Polish Border Guard officers at Kraków–Balice airport have issued a return order and a three-year Schengen-wide entry ban to a 32-year-old Moldovan national who attempted to re-enter Poland on 24 June 2026. During secondary inspection, officers discovered that the man was carrying two valid Moldovan passports. By alternating travel documents, he had concealed the fact that he had already spent 97 days in the Schengen Area within the current 180-day reference period, exceeding the visa-free allowance for Moldovan citizens. An examination of entry and exit stamps, cross-checked against the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES), revealed that he had previously been refused entry at Romania’s Stânca crossing on 5 June for exactly the same reason. Switching passports allowed him to pass a land border a few days later, but electronic EES records triggered an alert when he tried to fly into Poland. The case is the first publicised instance at a Polish airport where a dual-passport ploy was detected entirely through EES biometric and biographic matching—demonstrating the system’s growing effectiveness ahead of its mandatory use for all external Schengen borders from October.
![Moldovan traveller banned for three years after Schengen overstay uncovered at Kraków airport]()
For travellers keen to avoid similar pitfalls, VisaHQ offers an easy way to track remaining Schengen days, obtain up-to-date entry guidance and set automated reminders. Its dedicated Poland portal (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) lets individuals and corporate mobility teams check requirements, order visas or residence permits, and flag potential overstays before they trigger costly bans.
Border Guard spokesperson Maj. Anna Michalska said the incident “shows that paper stamps alone are no longer enough to game the 90/180-day rule.” For multinational firms bringing in short-term technicians or project staff from visa-waiver countries, the episode is a cautionary tale: travellers who freelance across multiple EU states can easily lose track of Schengen days, and carriers can face fines for transporting inadmissible passengers. Best practice is to maintain a centralised day-counter and instruct employees to travel on a single passport throughout an assignment. Under Poland’s Foreigners Act, the traveller had to surrender both passports until departure and was escorted to the non-Schengen area. He now faces a 36-month ban across all 29 Schengen states. Appeals must be filed within 14 days but rarely succeed once an overstay is digitally documented.
For travellers keen to avoid similar pitfalls, VisaHQ offers an easy way to track remaining Schengen days, obtain up-to-date entry guidance and set automated reminders. Its dedicated Poland portal (https://www.visahq.com/poland/) lets individuals and corporate mobility teams check requirements, order visas or residence permits, and flag potential overstays before they trigger costly bans.
Border Guard spokesperson Maj. Anna Michalska said the incident “shows that paper stamps alone are no longer enough to game the 90/180-day rule.” For multinational firms bringing in short-term technicians or project staff from visa-waiver countries, the episode is a cautionary tale: travellers who freelance across multiple EU states can easily lose track of Schengen days, and carriers can face fines for transporting inadmissible passengers. Best practice is to maintain a centralised day-counter and instruct employees to travel on a single passport throughout an assignment. Under Poland’s Foreigners Act, the traveller had to surrender both passports until departure and was escorted to the non-Schengen area. He now faces a 36-month ban across all 29 Schengen states. Appeals must be filed within 14 days but rarely succeed once an overstay is digitally documented.
