do i need a visa to holland???
- Thread starter asylee01
- Start date
ok legally you need a visa to go to holland but not in germany as you just mentioned in your posting but ll tell you what a do every time when I go to europe I land in frankfurt from there take a train but not a slow train because in the slow or regulare train there is a passport control so if you are inluck you gonna find your self in a little trouble not big deal all they will do is to send you right back in the hand of germany border police for few question and be relised by telling you sir you don't like germany? if you give any reson they gon to tell you well don't cross their border again with out visa here is the number for their visa section and do you want me to call a taxi for you ? yes bye -bye so in orther to skip all this B.S take a (TGV) or (talys) those are no stop train and verry verry fast but its gone to cost you more and save your time and keep's you a way from passport controlasylee01 said:
ps: they don't have faste train in frankfurt you will take a regular one from frankfurt to kolonwantmygcnow
Volunteer Moderator
asylee01 said:
You do need a visa but you can get away without needing one. I landed in Germany in summer of 2004 and wanted to travel europe. So I went to Switzerland, Amsterdam, Austria, Italy without ANY VISA. I was on the ICE(the fastest train) and was checked by 4-5 Police Controls on the Train. I gladly showed my U.S Travel document and no one turned me around.
Point is, you can get away with it but i don't know if I was lucky or if that was just how it is always. However I should tell you this, Before travelling to Italy(as I heard italian police are nasty), I did go to Italian Consulate in Dusseldorf and asked them If I need a visa...They said I DO NOT NEED A VISA since Germany doesn't need a visa. However Italian embassy in the U.S Requires a visa to travel with a RTD.
So if you can get a Visa get it. If you can't then just Travel and act dumb when stopped by police say that "Mr. policeman I thought germany doesn't require a visa so I thought Holland doesn't either."
I did my adventures because I didn't really cared if i was turned around as I was on a "weekend" ticket and it was 38.00 Euros anywhere in europe..
And I left to JFK from Milan, Italy and officer never asked why you don't have a visa.
wantmygcnow
Volunteer Moderator
lacoste said:
Lacoste...It was a some german birthday or something that Germany was some years old so Deutsche bahn had the special...they have it every year..Ok i remember now..its when DDR got together with west germany...When the wall broke in 1989..they celebrate it by going wild
RTD holders don't need a visa to go to Germany.But from Germany you can travel anywhere in shengen countries.But keep in mind this operation is illegal,since there is not shengen visa in your document.Germans stamped your document but this allows you to stay only in Germany for up to 3 months.Since a stamp in your document is not a visa,you're gonna be illegal in France,while a person who has an italian visa is legal in France.
anotherway
Registered Users (C)
cadel said:
I heard france need no Visa
Hey Asylee01,
I just went through that this year. If you have a RTD, then you need to apply for a visa to the consulate of the country where you are first entering, or the country where you will be spending most of your time. They ususally ask to see your living arrangements for the time that you will be staying, i.e. hotel, family, etc.
You cannot stay more than six months there, unless you leave EU at least once during that time. You also need to get travelers insurance, and you can buy it on the net.
Now, say you are staying in Germany, and you apply for a visa at the German consulate in your city. You will receive a Schengen visa for the amount of time that you intend to stay there. The Schengen visa will allow you to travel to all of the Schengen countries, meaning the EU countries that are in the Schengen agreement. Those are almost all EU countries with the exclusion of Switzerland, UK, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia I believe.
I know that with a Schengen visa you can travel from Germany to Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden etc.
I aplied in January for a visa to Holland, I got my visa for three months, and then I went to all of those countries that I mentioned above, no one ever asked to see my passport anywhere, as these countries have now integrated into EU, there are no borders, other than UK, Switzerland who do not belong to Schengen.
Later, I got a residence permit in Holland because I was working there, and I stayed for 7 months and traveled without any problems. (I had to come back to US once in order not to lose my 6 month continuos physical presence provision for GC though)
But anyway, good luck, it is not a problem and you do not need to apply for a visa to every country that you want to visit, so long as it is a Schengen country.
Check out these websites
http://www.eurovisa.info/SchengenCountries.htm
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/en/willkommen/einreisebestimmungen/schengen_html
I just went through that this year. If you have a RTD, then you need to apply for a visa to the consulate of the country where you are first entering, or the country where you will be spending most of your time. They ususally ask to see your living arrangements for the time that you will be staying, i.e. hotel, family, etc.
You cannot stay more than six months there, unless you leave EU at least once during that time. You also need to get travelers insurance, and you can buy it on the net.
Now, say you are staying in Germany, and you apply for a visa at the German consulate in your city. You will receive a Schengen visa for the amount of time that you intend to stay there. The Schengen visa will allow you to travel to all of the Schengen countries, meaning the EU countries that are in the Schengen agreement. Those are almost all EU countries with the exclusion of Switzerland, UK, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia I believe.
I know that with a Schengen visa you can travel from Germany to Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden etc.
I aplied in January for a visa to Holland, I got my visa for three months, and then I went to all of those countries that I mentioned above, no one ever asked to see my passport anywhere, as these countries have now integrated into EU, there are no borders, other than UK, Switzerland who do not belong to Schengen.
