Passport Control Amsterdam, Budapest, Prague

[Polodad2]

We are flying into Amsterdam from CA next June for a Viking GTE. I assume we will go through passport control in Amsterdam. The cruise ends in Budapest where we are staying 4 nights then taking the train to Prague. After 4 nights in Prague we fly home to CA. Do we have to go through passport control in Budapest at the end of the cruise or before we get on the train to Prague? Do we then go through passport control in Prague on the way to CA?

Thanks.

[jpalbny]

1. You will go through passport control in AMS upon arrival. Have been through Schipol twice recently. Once 15 minutes. Other time, no line at all.

 

2. Both Hungary and Czhechia are in the Schengen zone. No passport control required. Not when you disembark, nor when you leave for Prague. 

 

3. On the way home, you only go through passport control once, and that's at the airport where you board the flight which takes you out of the Schengen zone. 

 

For example, if you're flying direct from Prague to the US, you'll go through passport control in Prague. If you have a connection in Paris, you'll not go through passport control until you change planes in CDG.

Edited December 30, 2022 by jpalbny

[Polodad2]

Thanks very much. Easy!

[RobInMN]

3 hours ago, jpalbny said:

For example, if you're flying direct from Prague to the US, you'll go through passport control in Prague. If you have a connection in Paris, you'll not go through passport control until you change planes in CDG.

Passport control at CDG SUCKS! Just went through there last week. Should have missed my flight back to the US, but since there were so many of us, they actually held the flight as long as they could (~25m), and most of us made it.

People divided into 3 lines. EU facial rec, US facial rec, and live agents. Only 6(?) facial rec machines total for both EU & US, and most people seemed to need to scan their passports twice to get it to work, and hardly any agents. Took forever.

If you have any option, I would go through AMS. Unfortunately, I'm just realized I'm going through CDG again in March. We'll see if it's any better arriving international. Thankfully we go through AMS on the way home.