The Italian Embassy in Athens issued a fresh travel advisory on 17 November 2025 urging Italian citizens and residents travelling to Greece to carry a valid passport or national identity card even when flying on intra-Schengen routes.
Although Italy’s Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) recently relaxed gate-area ID controls for domestic and Schengen flights departing from Italian airports, the embassy notes that EU rules still allow member states to re-introduce temporary internal border checks or to perform random identity inspections when public-security risks arise. The advisory cites the wave of ad-hoc checks that several countries—including Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Italy—have maintained throughout 2025 in response to irregular migration flows and terrorism concerns.
![Italian Embassy in Athens reminds travellers to carry valid ID amid potential Schengen spot-checks]()
For mobility managers, the reminder underscores an often-overlooked compliance risk: employees who travel with hand-luggage only may leave passports at home, assuming that a boarding pass is sufficient. Should Greek authorities request ID at departure or re-entry, travellers without documents risk denied boarding, missed meetings and costly last-minute re-issuance of emergency travel papers.
Pragmatically, companies with high intra-EU travel volumes are advised to update their travel policies and pre-trip checklists, and to remind staff that a valid passport or electronic ID card remains the single most reliable document for crossing any EU internal frontier—especially as the bloc transitions to the new biometric Entry/Exit System.
The embassy also encourages travellers to verify document validity well before departure; many EU airports now require passports or ID cards to be valid for the entire stay plus three months as a matter of airline policy. Frequent flyers should therefore monitor expiry dates and renew early to avoid administrative bottlenecks at municipal offices during the year-end peak.
Although Italy’s Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) recently relaxed gate-area ID controls for domestic and Schengen flights departing from Italian airports, the embassy notes that EU rules still allow member states to re-introduce temporary internal border checks or to perform random identity inspections when public-security risks arise. The advisory cites the wave of ad-hoc checks that several countries—including Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Italy—have maintained throughout 2025 in response to irregular migration flows and terrorism concerns.
For mobility managers, the reminder underscores an often-overlooked compliance risk: employees who travel with hand-luggage only may leave passports at home, assuming that a boarding pass is sufficient. Should Greek authorities request ID at departure or re-entry, travellers without documents risk denied boarding, missed meetings and costly last-minute re-issuance of emergency travel papers.
Pragmatically, companies with high intra-EU travel volumes are advised to update their travel policies and pre-trip checklists, and to remind staff that a valid passport or electronic ID card remains the single most reliable document for crossing any EU internal frontier—especially as the bloc transitions to the new biometric Entry/Exit System.
The embassy also encourages travellers to verify document validity well before departure; many EU airports now require passports or ID cards to be valid for the entire stay plus three months as a matter of airline policy. Frequent flyers should therefore monitor expiry dates and renew early to avoid administrative bottlenecks at municipal offices during the year-end peak.
