Entry Stamp Confusion...Please help

Hello,

I do have a Query abt my Airport stamping in my Passport.

I am a WP dependent having HSMP approval now. I planned to go to India to get HSMP EC as I can not switch from WP dependent HSMP in UK.

I made trip to India last dec 2006 (London-Dusseldolf(Germany)-Dubai-India). But during my trip I got in to trouble in Dusseldolf immigration saying that I should have a TRANSIT Visa to travel to Dubai/india via Dusseldolf. They held me for an hour & let me go to Dubai escorted by police..!! I am not sure whether I am deported in this incident.

Now in My Passport I could see usual rectangular europian airport stamp. But over that I could see a big PLUS (-|-) sign with out joints both vertical & horizontal (I can not show that symbol:() . i am not sure whats this symbol means..????

I am bit worried if my UK entry clearence will be affected by this stamping in my passport..Any one in this forum had similar symbol in the past..?? Please advise..

regards

Why did you pass through German Immigration? Did you have to leave the terminal or airport?

Please don't post duplicates.

No I have n't gone out of Airport. I was ON TRANSIT from London to Dubai/India via Dusseldolf. Once I came out of LHR flight i have to go through Immigration desk to go to Dubai flight terminal. ...This seems to be the rule only in Dusseldolf....??? Indian transit need Visa..??

I will remove duplicate posts..

Apparently, Indian Citizens do require airport transit visas.

It means that you have been refused entry into Germany. This sign is the standard refusal of entry adopted across the EU. When you make the application for an entry clearance in India you should explain this incident to the embassy before they draw adverse inferences. However, it should not have an adverse impact on your application. I'm sure it won't be a problem.

Are you sure that you cant switch to HSMP from Dependent VIsa, from UK only.

thanks...but i did not try to enter germany. i was on transit from lhr - india via connection flight same day to dubai from dusseldolf.

regarding this symbol...how sure you are its "entry refuse" symbol..??? symbol is like ...

usual rectangular stamp with eu stamp on left top, plane symbol right top, right arrow mark on left botton, "dusseldolf" on right bottom of the rectangular box. over imposing that box large "plus" sign (with out both lines joining at central) with date. i could also see "c" handwritten in right bottom corner. i got german paper with it but no english translation..!!

Please calm down. Indian citizens do need a transit visa for germany. Unfortunately, you didn't know about it but you did need the visa, even if you didn't try to enter germany.

This all sounds strange to me. If you were coming from a non-Schengen state and going into a non-Schengen state, you should not have been directed through the Schengen passport control. You should have been directed to a non-Schengen terminal where you would have been waiting for your connecting flight to India. Something went wrong there.

Given that germany requires transit visas for some nationals, wouldn't it make sense to check transit passengers as well?

paulp wrote:Given that germany requires transit visas for some nationals, wouldn't it make sense to check transit passengers as well?

It would if he wanted to go out the terminal for a few hours or a day before catching his connecting flight. But he remained within the terminal and never crossed the German border. Why did he have to pass through the passport control?

Jeff Albright wrote:It would if he wanted to go out the terminal for a few hours or a day before catching his connecting flight. But he remained within the terminal and never crossed the German border. Why did he have to pass through the passport control?

So if the germans don't check transit passengers, what's the point of transit visas? Or is there something I'm missing here?

Note, a transit visa is not for going into germany, it's actually for simply transiting through the country, even if the passenger stays on the same plane.

paulp wrote: So if the germans don't check transit passengers, what's the point of transit visas? Or is there something I'm missing here?

Transit visas are only required when you want to leave the airport terminal for some time before returning to your connecting flight.
If you remain within the terminal, you do not formally enter the country so you do not need transit visas.

Jeff Albright wrote:Transit visas are only required when you want to leave the airport terminal for some time before returning to your connecting flight.
If you remain within the terminal, you do not formally enter the country so you do not need transit visas.

Jeff, there is such a thing as an "airport transit visa". Some people do need a transit visa just for going through the airport terminal.

Having said that, this site says that indian nationals having a valid UK visa or residence permit does not need airport transit visas. http://www.london.diplo.de/Vertretung/l ... seite.html

Jeff Albright wrote:Transit visas are only required when you want to leave the airport terminal for some time before returning to your connecting flight.
If you remain within the terminal, you do not formally enter the country so you do not need transit visas.

