Schengen Rules- A VISA WARNING!

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
21
US citizens don't need a visa to visit Switzerland, indeed all/most of Europe (definitely not for the EU)

22
You do not need a transit visa as long as you simply connect through the airport and do not enter Switzerland. This is valid for most developed countries, with the notable exception of the United States.

23
Brilliant link 4711 - that's the one I meant!

Everyone must Bookmark that!

Note: If you're using Firefox, you have to allow pop-ups to see the results.

Now for my news:

Next week, I'm going to bring peace to the Middle East and create a machine which allows me to become invisible (sister-in-law is coming , and yes she did need a Visa )

These challenges will be a lot easier than trying to understand the complex world of Immigration and Visa requirements

Over and out.

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Hi everyone,

I am newbie here. I just received my permit L. I would like to ask if I (non EU citizen ) want to travel to Sweden by airways, is there any requirement for schengen visa?

Thanks,

Zorro_a0

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Hi and welcome to the forum - I would suggest for the 'perfect' answer you look at the swedish consulate general, switzerland...

http://www.swedenabroad.com/Consulates____12402.aspx

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..........

27
If you had B or C Permit, there is no problem, you can fly without Visa for a 3 month Visa-free stay whatever Nation's Passport you hold - even North Korean .

I am not 100% sure about L-Permit.

As I know, "L-Permit" is not regarded as LONG-TERM, therefore you would need a Visa - if you needed a visa in the first place!

I really mean to ask: what is your Nationality?

Don't be shy - we can't all be lucky enough to have been born in the People's Republic of Manchester

28
Hi Everyone

I am sorry if I am repeating a question which has been already answered in the forum.I have been searching for long but did not get the answer particularly for my situation.We had submitted the documents for the extension of our B permit for the second year almost amonth back and today i had enquired about the status and the officials said it will take 3 to 4 weeks.

My confusion now is:

As an Indian citizen,i know that we need Transit visa for UK but it is mentioned in the website that those holding a Resident permit from other european countires dont have to apply for the transit visa.Is it so?If yes then if we dont get out residents permit before we leave for our vacation then getting the transit visa is the only solution?

If we choose to travel through other airlines then do we need a transit visa for other schengen countries say France or Germany if we have not got our Resident permits before we leave?

We will ofcourse get a reentry visa for switzerland if incase we dont get our permits.Will that help anyway for transitting without a visa?

Thanks in advance.

Kalyan

29
Kalyan, don't be sorry for asking.

These regulations are truly a nightmare.

Basically, you do need a Transit Visa for the UK BUT there are certain exceptions depending on whether you hold US/Canada/Australia/EU residence and your exact flight routing.

I'm going to paste the Full TWOV regulation for Indian Nationals Transiting through the UK to show others how complicated it is:

TWOV *TRANSIT WITHOUT VISA*:

VISA REQUIRED- EXCEPT FOR PASSENGERS WHO MAY BE GRANTED

PERMISSION BY THE IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES TO ENTER THE UNITED

KINGDOM- FOR A STAY NOT EXCEEDING 24 HOURS.

THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS MUST BE COMPLIED WITH:

- PASSENGERS HOLD CONFIRMED RESERVATIONS FOR AN ONWARD FLIGHT

WITHIN 24 HOURS. AND

- CONTINUE TO A THIRD COUNTRY. AND

- HAVE NO PURPOSE IN ENTERING THE UNITED KINGDOM OTHER THAN TO

PASS THROUGH IN TRANSIT. AND

- HOLD ALL DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR THE NEXT DESTINATION.

