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I have plans to go to Sierra Leone from India and I am an Indian citizen.

I have got Schengen Visa Type A with Multiple Entry. On Google it says that I cannot leave international transit area. Will I encounter a problem of not having full Schengen visa while switching flights from Munich Airport to Brussels ?

The flights are at same terminal and same airline. I guess it boils down to if I have to leave international transit area at Munich to catch a flight to Brussels.

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    Note: ca.kayak.com/flights/DEL-FNA/2016-09-27/… there's a Delhi-Paris-Freetown flight a few times a week. That'd be my preference and then your type A is enough.
    – chx
    Jul 30, 2016 at 4:36
  • Munich and Brussels are both within the Schengen area, so you must enter immigration at Munich, and exit immigration at Brussels, and your type A visa won't be enough. You need a type C short stay visa for this itinerary.
    – Michael Hampton
    Aug 17, 2016 at 3:19
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    Possible duplicate of Do I need a visa to transit (or layover) in the Schengen area?
    – Michael Hampton
    Aug 17, 2016 at 3:19
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    Note a dupe of the question @MichaelHampton linked. This question requires entering the Schengen area in one airport, transiting through actual Schengen and exiting via another. Possibly a dupe of a different Schengen question though. Edit: After checking the Schengen dupe CW, there is no dupe of this.
    – Jan
    Aug 17, 2016 at 9:51
  • @Jan The question I linked to does cover this scenario. "Finally, as passengers' passports don't have to be checked on flights within the Schengen area, if you have two stopovers in the Schengen area (for example Mumbai-Vienna-Frankfurt-Chicago or Nairobi-Zurich-Frankfurt-Chișinău), you will have to leave the international area and go through the border checkpoint to catch your intra-Schengen flight. Same thing if you need to change airports."
    – Michael Hampton
    Aug 17, 2016 at 18:13

2 Answers 2

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@blackbird57's answer is correct but refers to a 3rd party site instead of relevant FAQ on the website of the European Commission:

An airport transit visa (ATV) authorises you to pass through the international transit zone at an airport located on the territory of the Schengen State and to await a connecting flight to a non-Schengen country. The ATV does not allow you to enter the Schengen territory (to stay at a hotel or to take an onwards flight to another Schengen State, for example).

that's crystal clear.

I was struggling with finding a good document to show that Type A means Airport Transit Visa but I found it in the Regulation itself:

‘TYPE OF VISA’ heading:
In order to facilitate matters for the control authorities, this heading specifies the type of visa using the letters A, C and D as follows:
A: airport transit visa (as defined in Article 2(5) of this Regulation)

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    (+1) Part of the confusion is that the Schengen convention initially provided for type A, B, and C visas. You could therefore find references to "type A" or "type B" visas all over the place. Since then, B was dropped and "type A" visas have been renamed "Airport Transit Visas", with the "A" living on as a code on the sticker. That's also why the only straightforward explanation @blackbird57 could is on an outdated unofficial site.
    – Relaxed
    Jul 30, 2016 at 7:54
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Schengen visa types states:

An airport transit visa (ATV) authorises you to pass through the international transit zone at an airport located on the territory of the Schengen State and to await a connecting flight to a non-Schengen country. The ATV does not allow you to enter the Schengen territory

You're only entering the Schengen country area if you pass immigration, and it seems that to transit to another Schengen airport you will need to leave the international area, so your Type A visa is not enough in this case.

The website for the German mission in the US has a note about this:

Airport transit privilege does not apply and you will need a visitor visa
[...]
2. if you are transiting through two or more airports in the Schengen Countries (for example: Miami-Frankfurt-Paris-India or New York-Frankfurt-Munich-India).

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  • Thank you for your quick comment. I appreciate it very much. However i m concerned as when i look at the other threads like this thread below: See the accepted response travel.stackexchange.com/questions/30569/… see, second point on Lufthansa airlines. lufthansa.com/online/myportal/lh/in/local?nodeid=3116855 Only way i believe is to check with someone who actually have travelled on Type A Schengen visa between two Schengan states with its initial destination as India & final destination not as US.
    – Neeraj
    Jul 30, 2016 at 3:25
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    @Neeraj hm I was sure you didn't need to pass immigration to transit. Apologies, I'll correct this answer
    – blackbird
    Jul 30, 2016 at 3:41
  • Don't link to schengenvisainfo.com! It is a private site that exists in order to generate ad impressions from its semi-official-sounding domain name (which could be excused), and hasn't been kept up-to-date in years (which cannot). It still claims that there is such a thing a type B land transit visa, but they where abolished in 2010.
    – hmakholm left over Monica
    Aug 17, 2016 at 7:01

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