Schengen Visa Transit validity?
Aug 6, 2013 | 3:37 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 18
Schengen Visa Transit validity?
Hello
I have been granted Schengen Visa however, Norway gives Visa valid from
1. Date of arrival
2. Date of departure
So lets say my Visa is valid from
1st September to 15th september
My flight out of Oslo is at 8pm on 15th september, and goes via Helinski
There is a 21 hours layover at Helinski airport(Finnair flights).
So I reach Helinski at 10pm, and then wait there for 21 hours
My visa expires on 15th september, since that is my flight date out of Oslo
I am wondering will it be a problem. I do not plan to leave the airport area at all.
I have been granted Schengen Visa however, Norway gives Visa valid from
1. Date of arrival
2. Date of departure
So lets say my Visa is valid from
1st September to 15th september
My flight out of Oslo is at 8pm on 15th september, and goes via Helinski
There is a 21 hours layover at Helinski airport(Finnair flights).
So I reach Helinski at 10pm, and then wait there for 21 hours
My visa expires on 15th september, since that is my flight date out of Oslo
I am wondering will it be a problem. I do not plan to leave the airport area at all.
Aug 6, 2013 | 8:07 am
#2
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 7,566
Oslo to Helsinki is an internal Schengen flight. You would need to be in the international transit area at HEL to be out of Schengen.
So - to stay within the validity period of your visa you would need to check in for your onward flight immediately on arrival at HEL, and immediately proceed through passport control into the international area of the airport (i.e., get stamped out of Schengen before midnight)
I don't know if you can check in 21 hours before (though on a through itinerary, with through-checked baggage, this wouldn't be an issue), and I don't know if you can stay in the international departure area overnight. You should try to find out about these things well ahead of time so that you can make alternative arrangements if necessary.
Maybe someone who knows HEL can provide more information about the practicalities.
So - to stay within the validity period of your visa you would need to check in for your onward flight immediately on arrival at HEL, and immediately proceed through passport control into the international area of the airport (i.e., get stamped out of Schengen before midnight)
I don't know if you can check in 21 hours before (though on a through itinerary, with through-checked baggage, this wouldn't be an issue), and I don't know if you can stay in the international departure area overnight. You should try to find out about these things well ahead of time so that you can make alternative arrangements if necessary.
Maybe someone who knows HEL can provide more information about the practicalities.
Aug 7, 2013 | 12:49 am
#3
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Programs: KL Gold, SQ KF Gold, CX Green
Posts: 9,524
Hello
I have been granted Schengen Visa however, Norway gives Visa valid from
1. Date of arrival
2. Date of departure
So lets say my Visa is valid from
1st September to 15th september
My flight out of Oslo is at 8pm on 15th september, and goes via Helinski
There is a 21 hours layover at Helinski airport(Finnair flights).
So I reach Helinski at 10pm, and then wait there for 21 hours
My visa expires on 15th september, since that is my flight date out of Oslo
I am wondering will it be a problem. I do not plan to leave the airport area at all.
I have been granted Schengen Visa however, Norway gives Visa valid from
1. Date of arrival
2. Date of departure
So lets say my Visa is valid from
1st September to 15th september
My flight out of Oslo is at 8pm on 15th september, and goes via Helinski
There is a 21 hours layover at Helinski airport(Finnair flights).
So I reach Helinski at 10pm, and then wait there for 21 hours
My visa expires on 15th september, since that is my flight date out of Oslo
I am wondering will it be a problem. I do not plan to leave the airport area at all.
If I were you, I would explore Helsinki for the day. At the airport before your flight home, IF they ask a question, just tell them the Norwegians gave you a visa for the time in Norway forgetting about the transit in Helsinki. Shouldn't be a problem.
Last edited by Sjoerd; Aug 7, 2013 at 1:41 am
Aug 7, 2013 | 10:27 am
#5
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 7,566
A friend of mine has a similar problem: his Schengen visa expires on September 3 and his flight out of Schengen will be on September 4. He called the immigration office at Schiphol AMS (where he will leave Schengen) and they told him not to worry. In my and my friends' experience, Schengen countries' immigration officers still use common sense.
I just wouldn't do it.
If I were you, I would explore Helsinki for the day. At the airport before your flight home, IF they ask a question, just tell them the Norwegians gave you a visa for the time in Norway forgetting about the transit in Helsinki. Shouldn't be a problem.
Unless the OP gets specific permission from the Finnish authorities to stay an extra day then the only option he has is to stay within the law and go airside before the visa expires.
Aug 7, 2013 | 2:46 pm
#6
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Programs: KL Gold, SQ KF Gold, CX Green
Posts: 9,524
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sjoerd
A friend of mine has a similar problem: his Schengen visa expires on September 3 and his flight out of Schengen will be on September 4. He called the immigration office at Schiphol AMS (where he will leave Schengen) and they told him not to worry. In my and my friends' experience, Schengen countries' immigration officers still use common sense.
