Proof of residency check Interrail

Question

I have to travel a lot between Amsterdam and Brussels, and I have to travel quite early. Therefore, I would have to use the Eurostar. Using interrail would be the cheapest option by far.

My country of residence would be Belgium, my passport is Dutch. But you can only do one inbound and outbound train ride.

Do you think the person that checks the tickets would want proof of me not living in either of these countries after my first inbound and outbound trip, or would it be possible to say: “oh no I live in France at the moment!” - I have lived with a friend of mine in France for a bit, so I might have an address I could tell them.

Anyway, how much proof would they want and how illegal is it to just say I am staying with a friend of mine. I didn’t have proof of my residency in France at the time either.

Answer 1

In my experience (and this was ages ago), verifying your residency is only done at point of sale when you first buy the pass. Ticket inspectors only care that your pass is valid for the journey you're taking.

That said, the pass records all the journeys you're making and these are visible to the inspector. So if you're claiming to live in X but spend all your time shuttling between Y and Z, an inspector may well notice this and you may find your pass cancelled.

Answer 2

Your country of residence is relevant because you're only allowed a single trip to the border and a single trip from the border in that country.

The one time I Interrailed I lived in Switzerland as a Swedish national, so when I first presented my ID I got a pass with Sweden as the country of residence. Upon realising that I went back and was told to go back home, fetch my Swiss residence permit and come back with it, whereby it was corrected.

Onboard the trains no one even checked my ID, let alone my residence permit (which I didn't even bring)

Answer 3

The Interrail booking conditions tell us:

• 5.4 Citizenship can be proven by means of a valid passport or legal equivalent. Residency can be proven by means of official residence documents issued by the government, on paper or in digital format. This must be a document that clearly proves that the Customer is registered in the country where they live. Such documents vary by country.
• 5.5 Your citizenship or country of residence must be indicated during the order process and this country will be shown on your actual Pass. Please note that there are dedicated rules for travelling in this country (see Conditions of Use, Travel in Country of Residence with an Interrail Pass). The Conditions of Use can be found here.
• 5.6 In case the country where you live and/or work -your official country of residence- is different than the nationality in your passport or legal equivalent, the country where you actually live and/or work prevails and should be indicated when ordering the Pass.
• 5.7 E-residency documents are not accepted as valid proof of residency.

(emphasis mine)

So no, you cannot just give the address of a friend in a different country or just say “I currently live there” without proof.

When and how they ask for that proof may vary (apparently in the days of the paper versions this was checked when the pass was issued, now that you can buy them online or on your mobile the process has probably changed), but given conductors have access to your trip history, I’d think that one the third or fourth trip they should become inquisitive. If you can’t justify that your place of residence is the one shown on your pass, they are likely to cancel your pass and consider you don’t have a valid ticket, which will end up being a quite expensive proposition.