THE Foreign Office has warned Brits to check their passports when leaving European countries or face being banned from travelling.
Since the UK left the EU, UK holidaymakers now receive stamps when entering or exiting any country in the Schengen Area.
This is along with the other rules which only allows Brits to stay for 90 days in an 180-day period.
However, a number of travellers have found that their passports are not being stamped when they leave, which could result in being banned from travelling.
This is because it can suggest that you overstayed your 90-day limit, as you never left the country.
The Foreign Office's latest advice warns: “Border guards will use passport stamps to check you’re complying with the 90-day visa-free limit for short stays in the Schengen area.
“If relevant entry or exit stamps are not in your passport, border guards will presume that you have overstayed your visa-free limit."
It added: “You can show evidence of when and where you entered or exited the Schengen area, and ask the border guards to add this date and location in your passport. Examples of acceptable evidence include boarding passes and tickets.”
However, last month, a woman was stopped from entering Spain due to a new passport error at the border, despite having evidence.
Linda, who was travelling from Gibraltar to Spain, was banned from entering the country due to her passport not having a Spanish exit stamp from a previous trip.
She told local Spanish media: “The guards initially stamped my passport to enter, then they noticed I had no exit stamp from that one-week visit in June, thereby classing me as an overstayer and subsequently marked the entry stamp with the letter F and two lines.
“Even though I have proof of returning to the UK via banking activity as well as the test and trace Covid app, the border guards would not accept or look at any proof nor let me speak to anyone that could help.
“My son, who speaks Spanish, tried to explain that I had other proof of returning to the UK but the guards would not accept or even consider looking at it.
“They just kept insisting that I had no stamp, that I had overstayed and would be arrested as illegal.”
We've also explained why you should never put a novelty stamp in your passport either.
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