inpd

Hi,

I have a rather complicated visa situation. I now its legal because the French consulate said it was but I know that United check in agents sometimes can get a bit paranoid as the airline gets fined due to passengers visa issues.

Situation: I am going to live in France for 10 months. There are four of us who are dual citizens of USA + Other country. Three of us have long term french visas in our US passports. One child has the long term visa in her Other Country passport.


We will fly into Geneva on one-way United tickets and then take a train to France (quicker and cheaper).

The French long term visa is only for FRANCE not Schengen countries.

So I plan not to even show the United agent the long term visas and say that ALL of us should travel on our US passports and enter Switzerland on a tourist visa.

Then when we arrive in Switzerland I'll show the border agent the tourist visa and the french long term visas.

My main concern is United check in agent as its a rare situation they may freak out and deny my family boarding.

aacharya

One does not need a tourist visa to visit Switzerland if carrying US passports.

The long-term visa and France does not play into this at all from United's perspective.

Miles Ahead

There should be no problem. I flew into GVA all the time when I had a US passport and a French Carte de Sejour (and a corresponding Type D Visa). It was questioned exactly once, and I pointed out that GVA can be considered a French airport (because it has a French entrance and exit) and to just scroll down on the screen and you'll see it.

PTahCha

Here are the TIMATIC notes for US Passport holders:

You can show your train reservation as onward travel to exit Switzerland, so that's not an issue.

inpd

Can you elaborate a bit on this French airport Geneva thing?

I was going to ask to enter Switzerland as a tourist and then take the train from GVA to France. Are you saying when I land in Switzerland I should try to claim I'm entering "France"?

The problem/challenge is that we'll all be leaving on our US passports (shown to United) but when entering France three of us will enter on US passports and the final one on another countries' passport. We had to do this as there wasn't enough validity on the US passport to place the visa but enough time on the other passport for the same person.

wetrat0

You are making this too complicated. Your United flight is to Switzerland. United will require you to show that you have the necessary documents to enter Switzerland; to wit, US Passports valid for a minimum 3 months past the intended stay in Switzerland. They are not going to care about the rest of it and you should not make things more complicated by mentioning the rest of the issues.

Edited to add: if questioned regarding onward/return travel per Timatic, you can produce the train ticket. But, only provide this if asked.

inpd

Well I speak from experience.

Some UA check in agents can get quite paranoid and you need to know the situation much better than them.

My famous wet passport episode comes to mind. The UA agent refused to give me a boarding pass because she thought my passport was too damaged (it had a water stain on the back cover). It took a call to the GS line to fix that one. I'm not even 1K now.

Kacee

I agree you are overcomplicating this. UA is not going to care. Your US passport will satisfy the Timatic requirements for entering Switzerland.

PTaCha has identified the only real issue, which is whether Swiss immigration will give you a hard time about a return ticket if you truthfully answer questions about purpose of visit and length of stay.

Beltway2A

Sure. But in that case, there's no magic word to convince a righter-than-thou agent that you are in fact correct.

You're fine to enter Switzerland, and have the necessary paperwork. You've done all you can. If you have bad luck and get an agent who refuses to believe you, you've already done all you can in advance.

danielonn

You are entering the EU as if you were staying for 3 months or less. You now have permission to stay in France for 10 months. United may ask to show that you have a return ticket or enough funds for a return back to the US or you could book a Trans Atlantic Cruise back on Cunard, Royal Caribbean or Princess back to the US(which can be considerably less than a one way ticket) or go via Iceland.

When you arrive in the EU you can show your France 10 month Visa if they ask how long you are staying for. Which country do you have dual citizenship ? If its an EU country there is really no need for a Visa but if its from a risky country they may question you.

Other FTers may have more knowledge than I but as far as I know you were approved for the 10 month Visa so there should be no problem.

danielonn

You could book a one way Trans Atlantic Cruse put down the deposit and cancel before Final Payment or Book a Trans Atlantic Cruise for the time you wish to return. Who says it has to be a plane ticket on the return?

I do Trans Atlantic Cruises from the East Coast to Europe and fly back or a 2 week Med Cruise and one from Barcelona-Dubai and I have never been asked by the airline to show how I got to Europe.

The cruise is linked to your passport so immigration can see that you entered Europe via a Cruise and will see a stamp in your passport so when you leave the EU there won't be a problem for staying with a Carte de Sejour for 10 months or on the Visa on Arrival for 3 moths or less so as long as your passport is valid for 3 months or less for US citizens.

PTahCha

Are you intending to stay in Geneva for a period of time, or merely transiting? There's a difference.

Regardless, as long as everyone have a minimum of 3 months validity on their US passport on the day of travel, and if you can produce the onward train travel, there should be no issue. This is similar to people booking 2 one-way tickets due to award availability.

Ari

You are making this more complicated than it is; all you need to show is sufficient funds to buy a ticket back. That means a credit card. The visa stuff misovercomplicates the matter.

danielonn

I agree Ari the OP is making this such a major deal and getting so worked up over this.

joejones

I was curious so I looked it up. Flights to/from French destinations arrive in a separate part of the airport that is connected to French territory, so that there is no need to enter Switzerland. However, if you are flying to/from anywhere outside France, you will go through the Swiss part of the airport which means you have to enter Switzerland.

http://www.gva.ch/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-60/