Schengen is not one country. Schengen is lots of different countries and lots of different cultures and different mentalities. Just because a Dutch immigration office decided to turn a blind eye to someone overstaying doesn't mean someone in Finland will take the same approach. Overstaying is overstaying, and could - in a worse case scenario - get the OP banned from entering Schengen in the future.
I just wouldn't do it.
Quote:
If I were you, I would explore Helsinki for the day. At the airport before your flight home, IF they ask a question, just tell them the Norwegians gave you a visa for the time in Norway forgetting about the transit in Helsinki. Shouldn't be a problem.
You are advising the OP to break the law. We should never do that.
Unless the OP gets specific permission from the Finnish authorities to stay an extra day then the only option he has is to stay within the law and go airside before the visa expires.
Originally Posted by Sjoerd
A friend of mine has a similar problem: his Schengen visa expires on September 3 and his flight out of Schengen will be on September 4. He called the immigration office at Schiphol AMS (where he will leave Schengen) and they told him not to worry. In my and my friends' experience, Schengen countries' immigration officers still use common sense.
Schengen is not one country. Schengen is lots of different countries and lots of different cultures and different mentalities. Just because a Dutch immigration office decided to turn a blind eye to someone overstaying doesn't mean someone in Finland will take the same approach. Overstaying is overstaying, and could - in a worse case scenario - get the OP banned from entering Schengen in the future.
I just wouldn't do it.
Quote:
If I were you, I would explore Helsinki for the day. At the airport before your flight home, IF they ask a question, just tell them the Norwegians gave you a visa for the time in Norway forgetting about the transit in Helsinki. Shouldn't be a problem.
You are advising the OP to break the law. We should never do that.
Unless the OP gets specific permission from the Finnish authorities to stay an extra day then the only option he has is to stay within the law and go airside before the visa expires.
Aug 7, 2013 | 3:12 pm
#7
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Luxembourg
Programs: KLM/AF Platinum for life, IHG Platinum, Accor Platinum
Posts: 1,027
Now, the most likely scenario is that nothing will happen, but your worst-case is very far from the truth.
Aug 7, 2013 | 5:02 pm
#8
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 7,566
Advising someone, on a public forum, that it's quite all right to break the law and that nobody is going to worry about it and they'll be just fine, is just highly irresponsible.
It only takes ONE Finnish person to take an inflexible approach and stick to the letter of the law and the OP could end up in a lot of trouble.
It's just not worth taking the risk.
Aug 8, 2013 | 2:37 am
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 18
Thanks for your advice
I will try to alter the plans a bit to stay on the safe side.
I am wondering, do they allow you to go to International transit area 21 hours before your flight? In some airports they allow only 10 hours before.
I will try to alter the plans a bit to stay on the safe side.
I am wondering, do they allow you to go to International transit area 21 hours before your flight? In some airports they allow only 10 hours before.
Aug 8, 2013 | 4:15 am
#10
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 536
Finnish civil servants, including border guards, usually go strictly by the book but on the other hand the penalties for minor violations in Finland are not harsh at all (if there is any) I remember seeing in Finnish airport documentary series a Russian lady who got caught having a visa that was granted on false grounds. Since there were not flights back in that day any more, they just confiscated her passport, told her to get a ticket to morning flight, get a hotel room and report back next morning. Next morning they escorted her to the gate and gave her passport back and said her current visa is cancelled but she is not banned from Finland or Schengen and she is free to apply for a new visa with correct information. I would imagine that in many other countries she would have spent a night in a holding cell.
Aug 8, 2013 | 6:24 am
#11
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 7,566
Kallio, you seem to know your way around HEL.
Could you - for the OP's benefit - clarify the following:
Assuming the OP is on a single booking, and their baggage is checked through to their final destination, can they do an airside transit - in other words, is there an airside immigration checkpoint where passengers can transfer between Schengen and non-Schengen without going landside?
Could you - for the OP's benefit - clarify the following:
Assuming the OP is on a single booking, and their baggage is checked through to their final destination, can they do an airside transit - in other words, is there an airside immigration checkpoint where passengers can transfer between Schengen and non-Schengen without going landside?
Aug 8, 2013 | 5:06 pm
#13
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 536
Schengen to anywhere is always an airside connection if the bags are checked through. Connections originating outside the EU, EEA, USA and some other "secure" countries must go through transit security but that is not the case with OP. There is a quite new sticky wikipost about transiting in HEL in Finnair Plus forum. It applies to other airlines as well.
Aug 9, 2013 | 1:50 am
#14
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 7,566
I am wondering, do they allow you to go to International transit area 21 hours before your flight? In some airports they allow only 10 hours before.
As long as you haven't got any baggage to collect and re-check (which you won't on a single booking) then you won't have a problem... just don't go landside when you arrive, and make sure you go through the airside immigration checkpoint before midnight to get stamped out of Schengen.
There is a web site that deals with sleeping in airports (I think it may be called something totally obvious like "sleepinginairports.com", but Google should find it for you). Hopefully there will be some tips there about quiet corners where you can get a rest...