r/Europetravel • u/orcadesign • Feb 27 '25
Customs, VAT etc. Schengen rule if travelling from London to Amsterdam
I am from Canada and I’m aware that UK is not part of schengen and I have to apply some kinda temporary visa to UK. Then I’m planning to take a train from London to Amsterdam, so how will they stamp my passport to start the schengen? As far as I know there’s no immigration at the train.
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u/dullestfranchise Feb 27 '25
As far as I know there’s no immigration at the train.
You pass immigration at the train station in London
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u/souphead1 Feb 27 '25
yep. did this exact round trip a few years ago, get to the train stations early AF. multiple rounds of passport checks.
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Feb 27 '25
At St Pancras I passed 2 passport controls: the British to exit UK and immediately after the French to enter the Schengen area. Two different counters immediately one after the other.
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Feb 28 '25
Yeah just like a regular land border. Leave Country A, toddle along a few metres, present your docs again to enter Country B.
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u/YetAnotherInterneter Feb 27 '25
The Eurostar is different to other trains. It feels a lot more like taking a flight. You will go through airport-style security and French border control at St Pancras station.
France, Belgium & The Netherlands have a special agreement with the UK which allows each other’s border guards to carry out border checks in the origin station. So French border guards are in London and British border guards are in Paris & Brussels.
When travelling from Amsterdam to London it use to be the case that you would need to get off the train in Brussels to go through UK border control. However I believe they have recently opened a UK border check in Amsterdam so now you can stay on the train the entire route.
It’s important that you need to arrive at the station about 60-90 minutes before the departure time to clear security and immigration. The can often be very long queues.
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u/otto_bear Feb 27 '25
I can confirm that they now do a check in Amsterdam. I took the Eurostar from Amsterdam to London in January 2024 and went through border checks before boarding the train.
The border check area is quite small for the number of passengers crammed into it and wasn’t all that well run the day I was there (the office opened late and officers would just yell at people who were confused rather than just explaining that they weren’t open). Once they opened they had us go through a brief security check, then go through a stand stamping us out of the EU and another stamping us into the UK.
After that, everyone was asked to stay in a small waiting room until the train arrived. We were not allowed back onto the platform until the train pulled up and the room was very crowded by that point.
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u/cuplajsu Feb 28 '25
They are back in Amsterdam and Rotterdam too after a hiatus, since this month. The direct return trip (Amsterdam to London) is back, and Dutch authorities and British authorities are back in Amsterdam and Rotterdam centraal stations. Amsterdam centraal right now is going through a lot of renovation work and the Eurostar terminal was shut for a year, making return passengers change in Brussels.
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u/Fresh_Relation_7682 Feb 27 '25
You have to consider that for immigration purposes the Eurostar waiting area in St.Pancras is in France (Schengen country). So you pass through security checks, UK exit border and France entry border before you enter the train.
For this reason you should arrive 60 minutes or so before departure to have time to clear these checks. Once you arrive in Amsterdam (or Brussels if you need to make a connection) you depart the train as if it were a domestic service. On a very rare occasion may you be stopped by local police for customs checks, I've only ever seen this happen once though (in Brussels Midi).
As far as I know Canada has visa-free agreement with the UK but there is the new visa-waiver system coming online soon.
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u/orcadesign Feb 27 '25
Thanks for your answer. Does that means the train will go to France first before going to Amsterdam? I checked the schedule and the train will be leaving around 6:00am and I’m thinking to get to St Pancras station by 5:00am at least.
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u/ajeleonard Feb 27 '25
The end of the channel tunnel is in France so by definition all trains first enter Schengen there
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u/Fresh_Relation_7682 Feb 27 '25
The border guards are French officials.
But yes, the train has to go through France because of geography. Some will have a stop at Lille (but not all).
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u/Realistic-River-1941 Feb 27 '25
The other end of the Channel Tunnel is in France, so you have to pass through France even if the train doesn't stop. The French do all the checks for entering Schengen: there aren't separate Belgian or Dutch facilities in the London station.
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Feb 27 '25
"as far as you know"
well, there is immigration control for trains going in and out of the Schengen area - either you queue up to go through passport control before you board (as is the case for the Eurostar, which is why you need to arrive at the station early), or you'll have border guards get on the train and check papers at the border or at the first stop after crossing
in fact, sometimes you have immigration officers doing checks even if you are crossing borders within the Schengen zone (it has happened to me crossing the Øresund bridge) - you always have to carry documentation when you cross international borders
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u/rybnickifull Croatian Toilet Expert Feb 27 '25
You pass the EU border in London. Stamping passports isn't very common anymore, everything is on digital record.
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u/polishprocessors European Feb 27 '25
I don't know about that, admittedly i haven't taken the EuroStar ever, but every time I fly from the UK to the continent (on my non-EU/UK passport) I get stamped...
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u/orcadesign Feb 27 '25
Yup I’m aware if taking flight then my passport get stamped.
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u/rybnickifull Croatian Toilet Expert Feb 27 '25
I flew to Canada last year on a UK passport - no stamp at all.
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u/Trudestiny Feb 27 '25
Won’t get stamped entering Uk from Canada unless you go to an agent , canadians use the egates so quick .
No exit stamp from uk , but you will be stamped by French immigration at St pancras when taking train to Amsterdam
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Feb 27 '25
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u/Roxelana79 Feb 27 '25
I go multiple times to London by Eurostar, and they never stamp my passport. In Brussels I use the full automatic gates, so there isn't even someone to actually stamp it.
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u/Trudestiny Feb 27 '25
Even when i’ve used automatic gates in Eu , i scan & then get stamped by an agent as it’s their only way to track the 90 days for the moment .
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u/YetAnotherInterneter Feb 27 '25
The Schengen countries are in the process of getting rid of their passport stamps in favour of electronic records.
However there have been a lot of delays because not all ports of entry have the electronic systems set up. I think the current ETA is Summer 2025, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it gets pushed back further.
So for now, yes you still get a stamp when entering/exiting the Schengen zone.
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u/orcadesign Feb 27 '25
But London is not part of schengen though. So how will they know?
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Feb 27 '25
For practical terms the border is in the train station.
You go through british passport control than through french (Eu) Passport control. After that you can go to your train
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u/orcadesign Feb 27 '25
I see that makes more sense that there’s technically an immigration at London St.Pancras.
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u/rybnickifull Croatian Toilet Expert Feb 27 '25
Because you pass the EU border in London at St Pancras.
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Feb 27 '25
They were searching my wife's entry stamp from Italy in the Gare Du Nord before stamping her out so we can pass the British customs to go to London in June 2024. So yes, Paris customs do love stamps.
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u/Roxelana79 Feb 27 '25
You go through immigration at checkin.
First ticket is checked when going through the gates. Then luggage is checked, same as in airport. Then there is immigration.
And then you are in the waiting area.
I guess Amsterdam is same as Brussels, aka, get off the train and just go on your merry way.
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u/orcadesign Feb 27 '25
No immigration whatsoever at Amsterdam and Brussel. I just came back from both countries.
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u/Roxelana79 Feb 27 '25
Immigration in Brussels to get on the Eurostar, not when you come back. Exact what I said.
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u/Realistic-River-1941 Feb 27 '25
There are French (on behalf of Schengen) border checks before you board the train in London St Pancras station.
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Oct 28 '25
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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '25
French immigration authorities are at St. Pancras. It's part of why you need to come early. Similar to how we pre-clear US immigration at Canadian airports.