diginomad813

Hi,

I am American and my wife is Indonesian. As such, I do not require a visa to enter the Schengen area, although she does. Before the trip I'm about to explain, she will not have time to apply for said visa.

We will be traveling from Istanbul - Madrid - Medellin. She receives 90 days visa free in Colombia so that is not an issue.

We arrive in Madrid on January 1st at 11pm and depart from Madrid to Medellin on January 2nd at 12:45pm. So our layover time is less than 24 hours but across 2 calendar days.

We also will be flying in on Turkish Airlines (Terminal 1) and depart on Iberia (Terminal 4).

My question is whether or not we will have to go through passport control or whether we will run into any problems trying to transit in the Madrid airport.

As an Indonesian, she does not require a transit visa for the Schengen area, but I've read online that this only applies for one calendar day, and we are about 1 hour short of arriving on the same calendar day we depart.

It's also making me nervous that we need to change terminals and there might be passport control between the two terminals.

Do we have anything at all to worry about? Or will everything be OK? Thanks in advance for your responses.

LupineChemist

The information on the airport page is much better in the Spanish version so I'll link that.

http://www.aena.es/csee/Satellite/Ae...erminales.html

My biggest concern would be that the transport between terminals appears to end near 23:10 until the next morning. If you miss that (and it seems like there would only be a slim chance of making it, especially since I have no idea where it actually leaves from) then you would be stuck in the VERY spartan pre passport check side of T1. The services you can expect are literally just that bathrooms exist.

Maybe you could convince them to let you into flight connections for T1 and buy a lounge pass for the T1 lounge, but I would think it's very worth it to just get a real visa for her if you have any other options.

It's also possible that they just let her through to get to T4 at that point or personally accompany her, but that can't be predicted and I wouldn't bet on it.

diginomad813

Thanks for your reply. While staying pre-passport check with little amenities wouldn't be ideal, it's something we could deal with if it's our only option.

Unfortunately it won't be possible to get her a visa, as she must apply for it in her home country, where we won't be for long enough before the flight to obtain the visa, especially before Christmas and New Years holidays.

I've been scouring the internet for hours and have so far come up empty-handed as to a concrete answer on this.

Can you confirm that she definitely needs to go through passport control between the two terminals and whether or not that would be an issue for her due to the two calendar days?

Thanks for your help.

diginomad813

Update:

Managed to get in contact with the police in the airport, who confirmed that it wouldn't be a problem. They also confirmed that the shuttle bus is 24/7, so that also shouldn't be an issue.

Doc Savage

^

Have a great trip!

MSPeconomist

One issue is what will happen when you arrive in MAD late at night. However, an earlier worry is that your first airline (TK?) might not let you board without the visa.

You should check what TIMATIC says and, in particular, if it mentions the one calendar day rule.

BTW, I've seen European airports lock all of their restrooms at night. In particular, this happened at ATH when many passengers were stranded there overnight during an Olympic strike. [They also didn't let connecting passengers leave the terminal because it was claimed that no hotel rooms were available.]

diginomad813

I have called Turkish Airlines and while they refused to comment on any visa policies for passengers, confirmed that they will allow us to board. I asked if there was any possibility that we would have trouble boarding and they said "No".

Have just looked up TIMATIC, though having just heard of it am having trouble navigating it.

The police officer at the Madrid airport confirmed it should be no issue though, and that the shuttle runs 24/7 so we should be able to get over to our terminal and into a lounge if there's hotels within the airport.

diginomad813

After playing around with TIMATIC, I'm now even more confused.

It's saying she requires a visa for Spain. It says this when I enter all of our details as they are.

However, I tried entering our details as if we arrive on the same day, just 2 hours before our connecting flight. It still says she requires a visa.

Indonesia is not on the small list of countries that requires a visa to transit in the Schengen area, so it's strange to me that TIMATIC would return back those results, even for a transit a few hours before the next flight.

