Transit Visa

[jwcassidytx 1]

My wife (Ukrainian citizen) and I (US citizen) married 2 months ago. I filed the I-485 (adjustment of status) and I 131 (Advance Parole) paperwork. The I 131 has been approved, the I 485 is pending.

We are planning to go to Ukraine. Will she need a transit visa for a 2 to 4 hour plane change in an EU / Schengen country? From the US to Ukraine, we will stop and change planes once each way. The layover is two hours one way, and four hours on the way back.

Thank you

[hmh33 117]

As I understand it, it depends on the particular country she'd be transferring through.

Here are some details for Germany, where apparently she would need a transit visa: http://www.**.com/visas/schengenvisa/requirements-exemptions.html

And France, where apparently she would not: http://www.consulfrance-washington.org/spip.php?article383

How did she get to the US, was that a direct flight?

[Dave&Roza 748]

As I understand it, it depends on the particular country she'd be transferring through.

Here are some details for Germany, where apparently she would need a transit visa: http://www.**.com/visas/schengenvisa/requirements-exemptions.html

And France, where apparently she would not: http://www.consulfrance-washington.org/spip.php?article383

How did she get to the US, was that a direct flight?

One link you provide is an official Embassy site and the other is like VJ which is not official. From what I have found and my wife's experience is that the OP will not need a transit visa--I asked the German Consulate in Denver and they said as long as she remains in the airport she would be fine. She would require a tourist visa if she left the airport.

We have flown thru Frankfurt and Amsterdam and she has never had a transit visa.

Always check the offical government sites of the intended country for the official requirements. Even the airlines do not know the requirements.

Good luck,

Dave

[jwcassidytx 1]

Dave:

Thank you for your response. Thank you for pointing out the difference between German Embassy website and the IMMhelp website. Could I ask you a couple of questions from your experience:

How recently did you travel through Germany? Did you fly from Almaty to Frankfort to Denver?

Did you wife use her Kazak passport and Advance Parole document. Did she need anything else?

Thank you

[Dave&Roza 748]

Dave:

Thank you for your response. Thank you for pointing out the difference between German Embassy website and the IMMhelp website. Could I ask you a couple of questions from your experience:

How recently did you travel through Germany? Did you fly from Almaty to Frankfort to Denver?

Did you wife use her Kazak passport and Advance Parole document. Did she need anything else?

Thank you

2011 for Frankfurt. Just a few days ago for Amsterdam. The trip is usually DEN to FRA to ALA and ALA to FRA to DEN. This time it was DEN to MSP to AMS to ALA and ALA to AMS to MSP to DEN.

In 2011, she used her Kazakhstani passport for all travel to Almaty. On the return she used her Kazakhstani passport and GC. No problems. Same for going thru Amsterdam. The only problem we had was the person at check-in in Denver forgot to verify that I had a valid visa to Kazakhstan so I had to go to the counter at the gate and show them the visa. When we arrived at MSP, we went together in the LPR and USC line. There they had her finger printed and stamped her passport right next to the last enter stamp. The CBP employee was asking us the usual questins of where did we go? What was the purpose? How long were we gone? Do we have anything to declare? How long were we gone? (yes, she asked that twice). Since her passport and GC have the same name there is no confusion or need for a Marriage Certificate.

In FRA you go from Terminal B to Terminal C and have to pass thru security again which does not take too much time. Just have the passport and boarding card ready. We had a two hour layover going to ALA and had plenty of time. Come back to DEN the layover is 7.5 hours.

Hope this helps,

Dave

[jwcassidytx 1]

Dave:

Thank you again for your quick response. At this time, my wife does not have a green card, just the Advance Parole document and Ukrainian passport. Did you wife ever travel internationally on the AP document?

Also, when you were coming back home from Almaty, did AMS or FRA ask for anything more than a passport and boarding pass?

Thank you

[Umka36 781]

Maybe this will help answer some of your questions:

http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/05__Legal/02__Directory__Services/01__Visa/__Transit__Visa.html

http://www.amsterdamairport.info/visa.html

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

As I understand it, it depends on the particular country she'd be transferring through.

Here are some details for Germany, where apparently she would need a transit visa: http://www.**.com/visas/schengenvisa/requirements-exemptions.html

And France, where apparently she would not: http://www.consulfrance-washington.org/spip.php?article383

How did she get to the US, was that a direct flight?

Correct, depends on country AND if she is transferring through TWO or more EU airports then she WILL need a transit visa...Ie: New York to Frankfort to Vienna to Donetsk...for example. Vienna would require it anyway, but even if it did not normally you would need one for going through two airports.

I always advise to try to avoid changing flights in EU countries if you are not a US citizen. Alla is now a citizen and "just waves the blue passport" as she says. There are non-stop flights from Kiev to the USA. And from Msocow to the USA. Often we used to book a flight JFK to KBP or JFK to MOW and then book a separate flight from Moscow or Kiev to Donetsk. Sometimes we took a train.

You can sometimes get cheaper tickets by going these circuitous routes with two or more stops but in general it sucks. It is not so much more to by the seprate tickets, allow enough time between flights and be done with it.

Transit visas are easy enough to obtain but why bother with it if you do not need to?