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I live and work in Austria. I need to travel from Austria to England for a meeting (and come back). However, my Austrian residence permit will expire during my stay in England. I will apply for an extension of my residence permit well in advance, but from my previous experience, I will not be allowed to collect my new residence permit before the old one expires.

Will this cause any trouble to my journey in any way? In particular, will I be refused to board either of the flights? And will I be denied entry to England or Austria? If this situation turns out to be problematic, then is there a solution to the problems?

In case it matters, my passport allows me to stay in the EU visa-free for 90 days, and it is likely that by the time I travel to England, I will have a notification letter (in German) from the Austrian authorities stating that the extension of my residence permit is approved.

It would be great if there are websites of authorities that I can show the airline/immigration officer in case of an argument.

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Being eligible for visa-free entry in the Schengen area is a huge help here. Travelling for up to 90 days after the expiry of your residence permit is perfectly kosher so airlines should have no issues with it, even if you did not have any plan to renew your residence permit. This also means you should not need any proof that your renewal application has been approved either. First-hand reports and legal details can be found on the travel sister site.

Once you reach Austria, I would show the letter and/or expired permit to the border police to avoid being treated as a visitor. I am not sure whether you are supposed to get an entry stamp or not, it might help you avoid it (although it would not be a big deal either way for a bona fide resident).

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    Thank you very much. So presumably, I will be treated as a "tourist" when travelling back to Austria. Am I expected to have a plan for an onward journey then? I am worried that I may be asked to present one by the airline/immigration officer.
    – Celia
    Apr 21, 2016 at 19:38
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    I am not sure whether other people will be treated the same, but I was not asked by anyone about any plan for an onward journey. Although I did offer the approval letter for my residence permit extension, the immigration officer in Austria did not look at it, and I got a stamp on my passport.
    – Celia
    Aug 11, 2016 at 10:20

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