Arriving in Zurich the night before Schengen visa validity begins
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 22 Jul, 2023
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I think you could buy a cheapest throwaway ticket from Zurich to any country outside of Schengen on the same or next day, and claim that you will transfer to this flight via airside.
After landing you will be let into waiting area for transit passengers, and then you can decide that you actually don’t want to go there (possible refunding some money, entering the EU on the next day when visa is valid). Only works with reasonably large airports.
Airline has no reason to deny your boarding in this case. You have an onward ticket and they don’t need to worry about hauling you back. Luggage collection may become problematic for you, however, since it’s after passport check.
I live in Zurich, and the transit area is open 24/7 – also there’s a transit hotel (which isn’t cheap, but not super-expensive either) where you could sleep.
Note that if arriving in the satellite building (which you will if flying from India or Singapore) you’ll have to take the underground train to the main building (follow the signs for the exit), then go up the escalator leading to immigration. You’ll see the immigration booths, but to your right there’s a long airside corridor. Walk along it, take another escalator up, clear a security check, and take yet another escalator up.
On the left-hand side there’s another set of immigration booths, but keep walking straight and you’ll be at the hotel.
In other words, the hotel is located right next to immigration.
I just spoke to the airport police (who perform immigration control) and they said your situation is acceptable. So if anything, your airline might deny you boarding.
I think you should print out this site to show airline staff that you can transit overnight https://www.zurich-airport.com/passengers-and-visitors/airport-services-en/layover-and-lounges/transit-hotel-bedrooms#_ga=1.261231245.147144027.1466852025
You might be lucky with this, but it comes at a risk that Schengen authorities will not be happy about you arriving early even though you pass immigration only the next day.
Your first problem will be to convince the airline to let you board as has been pointed out in comments and by @BurhanKhalid.
If you do succeed, note that immigration in Zurich closes at 11 p.m. and opens at 6 a.m. the next morning. You will have to stay overnight in the transit area.
To do so you have two options
- Sleep on chairs/etc. in the terminal. Sleeping in Airports says:
Airport staff are generally tolerant of overnight travellers – though you should expect security or police to check your passport and tickets overnight.
And there you might get into a problem if they do find that you are not a transit passenger as you have no connecting boarding pass nor a valid Schengen visa.
So I rather recommend option two:
- Sleep at the Zurich Airport Transit Hotel. I just emailed them and they have no problem with your situation. From their response it also seemed that this is not too uncommon of a request for them.
Another issue to consider: your check-in luggage. Unless a malicious soul tries to steal it (unlikely in Switzerland but I wouldn’t pack diamonds), you can pick it up from lost&found the next morning.
You have already noticed that there is this very similar question about doing the same thing in Frankfurt airport. It is not a dupe however as immigration in Frankfurt is 24/7 as far as I know.
Finally, being a risk-adverse person when it comes to visa issues, I am not sure if I’d do this if I were in your shoes. There is a risk that Schengen people will not be happy about this and on the off-chance of this happening you are in deep trouble: you have a visa terms violation in your history. Funny enough we had a similar question for entering early by train into Russia and while you should fare better in Schengen area, do take warning by reading those stories.
What I would do to make sure is get an official statement from e.g. the Swiss embassy in your country that this is fine, not advice from random people on the internet.
If your airline boards you (which will be the biggest hurdle), you can then wait till midnight passes (the date switches) before crossing immigration.
I don’t think you can use the transit option as you are not actually in transit – that would be a false pretense.
In the end, it will all depend on the airline.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
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