Germany has announced visa-free transit for Indian travellers passing through the country during Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s official visit to India.
Going forward Indian citizens travelling between the UK and India, for example, will be able to transfer to connecting flights in German airports without needing to acquire a Schengen visa.
Chancellor Merz announced the update during his first official visit to India on January 12th, and it was recorded in a joint statement issued together with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which said the measure “will not only facilitate and ease travel of Indian nationals, but will further intensify people-to-people links” between the two countries.
This comes as Germany and India appear to be leaning into a strategic partnership that also consists of trade agreements and defence partnerships.
What does this mean for Indian travellers?
Indian citizens travelling to other countries with stopovers at German airports will no longer be required to apply for a separate transit visa.
Affected travellers can therefore expect reduced waiting times and an easier journey on routes passing through German airports, such as Frankfurt or Munich.
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The move partially undoes the impact Brexit has had on Indian travellers since its introduction six years ago.
A large number of Indian travellers fly between the UK and India each year, with many of these connections involving a transfer at Frankfurt. After the UK dropped out of the EU with Brexit, non-EU residents, such as Indian or UK nationals travelling between the two countries were required to get a transit Schengen visa to be able to pass through border control in Germany and move to their next flight.
Transit visas are still to be required for other international connections, such as for Indians travelling from Mumbai to Munich via London, when a UK transit visa is required.
Indian nationals headed to other destinations via connections at German airports will also be exempt from the Schengen transit visa requirement. This allows Indian travellers to move visa-free to certain destinations in the Caribbean, for example.
According to a report by The Times of India, airlines and travel agents are now waiting for the start date of this change to be announced.
Supporting Germany's Indian community
Merz and Modi, in their joint statement, recognised the importance of "strong people-to-people ties" as being "a vital pillar of the strategic partnership."
Both sides highlighted the growing movement of students, researchers, skilled workers and tourists between the two countries, and the importance of expanding cooperation in education, research, vocational training and cultural exchanges.
Germany has seen a steady rise in the number of Indian students and skilled workers coming to stay in the country in recent years, and has taken some steps to encourage skilled workers from India to immigrate and take up employment, particularly in the tech or healthcare sectors.
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Among other points, Merz and Modi agreed to work on an Indo-German Comprehensive Roadmap on Higher Education, while India's prime minister also invited leading German universities to establish campuses in India under the New Education Policy.
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