The police officer on the phone said by taking the shuttle we would remain in the international area. This was actually the second time I called them (last time I didn't realize our arrival/departure spanned 2 calendar days) and also got the same answer - taking the shuttle stays in the international area.

Now I'm really worried - Turkish Airlines says it will be OK for her to board and the Police at Madrid airport have confirmed two times it will be no problem.

But if all airlines are using this TIMATIC system, won't she get flagged at some point between Istanbul and Medellin?

MSPeconomist

What exactly does it say about transit in the schengen area? Could that mean a flight from one schengen country that connects in MAD to another flight to a different schengen country? Or do they mean that a schengen visa is needed to transit in MAD?

BTW, what link to TIMATIC are you using? Some give a much easier to read printout than others. If TK has a link from their website, I would consult that. Personally I use the link from the SkyTeam alliance site, which I consider to be rather user-friendly, although you need to be careful that you don't confuse yourself by clicking on some general definition links such as one that says that transit means not leaving the airport.

diginomad813

I used this website to check: http://www.iatatravelcentre.com/home.htm

Under the "Spain" section it says "visa required" when I enter my details of our flights.

However, our flight is from a non-Schengen airport (Istanbul) transiting in a Schengen airport (Madrid) and traveling to a non-Schengen airport (Medellin).

For Indonesians, they may transit in one schengen airport without visa. However, if the route were for example, Istanbul-Amsterdam-Madrid-Medellin that would not be OK as the Amsterdam-Madrid leg would be seen as a domestic flight.

We are only stopping in Madrid, and what is concerning me is the change of terminals and the fact that since it will be 2 calendar days, despite being only 13-14 hours in transit.

MSPeconomist

When I guess at your details and check, the SkyTeam TIMATIC link says visa required for Spain except if you hold onward tickets with no mention of a same day requirement and no mention of schengen.

IMO you need to find a TIMATIC link from either the TK or *A website and print the results to carry with you.

I didn't even find a clear statement that your IATA link was giving information from TIMATIC. I know, for example, that if you look for visa information on the DL website, it sends you to some private visa service agency that tells you erroneously (probably deliberately to make money) that a visa is required for certain itineraries.

Stewie Mac

Sadly the Star Alliance link to TIMATIC seems to have disappeared since they have updated/refreshed/prettyfied the website...

I have found the United Airlines version which agrees with what MSPeconomist says:

'Spain - Transit Visa
Visa required.

Transiting without a visa is possible for:
Holders of onward tickets in transit .'

This is based on an Indonesian passport holder, living in Indonesia, transitting at MAD on a flight from IST to BOG.

I agree with MSPeconomist that it would be worthwhile to go to that site and enter all your details and then print out the outputs, to take with you. Also have etickets/boarding passes (if you can checkin online 24 hours before) for your MAD-BOG flight to show to TK in IST.

MSPeconomist

Also, onward tickets tends to mean that you've already purchased the tickets and can show a printout of the ticket receipt with a ticket number plus a matching confirmed reservation. They don't need to be on the same airline or same ticket/reservation as your flight to the transit airport, although usually a change of airport is not allowed.

BTW I guessed USA permanent resident but citizen of Indonesia.

diginomad813

Thanks everyone, those links were extremely helpful. I'll keep them happy and definitely print that out before heading to the airport in Istanbul.

I didn't even realize that the website I was on didn't mention TIMATIC. I liked that it allowed me to enter the times of my transit period, but I guess that doesn't mean much if the results are wrong.

This does coincide with both what the Spanish police at the airport and the customer service reps at Turkish airlines told me. I wanted to just believe them, but you can never be too safe.

Traveling with an Indonesian (outside Asia) isn't easy, this website will definitely help. We normally use visamapper.com to find out where we are able to go easily, but this will help us figure out all our transits.

Thanks again

MSPeconomist

When you check in at IST, be absolutely certain that the agent understands that MAD is only a transit with Peru being your destination. If Spain is entered as the destination, TIMATIC will say that a visa is needed. [This issue arises often when using TWOV for mainland China.]