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I am an Indian citizen living in the US. I am going back to India to get a H1B visa stamped. I have established that I would require an airport transit visa when I have a stopover in Germany.

On the way to India, I plan to visit a friend in Italy for a couple of days. For this, I will be applying for a Schengen tourist visa. My itinerary stops in Frankfurt both on the way to Milan and while heading to India from Milan.

Would I still require an airport transit visa despite having a Schengen visa?

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  • Is that Schengen visa single-entry or multiple-entry? It's good for your side trip to Italy either way, but if it's single-entry, you may need a separate one for the layover on the return journey.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Jan 15, 2013 at 21:04
  • @Gilles: What do you refer to when you say return journey? I am yet to apply for the visa, so I could apply for multiple entry if needed..
    – Dharini Chandrasekaran
    Commented Jan 15, 2013 at 21:36
  • I understood this was to be a return trip, with a stopover in Frankfurt in each direction. If this is a one-way trip, or if your return trip doesn't go via Europe, disregard my previous comment.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Jan 15, 2013 at 21:39
  • My trip is us-> milan via frankfurt and milan->india via frankfurt. When I return to the US, I will not require a visa since I will have a valid US visa by then.
    – Dharini Chandrasekaran
    Commented Jan 15, 2013 at 21:48

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Quick answer - no, you will not require a transit Visa.

Longer answer - a Schengen visa allows you to enter any country in the Schengen area. In your case you will use it to enter the Schengen area in Frankfurt. Once you've entered Germany there is no passport control for flights to other Schengen countries, so you will NOT pass through immigration when going from Frankfurt to Milan.

In effect, you can think of the Schengen area as a single "country" with multiple states. Your visa allows access to any part of the "country" - and then there is uncontrolled travel permitted between the states.

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  • Thanks! Another thing that popped into my head..since I will be landing in Frankfurt and then flying to Milan directly, should I apply for a Schengen visa at the German consulate or Italian consulate?
    – Dharini Chandrasekaran
    Commented Jan 15, 2013 at 18:30
  • I will be just passing through Frankfurt by the way
    – Dharini Chandrasekaran
    Commented Jan 15, 2013 at 18:30
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    Officially you should apply for a visa for either the country you will first enter the Schengen area in (ie, Germany) OR the country where you will spend most of your time (ie, Italy). Either is fine, so you can pick whichever is best for you.
    – Doc
    Commented Jan 15, 2013 at 18:47

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