***WARNING*** NATIONALS OF INDIA MAY ONLY USE THIS

ADMINISTRATIVE CONCESSION *TWOV* ABOVE IF HOLDING:

- A VISA WHICH ALLOWS ENTRY INTO * OR TRANSIT THROUGH*

EITHER AUSTRALIA- CANADA- NEW ZEALAND OR THE U.S.A.. AND

- HOLDING A VALID TICKET FOR TRAVEL FROM A THIRD COUNTRY OR

TERRITORY VIA THE U.K. AS PART OF A JOURNEY TO * OR THROUGH*

AUSTRALIA- CANADA- NEW ZEALAND OR THE U.S.A.- WHICHEVER THE

VISA IS APPLICABLE TO *E.G.: DEL-LHR-JFK- DEL-CDG-LHR-JFK-

DEL-LHR-CDG-JFK OR DEL-LHR-JFK-MEX*.

OR:

- A VALID VISA FOR ENTRY INTO AUSTRALIA- CANADA- NEW

ZEALAND OR THE U.S.A.. AND

- A VALID AIRLINE TICKET FOR TRAVEL VIA THE U.K. AS PART OF

A JOURNEY FROM THE COUNTRY IN RESPECT OF WHICH THE VISA IS

HELD TO ANOTHER COUNTRY OR TERRITORY.

OR:

TRAVELLING AS PART OF A JOURNEY FROM EITHER AUSTRALIA-

CANADA- NEW ZEALAND OR THE U.S.A.- PROVIDED TRANSITING THE

U.K. LESS THAN 6 MONTHS AFTER THE DATE THEY LAST ENTERED

AUSTRALIA- CANADA- NEW ZEALAND OR THE U.S.A. WITH A VALID

VISA FOR THE RESPECTIVE COUNTRY- EVEN THOUGH THE VISA MAY

HAVE EXPIRED AT TIME OF TRANSIT THROUGH THE U.K. *E.G.:

JFK-LHR-DEL- JFK-CDG-LHR-DEL OR JFK-LHR-CDG-DEL*.

OR:

HOLDING A VALID COMMON FORMAT CATEGORY D VISA FOR ENTRY

INTO AN E.E.A. MEMBER STATE OR SWITZERLAND.

Did YOU understand that?!

Try asking a Check-in agent to understand that 10 minutes before the flight is due to Depart. You've got no chance, they will just offload you in case the Airline gets fined.

Please don't ask what a Common Format Category D Visa is for Switzerland, because I've never heard of it!

EDITED - This posting is NOT correct, see Page 2!!

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Kalyan - travel through a Schengen County instead of the UK.

You don't need a Visa with a Swiss B/C Permit.

How's your head having read my previous post?

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Me again for Kalyan.

Above long posting was not 100% correct - I omitted the "Residence Switzerland" parameter.

If you hold Swiss Residence you DO NOT need a Transit Visa for UK:

NATIONAL INDIA *IN* /RESIDENCE SWITZERLAND *CH*

TRANSIT UNITED KINGDOM *GREAT BRITAIN* *GB*

DESTINATION INDIA *IN*

ALSO CHECK DESTINATION INFORMATION BELOW

VISA TRANSIT UNITED KINGDOM *GREAT BRITAIN* *GB*

...... NORMAL PASSPORTS ONLY ......

TWOV *TRANSIT WITHOUT VISA*:

VISA REQUIRED- EXCEPT FOR PASSENGERS WHO MAY BE GRANTED

PERMISSION BY THE IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES TO ENTER THE UNITED

KINGDOM- FOR A STAY NOT EXCEEDING 24 HOURS.

THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS MUST BE COMPLIED WITH:

- PASSENGERS HOLD CONFIRMED RESERVATIONS FOR AN ONWARD FLIGHT

WITHIN 24 HOURS. AND

- CONTINUE TO A THIRD COUNTRY. AND

- HAVE NO PURPOSE IN ENTERING THE UNITED KINGDOM OTHER THAN TO

PASS THROUGH IN TRANSIT. AND

- HOLD ALL DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR THE NEXT DESTINATION.

That's all - not all the other rules in the posting above!

Sorry for the confusion.

