Hello all,
Like many of you, my travel plans have been thrown out of order by COVID, and I'm afraid I'm going to run into some problems at the airport. I have tried to speak with multiple people at customs but unfortunately, they were of no help. Here is my situation:
My Portuguese temporary residence visa expired on February 22, but I have an appointment for renewal in June, and I have a copy of the official email that acts as an extension to my permit until that time. I was set to fly back to the states this week out of Lisbon, but my flight was canceled and the only other one I could get was with an overnight in Amsterdam.
I have flown many times in and out of Portugal with my expired permit, and the email was enough to get me through customs without a problem. Now I am worried that I will have some problems with customs at the airport in Amsterdam. The email works for Portuguese customs, but I have not had to use it with another country so far, and I cannot find any info about whether they would even accept it.
People have said that if you have a Schengen visa and it expires, you can leave the area for a day and come back for the 90 days as a tourist without penalty. I did leave the Schengen area and returned on February 23rd, the day after my permit expired, but I am not sure if those rules apply to temporary residence permits as they do to visas. Again I have not been able to find any clear information.
Has anyone had any experience with this sort of situation? Sorry for all the information, I tried to make it as clear as possible. Thank you!