Later, I got a residence permit in Holland because I was working there, and I stayed for 7 months and traveled without any problems. (I had to come back to US once in order not to lose my 6 month continuos physical presence provision for GC though)
But anyway, good luck, it is not a problem and you do not need to apply for a visa to every country that you want to visit, so long as it is a Schengen country.
Check out these websites
http://www.eurovisa.info/SchengenCountries.htm
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/en/willkommen/einreisebestimmungen/schengen_html
Annaraka,
I'm confused. If you have a GC, then why did you use an RTD? If you don't have a national passport, how hard/easy was it to get your residence permit in Holland? My situation is that I have an RTD and was told by the German Embassy in Boston that although I will be able to travel there etc, I might haved difficulty or it might even be impossible to get my work/residence permit since my RTD expires in a year (actually mine is going to expire middle of May already). Anyways, did you have issues with that?
Thanks.
Ruth
I'm confused. If you have a GC, then why did you use an RTD? If you don't have a national passport, how hard/easy was it to get your residence permit in Holland? My situation is that I have an RTD and was told by the German Embassy in Boston that although I will be able to travel there etc, I might haved difficulty or it might even be impossible to get my work/residence permit since my RTD expires in a year (actually mine is going to expire middle of May already). Anyways, did you have issues with that?
Thanks.
Ruth
rgebru said:
Absolutely Ruth, major ones. Actually I do not have a GC. I am just an asylee, and that is why I had to get an RTD.
The residence permit in Holland was issued to me by the International War Crimes Tribunal; I did not apply for it, they did. And actually because I was employed by the UN, it was quite easy to get this permit, as I said they got it for me in two weeks. My issues were with their Ministry of Internal Affairs, taking two weeks to aprove my travel visa for the reasons of security of the UN. But once I arrived, I got my residence permit with ease.
Ruth,
I actually did not have any issues with the RTD expiration. I don't know what time frame you are looking at, but my residence permit was valid for only six months. Although I ended up extending my stay by a couple of months, I never renewed my residence permit, as I was traveling through Europe.
I actually did not have any issues with the RTD expiration. I don't know what time frame you are looking at, but my residence permit was valid for only six months. Although I ended up extending my stay by a couple of months, I never renewed my residence permit, as I was traveling through Europe.
Annaraka,
Thanks for the response. Well it's an american company getting my residence permit and I think it's supposed to be for 5 years? I'm not 100% sure, but that was I think what I was told. I'm only planning on being their for 2 years or 2 1/2 max. But we shall see.. then if you are an Asylee you did not necessarily have to come back within 6 months to establish your residency, did you? ..that's why I thought you were a resident (with GC) because you said you had to come back to the US within 6 months. Am I wrong? Although If I do end up getting my work permit I was planning on coming back to the US frequently it had nothing to do with establishing my residency it was for family/personal reasons.
Thanks for the response. Well it's an american company getting my residence permit and I think it's supposed to be for 5 years? I'm not 100% sure, but that was I think what I was told. I'm only planning on being their for 2 years or 2 1/2 max. But we shall see.. then if you are an Asylee you did not necessarily have to come back within 6 months to establish your residency, did you? ..that's why I thought you were a resident (with GC) because you said you had to come back to the US within 6 months. Am I wrong? Although If I do end up getting my work permit I was planning on coming back to the US frequently it had nothing to do with establishing my residency it was for family/personal reasons.
I don't think that you have to come back every six months. This is based on my conversations with a couple of immigration officers who told me that as long as I come back within the time that my RTD is valid my I485 application would not be compromised. However, I wonder what the immigrations officers when you enter the US say when they see you've been gone for 6 months or more? it all depends on who you speak to and if they're having a good day etc as you know. I haven't seen anything written saying you have to come back within a certain time (as long as they know that you haven't established residency somewhere else and have not asked for asylum from another country, although how do they even find that out).
Did you have difficulty coming back after 6 months abroad?
Ruth
Did you have difficulty coming back after 6 months abroad?
Ruth
Help Please !
Looks like you have lot of knowledge about the Visas to Europe. I have a question and thanks in advance for answering that.
I lived in the Netherlands from 1999 to 2001 and came to the US in 2001. I want to go to The Neherlands to do some tourism and to get my H1 Visa Extended ( I heard somewhere that I need to get it from my home country - India or from the last country of residence before entering the US). How long does it take to get the Holland (Schengen) Visa? do they need to have the Visa to come back to the US for issuing the Visa to The Netherlands?
I checked the website for Dutch consulate in Los Angeles and they said we need some Travel Medical Insurance for some $37K. How to get that?
Thanks,
H1Babu
Looks like you have lot of knowledge about the Visas to Europe. I have a question and thanks in advance for answering that.
I lived in the Netherlands from 1999 to 2001 and came to the US in 2001. I want to go to The Neherlands to do some tourism and to get my H1 Visa Extended ( I heard somewhere that I need to get it from my home country - India or from the last country of residence before entering the US). How long does it take to get the Holland (Schengen) Visa? do they need to have the Visa to come back to the US for issuing the Visa to The Netherlands?
I checked the website for Dutch consulate in Los Angeles and they said we need some Travel Medical Insurance for some $37K. How to get that?
Thanks,
H1Babu