New Delhi: Indians en route to any non-Schengen destination with layover at a German airport will no longer require a Schengen airport transit visa, the German embassy in India announced Tuesday. The move was first announced in January 2026, during German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s first official visit to India.
“Indian nationals will no longer require a transit visa when traveling to another country with a layover at a German airport. The lifting of the so-called airport transit visa requirement for Indian citizens was announced in the Federal Law Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt) on June 2, 2026, and takes effect on June 3, 2026,” the German embassy said in a statement.
It added: “It underlines the Federal Government’s commitment to deepening German Indian relations, facilitating the movement of people, and further strengthening economic ties”. The exemption for visas applies to those travelling through Frankfurt and Munich while travelling to a non-Schengen destination.
Germany was not the only country to announce such a move. France, too, in February announced that Indians transiting through France exclusively by air will no longer require an airport transit visa, after the French government operationalised an agreement to remove the requirement.
The move took effect in April 2026. Earlier, Indian nationals were exempt from this requirement only if they held valid visas for the US, Canada, Japan, or the European Union while transiting through France. The latest move removed that condition.
India has gained more significance in German foreign policy in recent years than almost any other Asian nation. The German government’s 2020 Guidelines for Indo-Pacific identified India as one of the key partners and Chancellor Merz made his first trip to Asia in January 2026 to India rather than China.
The visit came two weeks before the conclusion of India-EU FTA negotiations which Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed as “the mother of all deals”.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)