Indians No Longer Require Airport Transit Visa in France

Indian nationals will no longer have to go through all the processes and requirements for obtaining an Airport Transit Visa (ATV) for France, since they are no longer required to be in possession of such a visa to transit French airports.

Since 23rd of July and on, every Indian passport holder is permitted to go through the international zone of any airport in France without the need to present an Airport Transit Visa. Ambassador of France to India, Alexandre Ziegler, announced the move to remove India from the list of third countries that need France Airport Transit Visa, through a tweet.

I’m pleased to announce that, with effect from 23rd July 2018, holders of Indian passports will no longer require an Airport Transit Visa (ATV) while transiting through the international zone of any airport in France #ChooseFrance ➡️https://t.co/7TiAkqL2As pic.twitter.com/zZjIh1Zg1p

— Alexandre Ziegler (@FranceinIndia) July 17, 2018

“I’m pleased to announce that, with effect from 23rd July 2018, holders of Indian passports will no longer require an Airport Transit Visa (ATV) while transiting through the international zone of any airport in France,” Ambassador Ziegler tweeted.

The Airport Transit Visa has been established by the Schengen Member States and is applied to third-world travelers that need to take off from one plane and take another in one of the Schengen countries without having to leave the international zone.

Though the Schengen Area has a common list of the countries the nationals of which need an ATV in order to transit through any of the Schengen states’ airports, some of the countries have an expanded list.

While the Schengen common list consists of 19 countries, currently the nationals of 31 countries need an ATV in order to do so in one of the French Airports.

India has been part of this list until 23^rd of July this year. Despite of France abolishing the Transit Visa regime for India, the other Schengen Area member states have not announced any move to remove India from the common list.

According to the Airport Transit Visa statistics for 2017, France received and issued the highest number of ATVs, just after Germany, which received 244 more applications than France that received 1,723 visa applications in total.