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I am a green card holder with Turkish citizenship.

I have been trying to understand if I need a visa or not.

The flight will be from New York USA to Athens Greece and after 10 hours of layover and will be from Athens to Izmir Turkey. I have a voice green card. Is the exemptions applicable to me?

Flights will be separate tickets per the website i am looking, also I would like to visit Athens during the layover.

I got a respond from the consulate with the links attached and pee exception list it looks like I do not need a visa.

Can anyone help me understand this?

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You are confusing different types of transits and different types of visas.

  • If both your flights were on the same ticket, and you were able to stay airside (in the "international area" of the airport), not going through passport control, then you would not need a visa at all.

    Some people need an Airport Transit Visa (ATV, type A) in that situation. It's not the case for Turkish citizens in Athens (it's the case for Turkish citizens in France or for citizens of Cameroon in Athens, but not Turkish citizens in Athens).

    Even if Turkish citizens needed one in Athens, the Green Card would indeed give you an exemption for the ATV requirement.

  • But if you need to go through passport control for any reason, you need a "full" visitor visa (type C), not an Airport Transit Visa.

    Cases when you go through passport control include:

    • You want to go visit Athens (as is your case): you need to go through passport control to enter Greece.
    • You have flights booked separately and have hold luggage: you need to go through passport control to reclaim your bags and check in for the next flight.

  • But even if you don't have hold luggage and you skip the visit of Athens, the first airline considers your destination is Greece, and you must be able to enter Greece before they let you board. They don't care if you have another flight, don't know about it, don't want to know about it. For them, your destination is Greece, and you need a (full) visa for Greece.

The exemptions for Green Card holders are *only for Airport Transit Visas, not "full" visas.

So you need a Visitor Visa (type C) in this situation.

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If you have two separate tickets, you will need a regular Schengen visa. For the airline taking you from New York to Athens, it seems as if your trip ends in Athens and they will most likely not let you board if you are not entitled to enter Greece.

Also, if you intend to visit Athens and not just stay at the airport, you will also need a regular Schengen visa.

As a Turkish citizen, you need a visa to enter the Schengen area and there are no exceptions for green card holders.

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  • mfa.gr/usa/en/visas.html?mission=nyo
    – Selin
    Commented Jul 16 at 16:30
  • The email response from greece consulate was the copy and paste of the ATV subtitle under the shengen visa in the above Web page. There are 3 documents about the requirement of visa. One is the list of the countries which require visa during transit, another one is the table of requirement in transit from county to county (which does not include usa) third one is the excemptions document. İn the exemptions document it says if you hold a green card you are not required to have a visa to transit in athens. I asked consulate if the exemptions will be applicable to me, but did not hear back yet.
    – Selin
    Commented Jul 16 at 16:35
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    @Selin If you hold a green card you don't need a visa for an airside transit, i.e. one where you do not go through passport control. If you want to visit Athens, you need a full visa. If you need to go through passport control, for instance if you need to reclaim and recheck your hold luggage, you need a full visa. Even if you have no hold luggage, the first airline will consider that your destination is Greece, not Turkey, and will require a full visa. They will not let you board without one.
    – jcaron
    Commented Jul 16 at 16:50
  • @jcaron thank you for clarification. I saw from one of the questions that, for London, they dont require visa during the transits even if you have separate tickets + the exemptions document made me think it may be possible. I am not much familiar with international flights; but thank you both for quick response as well.
    – Selin
    Commented Jul 16 at 17:02
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    @Selin London is in the UK, which is not part of Schengen. So their requirements have no bearing in this case.
    – GalacticCowboy
    Commented Jul 17 at 13:54

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