The Brussels Story

About every couple of months, there's a curious story over the Schengen Agreement.

Back in the mid-1980s.....a couple of countries sat down and wrote up an agreement to control entry into their combined area.  The legal framework was simple.  You'd provide a passport, and you'd be limited to some time-period.  Today, twenty-six countries make up the Schengen area.

If you are entering the region, you show a passport.  You then have 90 days of access into that combined area.  At the end of that 90 days, you exit, and you must be out for a minimum of 90 days....before you re-enter again.

Some people often think that the 90 day rule isn't enforced.  You can ask around and find numerous people who exceeded the 90 days, and were told in blunt language that they've been put on some 'bad-boy' list and have problems entering now.

Can you avoid Schengen situation?  Some suggest that you could fly into Russia....make it to the Polish border....hop across the border (without any ID confrontation) and just tour Europe for months and months without any issue.  Course, as you fly out of Europe to the US....this topic of when and where you came in....will come up.

So, the story that pops up today comes of Brussels.  In the past week....some Nigab-dressed Dutch citizen had flown out of Tunisia....into Brussels, and was supposed to fly onto the Netherlands.  Two Schengen rules suddenly pop up.

First, the first moment you arrive in the Schengen region.....you have to ID yourself.  You pull out the passport, and they check their database.  It's a simple process....taking a maximum of 60 seconds. In this situation, the Dutch gal wearing the facial-covering of the Nigab....probably thought that this entry-procedure would not occur in Brussels....just at her end-point in the Netherlands. She was wrong.

Around six years ago.....Belgium drafted and passed a law that said you need to present an ID and show your face, when requested by the cops or border-entry people.  The Netherlands doesn't have such a law. There, just an ID presented....is enough.

So we come to problem number two.....she refuses to present her face.  They offered up a private room and even a female border person.....but the answer was no, it's not required in the Netherlands.

So the Brussels authorities said fine....no entry.  She was held for a number of hours, and then put back on a plane for Tunisia.  What happened upon arriving in Tunisia?  One can only assume that she briefly stopped and then tried to find a direct flight to the Netherlands.  I checked this option....well, yeah....there are no direct flights from Tunisia to Amsterdam.  Most of the options either connect via Frankfurt, Brussels, or Charles DeGaulle.

My humble guess is that she kept thinking that they'd back down on the brief removal of the Nigab and just let her pass.  The cost of the return to Tunisia?  It's stuck upon the airline and the lady in question.  My guess is that they will try to inform everyone leaving Tunisia and bound for Brussels in the future of the Nigab rule and ensure it's clear on the entry requirement.