Expired Portuguese residence permit and flying through Amsterdam

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!

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

The reason why Customs can't help you is it is nothing to do with them; you should have spoken to the Koninklijke Marechaussee, they are the Dutch Military Police and are responsible for all operational immigration matters in the Netherlands.

The Dutch have just imposed a Travel ban on people entering the Netherlands for any reason, you can read a copy from the Dutch Government website; this link will take you there.  There are however exceptions to the ban and you need to check the list of exceptions and see if you fit in there.  If you don't, then 100%, you will not be permitted entry to the Netherlands.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hello!
Thank you so much for the information, it was very very helpful and I'm awaiting a response from the government. It seems that my portuguese temporary residence permit would be enough to get me in and out of the country, as the Dutch travel ban rules state that "Third-country nationals who derive their right of residence from other European Directives or from the national law of a Member State" are allowed entry. Now I just have to see if my expired permit/extension email will be enough.

Thank you!