Guide: Airport Customs and Immigration

If you are coming to visit us in the Netherlands (as I hope you are!), and you are flying in from another country, you will go through Customs and Immigration at the airport. Not knowing what to expect can be a little intimidating, so I have put together this guide to help you feel more at ease. I will use our recent December 2018 trip from the US through Schiphol airport in Amsterdam as my example.

Now first thing to note is that they don’t allow pictures in the immigration area, so I don’t have a lot of fun images to share with you, and I think I’ll pass for now on trying to draw you something, so you will have the pictures painted with words. 🙂

******************************************************************

When you arrive at the airport, you may be a bit drowsy, and the local time of day may not match with your body clock, so you may also feel a little fuzzy headed. Thankfully, you and a few hundred other people will all be doing roughly the same thing, so when in doubt, follow the herd. There’s likely to be someone else in there who has done this a few dozen times and knows where to go.

In general, you’re looking for a hall that’s going to “process” you, sending you from the intermediate space of the airport and into the country where you landed. There are usually signs that will say Immigration, Customs, or in this case, Arrivals. That’s you. You just arrived. 🙂

Now if you have a need to use the toilet, I suggest you keep an eye out and stop on your way. The arrivals hall may or may not have a bathroom, and you might spend as much as an hour or so in line. If you’re like me (not the fastest walker in the pack), you’re not going to be at the front of the line when you get there anyway, so a quick pit stop is well worth the time. But don’t dawdle either. That line can get long, other flights may also be arriving, so getting in line without too much delay is recommended.

When you find the hall, there’s actually going to be multiple line options. It’s generally going to have one side that’s for the people of that country (the shorter, Welcome Home line) and a side for the visitors. Note that there might be multiple halls (to accommodate airplanes offloading from different gates), so if you’ve come through one hall before, you might be in a different one another time. In general though, the process is the same.

For this trip through Schiphol, our arrivals hall had a line to the right that was for EU and EEA (European Economic Area) passport holders. (I knew EU but I had to look up EEA.) To the left was something like All Other Passport Holders. Oftentimes they’ll have some symbols, like images of flags, to help you out.

Here’s a sign from another trip. It was a self-service area for EU passport holders where you step into a narrow, glass-walled cubicle and scan your passport. There’s a camera and it looks at your face. There are also immigration officers nearby in case there’s a problem or the machine needs additional information. We used one somewhere, and it was interesting.

This time we were in the longer, cattle herding line. At this point, it’s a lot like going through security at a US airport, where you wait in a long, serpentine line, and immigration officers hover nearby. Your checked luggage is headed to a carousel somewhere beyond you, so you’ve only got your carry-on luggage, which might feel heavier than you remembered when packing. At the front will be a number of immigration officers in what remind me of little toll booths.

The nearby officers are generally very helpful, so if you’re unsure about something, you can usually ask. They’ll probably be right to the point, so don’t take offence if they seem brusque. It’s possible English isn’t their first language, so nuances might not come through. (Remember, you’ve probably just landed in their non-English speaking country.)

After a bit, you’ll find yourself at the front of the line. There will probably be one of those lines on the floor that says “Wait here until you are called” or something to that effect. Then it’ll be your turn, and like going through airport security, you and your whole party will go up to the officer’s ticket window. They’ll probably greet you with a good morning or afternoon (in Dutch if you’re at Schiphol) and ask for your passport. Here it’s a good idea to say something in English so they know they need to use English for you to understand them.

You’ll hand over your passport, or passports if there are more than one of you. The officer will ask you a number of questions. Remember, their job is to be the gatekeepers of their country, so they want to know why you’re there and if they should anticipate any problems from you. Hopefully they should not, so here’s where you get to put them at ease. Try to relax and just be honest.

You’ll probably have an exchange something like this:

• Them: “What is the purpose of your trip?” They want to make sure you’re not planning on anything you’re not supposed to be doing, like working if you’re not allowed to.
• You: “Visiting friends.” “I’m on vacation/holiday.”
• Them: “How long are you staying?” They want to make sure you are not outside of allowable visa parameters.
• You: (However long it is, a 5 days, 14 days, 1 month, etc)
• Them: “Where will you be staying?” They want to make sure you have somewhere you’re going, not staying on the streets or anything like that. They will usually want detailed information, including the address, so be prepared with that information. You are probably groggy, so give your brain a break and have it written down and handy.
• You: (The address and city where you are staying.) They may ask more questions about this. If you’re coming to see me, it’s outside of the most common tourist locations – the large metro area of Amsterdam, the Hague, Rotterdam, and Utrecht is known as the Randstad – so they may raise an eyebrow and ask a little bit more about why Arnhem, for example.
• Them: “What is your occupation?” This is a way of finding out if someone has the financial ability to be visiting and if there are any red flags they need to be aware of, like if you were a journalist going into an area with protests, for example.
• You: Whatever you do for a living. Dog handler. Computer engineer. Retired (woo hoo!)
• Them: “Do you have anything to declare?”
• You: You maybe tempted to be silly here (“I declare that I’m tired and hungry!”), but I’m guessing they’re heard it all, so keep to the facts and share the silliness with your companions after you’re done. Here’s a quick list of things of things you can’t bring into the Netherlands: https://www.schiphol.nl/en/page/what-can-cannot-travel-with-you/ If you have anything they need to know about, now’s the time to bring it up. The most likely culprit you’ll have is if you brought fresh food on the plane, like fruit and vegetables, and didn’t eat it all.

While you’re waiting in line, pay attention to the folks getting served in front of you. See where they go, do they turn right or left, do they get caught up on the doors, because they’re automatic and they’re trying to push them, for example.

But wait! You’re not done yet. You still get to go through the customs portion with all of your luggage. There will probably be two lines or herding areas; Nothing to Declare with green (on a green sign, with a green arrow, etc.) and Goods to Declare if you have things to declare, like over $10,000 in cash or goods you’re bringing above certain levels. As a tourist, you’re not likely to need to worry about it, but know that this is a step in the process.

Once you’re through that line, you’re probably done! Welcome to the Netherlands!

******************************************************************

At Schiphol, you’ll get funneled through an area with a bunch of shops. You may feel like you just entered a shopping mall. Keep going, follow the herd, and you’ll come out to a large area with high ceilings.

Here you’ll see people heading in just about every direction. If you find yourself getting frustrated, step to the side and take a moment to regroup. I’m surprised at the amount of English on the signs, and you might find what you’re looking for is right in front of you.

You’ve got options for taxis and buses outside and trains downstairs. What to do? That’s a conversation for another time. 🙂