Germany confirms Schengen checks until March 2027

Germany formally notified the European Commission in August 2026 that passport checks at all nine of its land borders will continue from 16 September 2026 to 15 March 2027. It is the fourth consecutive six-month extension since September 2024. The timing covers the entire winter ski season and the spring half-term, so anyone entering Germany by road, rail or coach from France, Switzerland, Austria or any of the other six neighbouring states should expect to show a passport at the crossing.

The extension came despite a German court ruling in April that the controls in force in 2025 breached EU law. The government’s position, as reported by NL Times, is that the ruling applies only to that one traveller’s case, not to the controls in general, and it is appealing.

Which borders are affected, and what does a check involve?

All nine German land borders: France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland, according to the Commission’s notifications register. The controls apply at roads, rail lines and coach crossings. Checks on international trains happen on board, so you may not know one is coming until the Bundespolizei (German federal police) walk through the carriage.

Officers ask for a passport or, for EU citizens, a national identity card. These checks are completely separate from the Entry/Exit System, which registers a fingerprint and facial image at the external Schengen frontier on your first visit since 12 October 2025. An internal crossing from Austria into Germany does not trigger a new EES record, and no EES file is created or updated.

What did the court rule?

On 27 April 2026, the Verwaltungsgericht Koblenz, a German administrative court, ruled that an identity check carried out at the German-Luxembourg border on 11 June 2025 was unlawful. The court found that Germany could not base its extension of controls from 16 March to 15 September 2025 on Article 25 of the Schengen Borders Code, which allows internal checks only where there is a serious threat to public policy or internal security. It applied the Schengen Borders Code as revised in 2024.

A Bavarian court reached a similar conclusion weeks earlier. On 9 April 2026 the Bavarian Administrative Court (BayVGH) ruled that four checks on a traveller at the German-Austrian border in 2022 and 2023 were unlawful, because the Interior Ministry had not shown a new serious threat for each six-month extension. In a 2022 case about Austria’s rolling controls, the EU Court of Justice had already held that controls cannot simply roll over on the same threat: only a new serious threat justifies applying them afresh.

Why haven’t the rulings stopped the checks?

A judgment finding that a past check was unlawful does not automatically suspend future ones. The Koblenz ruling applied to a specific check in 2025; it did not order the ongoing programme to stop, and the court allowed an appeal.

On 2 June 2026 the European Commission issued formal opinions on the controls run by Germany and eight other countries. It accepted that their concerns were genuine but recommended that all nine work towards phasing out and gradually lifting them, pointing to EES, now fully applicable at the external border, among the reasons. Germany notified the March 2027 extension regardless.

What does this mean for winter travel into Germany?

Practically, the message is straightforward. If you are driving or taking an international train into Germany between October and March, carry your physical passport and budget a little extra time at the crossing. A screen photo of the document is not enough; officers check the actual travel document.

Busy routes include the A8 and A93 from Austria, the Rhine-corridor motorways from France, and rail connections from Zurich, Paris and Amsterdam into Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne. Public holidays and weekends tend to bring longer waits.

Germany is not alone. Several other Schengen countries are running temporary internal controls, including France at its borders with Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland, notified until 31 October 2026 and since extended to 30 April 2027. A multi-country road trip through central Europe may bring several separate document checks.

Does this affect my Schengen day count?

No. Your 90 days in any 180-day period runs from when you first cross the external Schengen frontier to when you leave. Driving from France into Germany, or from Austria into Germany, is an internal move. EES does not log it. Your day tally is unchanged: three weeks in Munich plus a week in Paris is still four weeks total.

What about ETIAS?

ETIAS is a pre-travel authorisation covering entry into the Schengen area at the external frontier. It is not running yet: the EU has not set a start date, and press reports point to 2027. Germany’s internal border controls are a separate matter governed by a different part of the Schengen Borders Code. The two will run alongside each other once ETIAS eventually launches. No action is required yet. Applications are not open. For the current status, see the ETIAS status page.