32
Hi all,

Am in Indian. Living on Permit B for donkey's years now here in Swiss. Have been too lazy to apply for a C and actually have never been more then a couple of weeks at a stretch in Swiss to get it.

Anyway as I travel numerous times to all schengen nations and back & forth between asia too; just sharing some experiences-

A few weeks ago at Helsinki I was not allowed to go in even with the permit B as the finnish border police believed it is only temprory permit to live in swiss and they requested me to get a new one from swiss which is supposed to look like the European I Card (Checked with my Geminde and was told I can get one like that alongwith with my C permit but as I still dont have time in hand so have not applied for it). Anyway I did get in helsinki as I had already got another 2 year Schengen Visa stamped in my passport and my passport is full of previous schengen Visa's and stamps. Spend 2 hrs though with the finnish police & they kept a copy of my permit B and passport and told me that they will get back to me whether or not I can travel through Finland on that document or not and I still have not heard anything from them as yet.

Same happened at frankfurt airport last week as it took them more then 1 hr to let me go out on my permit B after they made numerous calls back & forth god knows to where even though I probably have a few 100 visit stamps from various german airports. But Brussels and Paris were ok as it took barely 2 or 3 minutes as they asked me just my reason of travel.

So to sum it up it is still not happening at the ground at various other schengen airports. Am off to Spain next week so lets see how much fun that will be.

Cheers.

33

The thread is getting confusing now, so just to understand it better..!! I am holding an Indian Passport, and residing here in Swiss with a valid L permit. My Swiss visa was issued prior to 12Dec2008, so it was not a Schengen.

So, now if i try to venture out of swiss to other schengen countries, can i do so without any worries. The base point of this question is that I know a person as having same standings as me and he tried to enter a town in France bordering Swiss. And guess what he was send back to Swiss after confronted by French authorities in Rail stattion. This incident happened well after 12th dec. So....... what is the actual rule now??

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What you're quoting is a completely different thing. That's for transit through the UK. As far as travelling to Schengen states is concerned, you should be okay as long as you have your passport and your L-Permit with you. However, as mentioned in aashish's post, it's gonna take some arguing for cetain countries even though technically they should allow you to enter straight away. I've been to France and the Czech Republic without any problems at all with my L-Permit and no Schengen visa.

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I guess that all the confusion is rising because, Swiss authorities after implementing the Schengen agreement has started issuing a Card for all permits (C, B or L), instead of that old-book-like thing. Its more like a credit card now. So, all the other schengen counterparts in different airports are expecting us to show that when we are out to any other schengen country. When they dont see.....the problem starts. Few countries have updated as well as the historic information, so its fine with them. Few only have the new information...and problem starts in those countries.

36
Has anyone seen a copy of the new permit card, I hope it is a credit card form and I can leave my UK passport at home when travelling within Europe. Is there a sample anywhere on the web?

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I'll check if there's a sample somewhere online but I have seen one and it's pretty much the same size and shape as a credit card.

38
I have seen it, and yes its a hard credit card like. Looks good and portable. Has a hologram. One major change they have made is --removed the address being reflected. So, if you change your address there is no need to pay extra bucks to update it on the C/B/L card.

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Just curious, do they have the name of the employer too (in case someone's permit is attached to one)?

Funny ... no address! Its supposed to be an ID too, till someone actually can feed the data in a machine, would not be able to say where you live! Not sure whether its good or bad.

Pros: As you mentioned, changing apartments would not need renewal. (read extra bucks)

40
Super info - thanks very much , have highlighted to show Mrs Oldmanc.

Sorry about your Troubles in Finland and Germany.

If I'd have flown Swiss, I would have asked Helsinki and Frankfurt "Call the Country Manager for Swiss International Airlines and ask him/her what a B-Permit is!"

Please post what happens when you get to Spain.

FYI, I think I'd mentioned before: another Indian englishforum user had no problems in Prague, Czech Republic with his B-Permit.