525 views
Help ! I was wondering if the airline will get suspicious if I decided to fly from Lebanon into the EU on the basis that I'll be transiting from there to Turkey I of course will not continue to Turkey instead I will claim asylum at the European airport. Will the airline stop me in Lebanon because the whole idea of going all the way to Europe instead of directly going toTurkey raises suspicion ? I don't need a transit visa if I don't leave the international transit area of the European airport. Thank You.

Edit: My case does not allow me to claim asylum in Turkey as the authorities there tend to hate people like me.
asked Oct 11, 2017 in Asylum proceedings by Souna | 525 views

Please log in or register to answer this question.

1 Answer

+2 votes
Hello @Souna - welcome to our community.

I did a little bit of research about this topic.

The reason why there is few refugees coming to Europe by plane is that airlines take a risk by letting them on their planes. In accordance with EU Council Directive 2001/51/EG they have to pay for accommodation, catering, the return trip and a fee in case they bring someone here without a visa that doesn’t get asylum. Technically they have to check at the counter before check-in if you are entitled to get a refugee status in your target country. But in reality that’s impossible for them to figure on the spot which is why they won’t let anyone without a valid visa on the plane.

Sources (German language):

****://***.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/fluechtlinge-warum-sie-nicht-per-flugzeug-kommen-koennen-a-1051827.html

****://***.n-tv.de/politik/Flucht-per-Flugzeug-waere-moeglich-article15082176.html

As you said you usually don’t need a visa if you stay in the transit area of an airport and travel to another foreign country afterwards. But there are exceptions from this rule: citizens from Lebanon (amongst other countries) need an airport transit visa even if they are not leaving the transit zone.

Source: https://***.schengenvisainfo.***/transit-schengen-visa/

So without a valid airport transit visa the airline probably won’t let you enter their planes. In order to obtain such a visa you have to go to the German embassy in Beirut. You have to use this website to book an appointment:

https://service2.diplo.de/rktermin/extern/choose_realmList.do?locationCode=beir&request_locale=en

Best regards,
Thorgen
answered Oct 12, 2017 by Thor
Strange because the last time I checked I didn't need a transit visa for France, Belgium orbthe Netherlands unless I wanted to leave the international transit area. Thank you.
mbeon App

Confidential one-on-one consultations via App

For confidential one-on-one consultations in a secure virtual space, we work with mbeon. You can download the mbeon app free of charge from the App Store or Google Play Store and have private conversations with mbeon consultants there:

Link for iPhone
Link for Android

Welcome to Wefugees, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of the community.
5,169 questions
6,149 answers
8,033 comments
139,137 users