 300, but would have given her an additional 90 days of
legal tourist status in Greece and throughout the European Union. She
would have been able to visit Turkey and London without risking having to pay
any fines.
5. After her visit to Turkey, she can legally
enter Germany, Italy, France, England, or any other country in Europe (except
Greece) and not deal with fines of any kind. The Greek Border police stamp
in her passport that indicates that she exited Greece and entered Turkey
provides for a completely new time frame for her "new" visit to the European
Union. The other countries know that since the Greek Border police stamped
her passport upon exiting Greece, that all visa violations and other time
related issues were dealt with by them. They will only address issues that
concern her new visit to a European Union Country and typically they will not be
particularly interested in giving an American citizen tourist type person a
hassle.
In summation: Tell your daughter to relax and
not to worry about it too much. I am sure that she was not happy with
getting fined, but we all can make such mistakes. A friend of mine, who is
in his mid 70's, decided to bring his mother to visit Greece. His mother
is about 100 and she was born in Greece. She migrated to America as a 16
year old girl and eventually got her American citizenship and had never returned
to Greece since leaving it back in 1925. Technically, since she was born
and raised in Greece, she was still a Greek citizen, but she did not have a
Greek passport or other means to prove it. She stayed in Greece for a few
days over the 90 day tourist visa time limit, and yes, believe it or not, they
hit that old Greek woman with a Euro 500 fine. She spoke perfect Greek and
everyone could see that she was a Greek, but the cops would not give this woman
a break.
Anyway, let me know if you need any other
information or clarifications.
Best regards,
Tom Mazarakis
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