Transit through Europe, permanent resident

[jef2015 0]

My wife is a permanent US resident without restrictions with Kazakhstan citizenship. Friday we were going to see her mother in Tbilisi, Georgia and were prevented from getting on the plane in Houston. The gate attendant said since there were two transit points in Germany, Frankfurt and Munich, and they are in the Schengen Zone she would need a transit visa.

Is this correct? Keep in mind it was only for transit and a few hours would be spent inside each airport. Any accurate information will be much appreciated.

[RICARDO4EVA2 194]

What i can say is I have FRiend who lives in the Dominican Republic and he was going to travel to jamaica with me. HE was thinking of taking American Airlines or Delta Airlines that would have him connect/transit in Miami not leaving the airport... However since he is travelling through the USA he MUST have a Transit Visa.... or ANY other visa that would allow him to visit/pass through the usa No exceptions. So now alternate routes were planned and he will travel through Panama since they will not require a transit visa or of any kind.

As for the countries you're travelling through.. you may also want to send a message to the embassies of those contries so get their answer.

[jef2015 0]

Thanks for the reply. The next step is the German embassy. Unfortunately this happened late Friday afternoon after the embassy closed and after Lufthansa, the airline that sold the ticket, had left.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

US permanent residents are still citizens of their home country and travel as such usually. This means getting transit visas, many time even if you are just changing planes and never exiting the airport. Being a US PR usually makes getting the visa a piece of cake but you must get them ( and pay for them ) before you travel.

[belinda63 3,046]

Try this link. Although it applies to Delta airlines in general it will apply to all of them with minimal variation. She is still a citizen of her country but the visa requirements are USUALLY the same as if she did not have a US green card.

Edited December 12, 2010 by belinda63

[JERIII 8]

My wife is a permanent US resident without restrictions with Kazakhstan citizenship. Friday we were going to see her mother in Tbilisi, Georgia and were prevented from getting on the plane in Houston. The gate attendant said since there were two transit points in Germany, Frankfurt and Munich, and they are in the Schengen Zone she would need a transit visa.

Is this correct? Keep in mind it was only for transit and a few hours would be spent inside each airport. Any accurate information will be much appreciated.

Unfortunately, it is correct. If you are going to fly from one city inside the Schengen zone to another one inside, you have to clear passport control and enter the first country, so you

generally need a Visa if you can't enter the Schengen region without one. If you are only stopping at one point in the Schengen region, you generally don't need a visa, because you can stay in the airport secure area and not pass passport control. That said, you always need to check, because citizens of some countries need a visa even in the second case.

[jef2015 0]

Thanks JERIII, although it doesn't make sense, it does look like you are correct. Reading the confusing and conflicting information I can find on the Shengen zone, if you have a I-551 permanent resident card you don't need a transit visa for the first or connecting flight. I hope to find out otherwise tomorrow when I talk to the German embassy and will post the results.

[JERIII 8]

Thanks JERIII, although it doesn't make sense, it does look like you are correct. Reading the confusing and conflicting information I can find on the Shengen zone, if you have a I-551 permanent resident card you don't need a transit visa for the first or connecting flight. I hope to find out otherwise tomorrow when I talk to the German embassy and will post the results.

Why doesn't it make sense? Traveling within (most of) the Schengen zone is like traveling within the US - no frontier controls. A flight from Germany to Germany is a local flight. You can walk from the flight to baggage claim and then out into Germany without a passport control, just like you can take a flight from New York to Washington without customs/passport control.

If you are flying, for example, Houston-> Frankfurt -> Tbilisi, then you (usually) don't need a visa because you don't enter Germany. You cannot get off the plane in Frankfurt and enter Frankfurt without going through customs. You can change planes to another flight that is leaving the Schengen region. Most European airports are set up so that you don't go through passport/customs if you are going from one flight from outside the EU to another outside the EU. (The US is not set up like this.)

Your problem was that if you fly Houston -> Munich -> Frankfurt -> Tbilisi, you have to clear passport in Munich, because Munich -> Frankfurt is a domestic flight, you can't stay in the

part of the airport that is "protected" for non-EU flights, because the flight to Frankfurt doesn't leave from there.

[Boiler 45,982]

In the circumstances described I think you need a full blown Schnengen Visa, a transit visa is something else which you can look up instead of me copying.

[jef2015 0]

Thanks to all who replied. A Schengen visa (not transit) is required in our situation. If we would have flown through a non Schengen country, such as the UK, and then through a Schengen country for transit a visa would not be required. I hope our mistake can prevent this from happening to someone else.

[RICARDO4EVA2 194]

Glad you got it sorted out...

Happy travels