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I will be travelling to Freiburg (Germany) for study purposes. I recently obtained a German national Visa (type D) and considering to fly to the EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg which is the closest airport to Freiburg. Since, this will be first use of my Visa, am I allowed to enter France first so that I can book a bus and travel to Freiburg?

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    Which flight originates from outside Schengen and goes to Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg? In my opinion it would be a lot better to go the Frankfurt or Zurich (and probably even cheaper) and then take a direct train to Freiburg. From Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg it'll be quite a hassle.
    – 8192K
    Commented Sep 10 at 9:19
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    @8192K quite a number of flights arrive there from outside the Schengen area: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroAirport_Basel_Mulhouse_Freiburg It is about an hour from Freiburg by public transportation, but Frankfurt and Zurich are farther.
    – phoog
    Commented Sep 10 at 9:28
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    @8192K Frankfurt and Zurich are a lot further away from Freiburg than BSL is. BSL is ok for getting to Freiburg.
    – wonderbear
    Commented Sep 10 at 11:47
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    @8192K Utter rubbish!
    – Crazydre
    Commented Sep 11 at 18:31
  • Flixbus operate a bus from the airport to Freiburg scheduled as taking 55 minutes.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Sep 13 at 15:35

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Yes. You can land in any Schengen airport with a German national visa.

Many thanks to ave for a link to an FAQ page of the visa office of the German foreign ministry, which I will quote in full except for the list of Schengen countries. The emphasis in the last paragraph is mine:

My visa was issued by a German mission abroad. Can I use it to travel to other countries in Europe?

Do I have to enter and leave via Germany or can I do so elsewhere?

Yes, you can. Holders of

  • a Schengen visa (text on the visa reads “valid for Schengen states”)

  • a residence permit of a member state or

  • a national visa (D-visa)

can stay in the entire Schengen area for up to 90 days in any period of 180 days. The Schengen area consists of the following countries:

[List of Schengen member states omitted]

The Schengen visa has to be applied for at the foreign mission of the country which is the main destination. The country of entry and departure is not the determining factor. The entry into and departure from the Schengen area can thus occur at any border crossing.

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  • My proposed edit to add a source was inexplicably rejected, so here's German foreign office's page on it: auswaertiges-amt.de/en/visa-service/buergerservice/faq/…
    – ave
    Commented Sep 12 at 12:14
  • @ave thanks. This is a valuable source indeed, not least because of clear statements such as the last paragraph. I will add it.
    – phoog
    Commented Sep 13 at 8:31
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    @ave Two reasons were listed to reject it: (1) it makes no sense as an edit, should have been a separate answer and (2) it was confusing. I chose the second one because it seemed to focus on an irrelevant point (generic list of documents that allows you to stay in the Schengen area) without explicitly addressing the entry point. What does make it relevant was missing from your edit: the headline question and the last paragraph.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Sep 13 at 9:00

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