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Does transfer at Paris Orly on a layover between Djerba and London City require leaving the international transit zone? I'm interested in both the case where there is checked-in baggage and also the case where there isn't.

The reason I ask is because for nationals of certain non-EU countries the answer determines the need or lack of need for an airport transit visa or short stay visa.

mts
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ool
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  • Possible duplicate of Do I need a visa to transit in the Schengen area? – Michael Hampton Dec 26 '15 at 23:41
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    Obviously not a duplicate. This asks for an answer to question 2 in the answer to the linked question in some particular case. – fkraiem Dec 26 '15 at 23:47
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    If you have to leave the international zone, you need a regular short stay visa, not an airport transit visa. – phoog Dec 27 '15 at 00:28
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    I can't find any info on the airport website and I haven't personally transited at Orly but I see no reason it should be necessary to leave the international transit zone. That's the usual setup in France and I have never heard that Orly was an exception. – Relaxed Dec 27 '15 at 00:30
  • @Relaxed - So all airlines flying from outside Schengen into Orly will transfer checked-in baggage to other airlines flying from Orly out of Schengen, even if both airlines are cheapo? Or, if they don't, there are baggage pickup and re-check-in facilities within the international zone? I'm advising someone from Tunisia who has never flown before, so if I say they won't need a French visa and then it turns out that they do, they are going to be mega-flustered. – ool Dec 27 '15 at 12:14
  • @ool Not necessarily for low-cost airlines, no, but that's not airport- or destination-specific and you did not mention any specific airlines. Incidentally, the airlines is going to check his or her visa in Tunisia anyway so you can also ask them what they require. – Relaxed Dec 27 '15 at 12:17
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    I believe that if you stay in the international area, you shouldn't need any Schengen visa. Are both airlines located in the same terminal? By the way, UK isn't part of Schengen (you probably knew about it already). – Olielo Jan 14 '16 at 10:21
  • It would be nice to know the airlines involved and if this is on one booking or two separate tickets. – mts Jun 22 '16 at 12:55
  • @Olielo nationals of certain countries require an airport transit visa if they are not planning to leave the international area. – phoog Jun 22 '16 at 14:09

1 Answers1

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I can not say for sure since you do not provide info about the flights in question, but what I can infer suggests that they do need a visa, even a full Schengen visa and not only a transit visa since you will need to go landside, i.e. pass immigration twice.

The direct flights from Djerba to Orly that I can find are offered by transavia and Tunisair and go to the South Terminal of Orly whereas all direct flights between Orly and London City are offered by Air France or Cityjet of Air France from the West Terminal.

To the best of my knowledge there is no airside transit offered between the two terminals neither in-Schengen nor extra-Schengen. I infer this since there is no such options listed on the airport website nor can it be found googling. This does not mean it does not exist but at this point you should stop relying on the off-chance that it does if you want to spare hassle for your client.
Further source: comment by @Calchas to another answer in this post: "Orly does not facilitate airside transit between the ouest and sud terminals."

At this point it is also irrelevant if there is luggage involved or not.

mts
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