I have a Schengen visa which is valid from August 16th to 24th 2024, and my return flight is from Vilnius, Lithuania to New Delhi, which includes a 20 hrs layover in Warsaw. I will start the trip from Vilnius on August 24th and reach Warsaw on August 24th, however in Warsaw the layover of my flight is 20 hours in between by Schengen visa will expire before my transit flight starts. What should I do?
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4You should contact the airline and the polish authorities ASAP. And explain your situation to get a more reliable answer.– Naveed AhmedCommented Aug 7 at 12:54
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7Find an different flight. What you have depart Schengen at 25 August, so not according the visa you have.– Giacomo CatenazziCommented Aug 7 at 13:37
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4You could try to get a Schengen visa for August 25th. If you applied for a visa valid through August 25th and submitted an itinerary including this layover then it's arguably an error on the part of the issuing authority and you might be able to get the consulate to modify the existing visa or to issue a new one, but I would give that a very low probability of success at this late date.– phoogCommented Aug 7 at 15:06
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2 Answers
Your flight from Vilnius to Warsaw is still within Schengen area. You are essentially taking a domestic flight. You won't be clearing immigration and you will be overstaying if you take this flight.
You have to reschedule the flight. An overstay will cause issues on your future visa applications. Also, possible fines.
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10"You have to reschedule the flight": another possibility is to get a new visa, but it may be too late for that.– phoogCommented Aug 7 at 15:11
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Wouldn't it be possible to clear the immigration right after arriving on Warsaw on 24th? The flight in question arrives 7:20 PM in Warsaw. Commented Aug 9 at 12:58
I can see several options (from the safest to the more risky / less likely to succeed):
- Reschedule your flights or buy another ticket to make sure you leave the Schengen area (including any transit airport) before end of day on August 24
- Try to get the consulate that issued the visa to extend it / issue a new visa for the 25th (might work if it's their mistake in the first place but hard to do in practice in any case)
- Cancel your trip (zero risk but obviously a massive pain so I put it as a third option after trying 1 and 2)
- Use your current visa, fly to Warsaw, try to go through the border check before midnight and wait for your flight on the other side (assuming this is possible, which might depend on your ticket, exactly when your next flight is, and airport layout and operations)
- Use your current visa, leave on the 25th anyway, hoping the consequences are not too bad (a ban is unlikely but not impossible, a fine is certainly possible but not certain)
Ultimately, the thing that makes the last two options very risky is not the exit but the entry: If you show up with a visa that does not match your tickets and the border guards notice, the worse case scenario is a visa cancellation and entry refusal, which would ruin your trip and get recorded in the VIS (even if you do not get a formal ban). The answer would be a little different if you were already inside the Schengen area but being able to enter at all should be the main concern for you right now.
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If the flights are ticketed together so that OP has boarding passes for the second flight before taking the first one, option 4 should be completely viable. Of course this has all the usual risks of overstaying due to flight delays or cancellation. Requesting a visa that expires right at departure time rather than leaving time for travel delay contingencies is always a major mistake, and in this case, seems to have been an entirely avoidable one (there's no way such a short visa term was issued except for requesting it that way). Commented Aug 10 at 1:09