That isn't the case - some countries require some nationals to possess a visa merely to transit through an airport on the air side. In fact, as one was required, it is surprising that the OP was allowed by the airline to board the plane in the UK. The cross (or plus sign) through the entry stamp is a very common way, used in many countries, of indicating that admission has been refused (even though, in this case, the passenger was not actually meaning to enter Germany as such).

That said, I don't believe that the offending stamp in the passport will have any bearing on the application for a UK visa.

Never heard of that.
From my personal experience, I can definitely say that The Netherlands, the UK and Sweden do not require this.
I am being a non-EU citizen, have been passing through airports in Amsterdam and Stockholm before catching a connecting flight without having any Schengen visa at all. Nor did my family or myself need any Hong Kong visa when connecting to Australia at Hong Kong airport in October last year. I am also aware that I would not have needed any UAE visa if we had been connecting at Dubai airport.
I know a few people previously connecting via various airports in Europe and never heard that they required any transit visas unless they wanted to exit the terminals.

Jeff Albright wrote:Never heard of that.
From my personal experience, I can definitely say that The Netherlands, the UK and Sweden do not require this.
I am being a non-EU citizen, have been passing through airports in Amsterdam and Stockholm before catching a connecting flight without having any Schengen visa at all. Nor did my family or myself need any Hong Kong visa when connecting to Australia at Hong Kong airport in October last year. I am also aware that I would not have needed any UAE visa if we had been connecting at Dubai airport.
I know a few people previously connecting via various airports in Europe and never heard that they required any transit visas unless they wanted to exit the terminals.

Not strictly true Jeff,

Even in the UK a distinction is drawn between visa mandatory and visa waiver nationals. Visa mandatory nationals require some form of visa to transit through the UK be it a visit visa or transit visa (There are some exceptions). This is the case even if they don't propose to seek entry to the UK. However, in practice this is not always insisted on by airlines. If however the passenger had to seek entry to the UK, and therefore see an immigration officer, for reasons beyond his/her control eg. a flight delay or other act of god reason then in theory that passenger could be refused entry and the airline fined.

Having said all that, the link I gave in my previous post turns out to be the German embassy in london, and it seems that the OP didn't need an airport transit visas as he/she had a valid UK visa or residence permit. So, it appears that the refusal stamp was given in error.

Dusseldorf until recently did not have a non-Schengen area, so all passengers coming from a non-Schengen airport had to go past immigration and go to the connecting gate. The OP did not have a Schengen visa so he was travelling without visa into germany (even though unintentionally). The airline should not have allowed OP to board as they should have been aware that there are no transit facilities in Dusseldorf. Because of this it will be next to impossible for OP to get a Schengen visa in the future as Op has been denied entry into Schengen area and would be in Schengen database.

Because Lufthansa has a few long haul flights out of Dusseldorf, there is a provision now where you can travel without a Schengen visa if the airline informs the Dusseldorf immigration authorities prior to arrival by telex (as seen by a quick check) as below.
http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/ap ... 61B8E702CE

INSIDER wrote:
Even in the UK a distinction is drawn between visa mandatory and visa waiver nationals. Visa mandatory nationals require some form of visa to transit through the UK be it a visit visa or transit visa (There are some exceptions).

There are quite a lot of exceptions. Most visa nationals (i.e. those who require a visa to enter the UK) do not, in fact, require a visa to transit through a UK airport. The UK calls these visas DATVs (direct airside transit visas), and DATV nationals are visa nationals who must have a visa to pass through the UK on their way to another country, even if they are not entering the UK or changing airports.

On the other hand, most visa nationals may transit without visa (TWOV), which has a different meaning - they don't need a visa if they are arriving
and leaving by air within 24 hours and have no intention of staying in the UK (but they can travel by rail or road between two airports).

Lists of countries can be found here and further explanations here.

None of this is, of course, directly relevant to the OP.

And of course VAF6, the application form for a Direct Airside Transit visa for the UK.

we actually took some print out showing that if you have UK residenace permit donot need Visa etc. But that was general info from german embassy site not specific to dusseldolf...we suspected visa need few days b4 travel only.....Looks like this issue is only in dusseldolf as there is no transit gate... like...with out going through immi can not move to another gate...thats what dussldolf police also told. If it was in Frankfurt this may not have been the sitn..

Most interesting thing is they also told we can come back to UK through Dusseldolf (same return ticket)with out any trouble..that seems to be perfectly legal..police also admitted its starnge law!!! But during return trip emirated air was not sure so they gave drect Uk ticket rather...!!