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I am traveling from Doha to Canada. I have a change of flight at CDG Paris.

I will arrive in CDG Terminal 1 from Qatar Airways and need to take Air Canada flight from Terminal 2B.

I have a Nepalese passport but have a Canada student visa. Do I need a French airport transit visa to take the Air Canada flight or not?

CGCampbell
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Bibek
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  • Are both flights on the same ticket or are they booked separately? – jcaron Aug 01 '23 at 08:42
  • When you say “student visitor visa”, do you actually mean a study permit and a visitor visa? – jcaron Aug 01 '23 at 08:47
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    Both flights are in same PNR. Just need to be sure that i can transfer from terminal 1 to terminal 2b. If there is no immigration checks in between terminals i think it will be good to go. – Bibek Aug 01 '23 at 09:25

2 Answers2

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You should not need one. From https://france-visas.gouv.fr/en/web/france-visas/airport-transit-visa:

You do not require an airport transit visa if you are :

A holder of a valid visa for a Member State of the European Union or the European Economic Area, Canada, the United States or Japan, by one or more countries or public bodies from the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius), regardless of the airport of departure and regardless of the airport of arrival located outside the Schengen Area In the case of a return trip, the holder of a visa issued by one of the above-mentioned countries is exempt from the airport transit visa even if the visa has been used and is therefore no longer valid, provided that the return trip is made from an airport located in the country that issued the visa;

A student visa should satisfy the above exception, being a residence permit that allows you to return to canada.

Note that this only applies if you don't need to exit the international terminal. If you need to (for instance you need to transfer baggage between flights, such as if the Air Canada flight is in a separate ticket), you need a short-term Schengen visa. A transit visa won't work.

Leaderboard
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  • I’m not so sure a study permit counts as a residence permit: it’s not even a visa, there’s a separate visitor visa issued at the same time which is what allows the student to travel to Canada, not the study permit. – jcaron Aug 01 '23 at 08:46
  • Student visa is not a residence permit, but there is another exception for holders of a valid visa issued by Canada. – xngtng Aug 01 '23 at 09:40
  • Sorry, I didn't know that. That's fixed. – Leaderboard Aug 01 '23 at 15:05
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Since both your flights are on the same PNR, you can stay airside and do not need to go through passport control.

To get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2B while staying airside, you’ll use the Blue shuttle. Follow signs for connections to Terminal 2 (not Baggage Claim, Passport Control, or Exit) and you’ll get to that shuttle.

As a Nepalese citizen you would normally be required to have an Airport Transit Visa to transit via CDG even while staying airside, but there is an exemption for holders of a visa from Canada.

So the answer is No, you don’t need an airport transit visa (or any other Schengen visa) for this connection.

jcaron
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