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Notes -
The US doesn't make people leaving the country by air get a stamp, but flight (and ship) manifests are tracked for that sort of thing, I understand.
Needing permission to leave sounds a lot like the Berlin Wall, but I think makes sense for the EU combined area.
Yeah I'm just used to having very explicit entry and exit stations from countries. I don't think I've ever seen anybody actually barred, but atleast a quick look at a passport before ushering people into international limbo.
Honestly vaguely worried I'm in some random DHS checklist as an overstayer even though I very much complied with my suggested itinerary.
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You don't need permission to leave. Just EU airports (and most in the world) are separated in international and domestic flight sections. To get in the international part you need to pass border control. And it is impossible to move between the two sections. I think that usa is unique in that regard.
US airports sometimes mix international and domestic gates. The difference is that on arrival international flights kick all the passengers over to customs and usually make them go back through security before flying onward. But that can just be rearranging a couple doors.
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