[DaveR]

(01-09-2015 06:02 PM)dontuan Wrote:  

Now I never heard of Police coming to your apartment to check if you really live there. They really do that? I guess if are sharing an apartment, your roommate can just say you're not home or will be back at another time. Anyone have experiences with this? Is it routine in every country?

It's standard procedure all over the Schengen zone. In some countries (Italy) they just ask you or your neighbours if someone by your name lives there. In others (Slovakia) they check passports, ask what you're doing in Slovakia and cross-check a few of the details from your application form.

(01-09-2015 06:02 PM)dontuan Wrote:  

Also, even if I can't reside in schengen countries outside of my resident country, how would they know if I had been doing that? I know that on international train routes they check passport stamp dates, but with a residency permit, there are no stamps, at least I have not heard so.

Most international travel within Europe is logged centrally in the Schengen Information System. At this stage I think it's primarily used by police forces to track down suspects, but the law doesn't restrict the use of that data, so its use could be expanded in the future. If you travel by car they won't know where you've been, although number plates are recorded automatically at the borders of some countries (Italy) for tax purposes. Train tickets can often be purchased at the station without providing a passport, so that may be another way to avoid being tracked.
I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me that ATM withdrawal data was kept for terrorism tracking purposes either.