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My husband and I are going to Italy for a 15 day vacation from USA. We are NOT citizens of the states, but we work and live here. Our return flight is from Venice, Italy to Chicago, USA with a layover in Madrid, Spain. We are applying for a Schengen Visa with the Italian Embassy. Will we need a transit visa for our layover in Spain, if we already have an approved Schengen Visa?

Since Italy and Spain are both Schengen countries, we assumed that we would not need a transit visa, but we are getting confused reading online blogs.

Mikael Dúi Bolinder
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Megha
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    No, you will not need a transit visa. What information from an online blog is causing your confusion? – phoog Mar 02 '15 at 16:45
  • Our airline said we would still need a transit visa, and we weren't getting a definite answer online. – Megha Mar 02 '15 at 17:19
  • what airline? They are clearly clueless. Show them your Italian visa and explain that it is also valid for Spain. Actually, of course, the airline is probably not clueless, just the person whom you spoke with. If that happens again, ask to speak to a supervisor. – phoog Mar 02 '15 at 17:20
  • Thanks for your reply. We are travelling with Iberia airlines. We called twice separately and spoke to 2 different customer representatives. It didnt make sense to us either, but they both said we would require a separate transit visa. – Megha Mar 02 '15 at 17:34
  • That's very troubling, of course, since the airline has the power to prevent you from boarding your flight. Otherwise, it wouldn't matter what they think, because you will not pass through the immigration control point in Italy to get to your airplane. But if the airline won't give you a boarding pass, that doesn't matter. Perhaps you should call the Spanish consulate and ask them to give you a letter stating that they cannot issue you a transit visa because you already hold a valid Schengen short-stay visa which permits you to enter Spain. – phoog Mar 02 '15 at 17:38
  • Think of it like flying within the US - you don't need a visa (because its the same country); even though you may be flying from Alaska to Hawaii. The only difference being, unlike your Hawaii trip, you'll get a stamp when landing in Spain. – Burhan Khalid Mar 03 '15 at 08:49
  • @BurhanKhalid They won't get a stamp landing in Spain from Italy, because they will not go through any border control checkpoint. – phoog Mar 06 '15 at 18:45

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As @phoog already wrote, you do not need a transit visa.

Note that all the info you might have read about transit visas apply to people who come from outside the Schengen area and leave it immediately (for example India-Madrid-US). Transit rules are quite complicated, see Do I need a visa to transit (or layover) in the Schengen area?

But in your case, the flight between Venice and Madrid is an internal Schengen flight. When you arrive in Madrid, you are still in the Schengen area, just as if you drove there and the rules for transit do not apply at all. For some people, that's actually a problem as they need a full Schengen visa but you already have one of those. Therefore, you will simply go through the exit passport check and get a stamp in Madrid (and not in Venice).

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Relaxed
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  • Thanks. Do we require a double entry/ multiple entry Schengen visa then? – Megha Mar 02 '15 at 17:20
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    @Megha you will not require a multiple entry visa because flying from Italy to Spain is not "entering" the Schengen area. – phoog Mar 02 '15 at 17:21