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I'm planning to go to England, Romania and Italy in June.

I have applied for the English and the Italian visa and both were approved, But when I went to the Romanian embassy in Dubai, I was told that I don't need a visa to enter Romania because I hold a multiple entry Schengen visa and that will allow me to enter Romania for 4 days.

Now I have booked my tickets - Dubai - England, England - Romania via Frankfurt, Romania England via Frankfurt and then England - Italy.

My question is would I be fine traveling to Romania via Frankfurt, considering that I got my Schengen visa from the Italian embassy and that is not my first destination and I do not hold the Romanian visa?

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  • hi - I tidied up the question and tried to make it more accessible - but if I've changed the meaning at all, please let me know. Hopefully one of our Schengen gurus will be along shortly with an answer. When do you leave?
    – Mark Mayo
    Jun 2, 2013 at 23:26
  • Hi Mark, Im leaving Dubai to England on the 7th, England to romania via frankfurt on the 14th of june back to England on the 16th England Italy on the 25th England Dubai on the 2nd of july.
    – Fadi
    Jun 2, 2013 at 23:40

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Officially at least, the information you've received seems to be completely wrong.

As you're probably already aware, Romania is NOT a Schengen country.

They do however have special provisions to allow people with a Schengen Visa to transit through the country for up to 5 days, but only where the intent of the travel is for transit to a third country.

In your case, you will not be transiting - you'll be entering and leaving to/from the same country (England) and on flights to/from the same country (Frankfurt). What's more, the country you'll be coming from and going to (England) are NOT Schengen countries either, which likely breaks the rules of the "transit" provisions too.

I would suggest talking to the embassy again and point out your exact travel plans, and that you will not enter/leave Romania from/to a Schengen country.

Update: Here's the official answer from the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The relevant paragraph is :

In order for a uniform visa, a national visa, or a residence permit to be equivalent to the Romanian transit visa, under the conditions listed above, it is imperative that the transit through the territory of Romania naturally fit into a coherent itinerary to the country that issued that visa or residence permit, or into a return trip to their home country or country of residence.

In your case, none of those conditions are valid, and thus your Schengen visa almost certainly isn't valid for entry into Romania.

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    I actually visited Romania for nine days in 2011 on a Schengen visa, issued by an Italian embassy, and when I flew from Rome to Bucharest, I didn't run into any problems getting into the country. Although I got a few inquisitive looks from the officials at the Bucharest airport, I spent less than five minutes in the airport once I disembarked. Since the OP doesn't have a long-stay visa (I don't think) the situation may be a little different.
    – John Bensin
    Jun 3, 2013 at 16:16
  • My spouse has been in a similar situation and I can confirm that the information in this answer is correct (at the time when it was posted). What I'd like to add is that every time I called the ministry of foreign affairs to inquire about the 5-day transit, I got a different answer. The situation is very chaotic. Once I was told that it's absolutely impossible and illegal to use this unless we can prove that the transfer is necessary. Another time they just told me "no problem at all". Finally we arranged things to depart to a different country than where we arrived from.
    – Szabolcs
    Dec 2, 2013 at 20:26
  • Ultimately what is going to matter is the decision of the border officer, who might know surprisingly little about the actual regulations (!!!), so I strongly recommend printing out the regulations (linked by Doc), both in Romanian and English, and taking them with you!
    – Szabolcs
    Dec 2, 2013 at 20:27
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Romania is not (yet) part of the Schengen area. Nevertheless, having a Schengen visa eases the entry to Romania.

As of the 1st of February 2014, if you stay less than 90 days in Romania and if you have a valid Schengen visa, you don't need a Romanian short-term visa.

A valid visa means here that the visa has to be valid when entering Romania and it still has to be valid when you leave Romania. Thus, you cannot enter Romania on the last day of your Schengen visa and then stay 90 days in Romania.

Source: Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

=> Do I need a visa to come to Romania? Conditions of travelling to Romania

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