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I have Indian passport and USA H1 valid visa, will be travelling US and my itinerary is Mumbai – Munich – Frankfurt – San Francisco. This route has two stops in Germany, Munich – Frankfurt is German domestic flight. I am not sure if I would need a Schengen or Transit Visa. I was going through few German and Indian consulate visa website but I am not able to get the correct info, specially below two statements are confusing. Could you please help me with this?

In these five airports in Germany you can stay at the International Transit Area without a visa: 1. Cologne/Bonn 2. Düsseldorf 3. Frankfurt/Main 4. Hamburg

5. Munich

Airport transit privilege does not apply in the following cases and you will need to get a visitor visa if: You are transiting through two or more airports in the Schengen Countries

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  • The answers to that question are completely wrong in this case. Completely wrong! Section 4 of that answer states that a visa would not be required in this case (as the posted holds a valid US visa) - but that's wrong due to the requirement to enter Schengen to transit on a domestic flight.
    – Doc
    Commented Jan 17, 2015 at 7:42
  • @Doc, my bad -- I didn't read that answer closely enough. I've deleted my comments to avoid confusion, your answer is enough.
    – SpaceDog
    Commented Jan 17, 2015 at 8:05
  • @Doc I suppose you are talking about travel.stackexchange.com/questions/30569/…. This scenario is covered in there too, in section 2 (and if you follow the answer, you would stop there). Section 4 explicitly applies to situations in which you need an “airport transit visa” (which is not the case here) and most definitely does not state that a visa would not be required.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Jan 17, 2015 at 10:43
  • Amit, where are you quoting this information from? Care to provide a link?
    – JoErNanO ♦
    Commented Jan 17, 2015 at 18:37
  • germany-visa.org/airport-transit-visa Here is the link JoErNanO
    – Amit
    Commented Jan 17, 2015 at 19:22

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The simple answer is that you will require a visa, or you'll need to change your flights.

In general, Indian citizens do need a visa for all trips to/through Germany, even if you are only in transit. However there is an exception to this rule for people that hold a valid US visa which means that you do not require a visa if you are in transit, and if you will stay within the international transit area of the airport. ie, as long as you do not pass through passport control/immigration.

The problem in your case is that your flight from Munich to Frankfort is a domestic flight, and thus leaves from and arrives in the domestic part of the airport, and thus you must pass through passport control at both ends. Doing this will require a visa.

There are two types of visa that you could use for this - either a 'B' category Transit visa, which will allow you to enter and stay in the Schengen area for up to 5 days, or a 'C' category "Short Stay" visa which will allow you to stay for up to 90 days.

In practice, a better option may be to try and change your flights so that you only pass through one airport in the Schengen region. This way you can remain in the international airside area, and thus (due to you having a valid US visa) you will not require a visa for Germany/Schengen.

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  • (+1) That's the correct answer, the OP will need a visa, but the terminology/nomenclature changed a little, there are no “B” visa anymore.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Jan 17, 2015 at 10:39
  • So, since I am transiting two times in Germany I need transit visa irrespective of valid US visa.. I see. however, my itinerary shows this... MUMBAI IN TERMINAL: 2 --- MUNICH INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL: 2 MUNICH DE MUNICH INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL: 2 --- FRANKFURT DE FRANKFURT INTL TERMINAL: 1 Since both arrival and departure to and from Munich and is international as well as from same terminal... I thought I would be in airport's international zone only and may not need to enter to Schengen area. is that wrong!
    – Amit
    Commented Jan 17, 2015 at 18:04
  • They are two different airports. To get from one to another you'll need to travel through Germany; and to do that you need to cross border control and immigration and you will need a visa for Germany/Schengen in order to do that. Its just like someone is flying international and lands in Mumbai, but then their next flight is from Delhi. They need to travel within India from Mumbai to Delhi and for that they'll need an Indian visa - even if India is not their final destination and they are in fact on a longer international flight.
    – Burhan Khalid
    Commented Jan 18, 2015 at 5:20
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    Don't confuse airport names and the actual terminals. "Frankfurt International" is the name of the airport - regardless of whether you're referring to the international of domestic areas. I did a very similar transit (in my case, via Paris and Munich - but it's all Schengen) only a week ago and I can guarantee you that you'll need to go through passport control.
    – Doc
    Commented Jan 18, 2015 at 10:09
  • thanks Burhan and Doc... is there any difference between Schengen visa vs Transit visa. When I called local German Consulate office, two people referred these two different visa types for my travel from India to USA via 2 stops in Germany :( or is it Schengen Transit Visa :)
    – Amit
    Commented Jan 20, 2015 at 22:19

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