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I am travelling to India via Frankfurt. My current visa status is on H1B extension with approved I797. I checked the German consulate site on the transit visa requirements and it says transit visa is exempt 'If they return from the USA after having used the visa'

Do I need a Transit visa while travelling to India via Frankfurt on H1B extension? Has anyone faced similar situation?

Maverick
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  • Not an exact duplicate, but see - http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/21783/do-i-need-a-transit-visa-in-zurich-on-the-way-to-india – Aditya Somani Sep 12 '14 at 21:54
  • Let me know what you did. Check my comment here : https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/36424/do-i-need-a-transit-visa-while-travelling-to-india-via-frankfurt-on-h1b-extensio/36426#comment64965_36426. – 500865 Oct 06 '14 at 20:58

2 Answers2

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The general rules are explained in Do I need a visa to transit (or layover) in the Schengen area? but it seems you have already figured them out and the answer is still somewhat ambiguous for your situation.

The website of the German Missions to the United State is clear on one thing, the approved I-797 is not enough:

Please note that the advance parole (I-512) and the approval notice (I-797) are not valid documents for visa free airport transit on your way back to the United States of America.

The text also implies that someone holding an I-797 could fly from but not back to the US (otherwise it would say it's not valid, period), presumably on the basis of the “return from the USA after having used the visa” rule you mentioned yourself.

One issue is that some countries have or had rules like “within 6 months” of the entry into the US or not more than X days after the end of the US visa's validity. So the “return after having used the visa” clause might or might not apply and unfortunately I don't know precisely how it's handled in Germany. If the exemption does not apply, Indian citizens do need an airport transit visa, even for airside transit, as you probably know.

In practice, they are not always the most helpful but you could try to contact the consulate and see if they can provide details. The airline will also have to decide whether they let you board or not (if they think you don't have the right to transit, they could get in trouble and your trip would end before your plane even leaves the US) so it might be worthwhile to ask them what they require. Hopefully someone there knows the rules a bit better than we do.

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Relaxed
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I flew back from US to India via Frankfurt and no transit or any other visa was required, because transit passengers stay in the secure zone before immigration.

Alex S
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    That's not helpful at all because it depends on citizenship, some people do need a visa, even if they stay in the international transit area of the airport. – Relaxed Mar 24 '15 at 09:34
  • Based on the fact that I am from India and the OP is from India (nationality) and have used H1s/ I-797s, the same transit rules apply.

    Of course, there could be additional information which is not posted that the OP is from a 'red flagged' nation who is on a 'must have transit visa' list.. But no such information is presented and from the information above, the person is Indian passport holder and is taking I-797s and could have new H1 stamped in India before heading back.

     – Alex S Apr 02 '15 at 10:04
  • Seriously, you are being self righteous and over zealous because you wanted to Up your answer.. Be happy. Noticed you doing it on many answers and apparently you know how to hack the system to increase your reputation. – Alex S Apr 02 '15 at 10:05
  • At this point, I don't really care about 10 points but it sure seems you do. Truth is I regularly upvote ‘competing‘ answers, as the badges will attest. I understand it's more convenient for you to indulge in some conspiracy theory but your as it stands your answer is simply inaccurate and unhelpful because the mere existence of sterile transit facilities does not imply that everybody is exempted from the visa requirement. – Relaxed Apr 02 '15 at 10:41
  • The reason I commented on several of your answers (I am not even the person who downvoted them) is because you seem to be taking visa issues way too lightly. Consequences can be serious and vague uninformed answers can put people in trouble. “I did this, nothing happened“ or “I think it should be fine“ just don't cut it. – Relaxed Apr 02 '15 at 10:44
  • Now, if you were in fact in the exact same situation then sharing your experience would in fact be very helpful because my answer is far from definitive. As a matter of fact, I initially decided to wait to see if someone could provide a good answer and then decided to write one to counterbalance your dangerously misleading ‘answer‘. So if you do know better, you just need to explain that and actually address the question and I would happily upvote your answer. – Relaxed Apr 02 '15 at 10:49
  • Also, just one last note to clarify: “Exact same situation” means returning from the US while being on H1B extension and the question is whether there are any rules about the length of time since the OP entered the US. Noting that transit would be possible in other situations just fails to address the question. – Relaxed Apr 02 '15 at 11:01
  • Finally, FYI, India is in fact on the list of “red flagged“ nations for which an airside transit visa is required in Germany. That's why the whole H1B/I797 conundrum is relevant. – Relaxed Apr 02 '15 at 11:08
  • I dont see any duration question posted.
  • He is just flying via i.e. transiting
  • I just did the same many times and recently in November US > FRA > India
  • What red flagged Transit visa are you talking about?
    • – Alex S Apr 02 '15 at 11:12
  • Honestly, I don't care about the points. I intend to share my experience with people needing an answer. Sometimes, its an exact fit, other times its not. – Alex S Apr 02 '15 at 11:13
  • Fair enough, but then don't accuse me of “hacking“ anything when I raise a legitimate substantial concern. The thing is that while the question does not explicitly ask about the duration but that's the crux of the matter, i.e. what does “after using the visa“ means. – Relaxed Apr 02 '15 at 12:01
  • It's certainly possible to transit without visa in some cases but not always. That's what bothers me about your answer: I don't doubt you have done it but you are mistaken about the reason why you were able to do it and by suggesting airside transit is always OK you might be misleading fellow Indians who would want to transit through Frankfurt. The rules are quite complicated and that's easy to overlook, which is why I commented and posted a partial answer. – Relaxed Apr 02 '15 at 12:02
  • You can read my post at http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/30569/do-i-need-a-visa-to-transit-in-the-schengen-area for some details on the background, including links that show that India is in fact on the list of countries whose citizens need an airside transit visa in Germany (to make everything even more complex, that in itself is a special rule: that's not the case everywhere in the Schengen area, only for a limited number of countries). – Relaxed Apr 02 '15 at 12:03
  • Actually, from the information provided in Relaxed's post, the situation when flying from the US to India via Schengen seems to be different than the situation for flying to the US from India via the Schengen Area. So this experience report unfortunately doesn't seem to help in this case. When coming from the US, the “return after having used the visa” clause that Relaxed mentions has some chance of applying, but not in the other direction. – DCTLib Apr 02 '15 at 13:50
  • DCTLib, Relaxed - I have traveled several times back & forth with H1B's / I-797s between US and India via Frankfurt and other Schenghen nations and transit was not required at any time if I did not enter the Schenghen nations and was only transiting. Again, an H1 is not a 'having used visa' if it is still valid.. i.e. it is typically multiple entry and multi-year work visa. And a new I-797 indicated further validity.

    That being said, I'd like to hear UNDER what excruciating scenario does Germany mandate that an Indian passport holder with a valid H1B/ I-797 needs a transit visa?

     – Alex S Apr 04 '15 at 10:50
  • http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/31126/travelling-from-us-to-india-through-frankfurt-on-h1b-visa-with-approved-extensio – Alex S Apr 04 '15 at 10:52
  • Plus F1 to H1 (change of status) or H1 to H1 (modification, update, extension) do not constitute USED or INVALID visa.. You are making that assumption. – Alex S Apr 04 '15 at 10:55
  • http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/27491/do-i-need-a-transit-visa-in-frankfurt-germany-on-the-way-to-india – Alex S Apr 04 '15 at 10:56