A person travelling from Chicago to India via Frankfurt on Lufthansa or United airlines has an expired visa stamp. Can the person travel on this route after purchase of transit visa? Has anyone done this before? What is the process of buying the transit visa?
Your post is not clear. Questions: (1) Traveling on a passport from which country? India presumably? (2) Expired visa for which country? USA, Germany, India? I assume you mean Germany. (3) Will they exit the airport in Frankfurt or just transfer planes? If it is just a layover with a change of planes, you do not need any visa. You need a 'transit visa' only if you are planning to spend some short period in that country. You may need one even if you plan to spend just one night at a hotel. In any case, post-9/11 rules are stringent, so it's best to confirm policies with the embassy/consulate or with a good travel agent familiar with policies for Indian nationals.
I would look up the rules on the airline's website or ask on an immigration forum.According to Dr. Google: Transit Visa Regulation for Indian Residents - Lufthansa ® India
Thanks for your FB, Soka. I checked the website and this is what they have to say. They are not exactly very helpful when you call them. https://www.germany.info/Vertretung...ctory__Services/01__Visa/__Transit__Visa.html According to the website I guess I will need to get a transit visa. When I called them up to find out how I go about it, they transferred me to an automatic recording of what the website says. I was hoping someone who has travelled via Europe on an expired US visa would answer here. The travel agent I am working with is good about getting a decent fare but not very knowledgeable about visas.
In general, when you are leaving a country, the US in this case, the visa does not matter. This is because you could be returning to your home country for good - say like some student returning after completing her studies. What matters is whether your Indian passport is valid. Unless you are headed in the other direction i.e. India->Germany->USA), your US visa status should not matter. If you were indeed headed in the other direction, then both the Indian authorities and the German authorities (if you get that far!) will check your visa status based on your itinerary / ultimate destination and prevent you from boarding. However, note that the US has some complex policies re: 'overstaying on a visa'. If your visa is expired and you stay beyond the expiration date, the length of that 'overstay' can have consequences for future visa applications. For many situations that window is 30 days. As I read it, condition #2 applies to you: Exceptions: Nationals from the above list are entitled to transit through the international transit zones without an airport transit visa: 1. If they hold a valid visa for the United States of America 2. If they return from the USA after having used the visa 3. If they hold one of the following residence permits: But yes, you may need confirmation from some more reliable (!) source.
Thanks @sokanasanah and @malstrom for your FB. I checked with a bunch of consulates via email. I have my answer now.
"My answer" ... which is ? If you could be generous and share any relevant information given the consulates here, it could help others with the same question.
