Is a short stay visa required for collecting boarding pass if office is located outside international zone? [duplicate]
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Source: LA Airport (USA)
Destination: Bangalore (India)
Stop: Paris (CDG airport)
Type of flight: Non-Connecting ( Two different tickets)
Travelling Document: Indian Passport
Currently Holding Visa: US F1 (Student)
Baggage: Only cabin baggage, No Check-In baggage, so I won't have to collect any baggage at the CDG Airport
Time Difference between flight: 6 Hours
When departing from US, I will only have a single boarding pass. So I need to collect my boarding pass from the airways office (Air India, Not sure about its location on the airport, whether in International/Outside)
Ticket: 2 separate tickets with different e ticket nos. And separate PNRs
I've tried contacting French Embassy, Indian Embassy, their twitter handles, multiple times, but to I haven't gotten a clear response, and this has made me more doubtful about the action to take.
French Embassy: French embassy says I won't require a visa if I don't leave international zone of Paris airport, otherwise I would require a short stay visa
Paris Airport: Paris airport says that to check in to my departure i.e. air india flight (which is on a separate terminal than my arrival Norwegian Airways flight), I would have to leave the international zone to collect my boarding pass for air india and hence would require a transit visa
A travel agent: As the Air India office in Paris Airport is outside the International Zone, you will need a Short Stay Visa.
Internet: From July 2018, Indians do not require transit visa in france
In my condition, there is no valid purpose of stay for short stay visa according to France visas website
Also Is there any other way to legally obtain my boarding pass without short stay, iff it is required ? I could not find any help on other forums, hence looking for an answer here. I have 15 days before I travel, and so will have to try best to get Visa, if required, as returns tickets are also booked.
EDIT: In the ticket booked from kiwi.com, It is mentioned that online check-in is not available for this, so I will have to manually collect.
Best Answer
To answer the updated question title:
If you do need to exit the international zone (airside), then you need a visa. Not an airport transit visa, but a regular one.
If you can stay airside, then Indian citizens no longer require an airport transit visa (they used to need one even if they stayed airside, though there were exceptions).
To stay airside, you would need to:
- not have any checked luggage (which you stated is the case)
- be able to either do online check-in, or to reach a transfer desk which can issue the boarding pass for you.
Air India has a transfer desk in CDG, however it is unclear where it is located, and its hours are restrictive. You should contact Air India for details.
Note that you would also have the issue of being able to board the first flight: as far as they know, Norwegian considers your flight ends up in Paris, so they may not let you board without a visa valid for France. Even if they accept the evidence that you are in transit and will stay airside, they may not be up-to-date with the relatively recent drop of the airport transit visa requirement.
The safest option is to get a visa. This will make sure you can do landside if you need to, and will satisfy Norwegian.
If you do not get a visa (having verified that you can get the boarding pass for the next flight while staying airside), then arrive early at LAX, and have all relevant documentation readily available, but be prepared for possible trouble. In the worst case, Norwegian may flatly refuse to let you board, and there wouldn't be much you could do about it.
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