if the geek cousel of chicago issued me an emergencey passport a travel document doi sill need a trasit viza?

Question

our grandmother is very sick we need to get to greece we are greek citizens but do not have a valid pass port we do have a document fron the couslet of greece in chicago that is valid. it is called a travel document emergency passport do we need a transit visa traveling from us though france to greece? or dose my mother who has a vali us passport?

Answer 1

Hello there,

I saw you other questions on the subject. I am afraid that I can not give you a very definite answer but I can give some information that may help you. I am Greek citizen too that currently is living abroad.

The best thing to do is to contact the Greek and the French embassy and ask.

Emergency passports are issued usually when you have a valid passport but for some reason you lost it or it was stolen. In this case the passport is only valid for your return trip to you home country. In other words you should ask if you have to return the passport to the Greek authorities upon arrival in Greece. As you understand you may stuck in Greece then and I understood that you live permanently in the US. The other case is the Greek authorities issued you a emergency passport because you have Greek nationality but you are not a Greek citizen and you want to visit. In this case you should be US citizen and be able to issue a US passport. Make sure you have this clear, are you Greek in nationality or in citizenship?

I also can not understand why you do not issue a normal passport Greek or US. If they just issued you an emergency passport to save time then you can ask for a normal passport while you are in Greece.

For holders of US passport no visa is required both in France and Greece if they stay in the country for a maximum of three months. So I do not think that your mother needs a visa.

Under the Schengen treaty you enter the EU borders on your first arrival of a EU country. After that it is considered that you are making domestic trips inside the EU. It is like someone is visiting the US. They ask them for a passport and a visa when he/she enters the country, then he/she can visit as many states as he wants. It is the same in EU.

To sum up you do not need a visa to enter the EU. It is better to issue a normal passport and you will be more certain that nothing will go wrong. If you hold a Greek or any other EU passport you will be asked for a visa to enter the US. If you have a US passport use this one.

I hope your grandmother gets well soon.

Answer 2

it is up to the US authorities as far as needing a passport for leaving and entering the us. my guess is you do. check this link
for questions on needing visas in the us:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/visa_1750.html

for questions as far as travelling to france and greece, might want to check with the greek and/or french embassies:

For more information, contact the Consulate General of France, 4101 Reservoir Rd., NW, Washington, DC 20007 (202/944-6200) or the nearest Consulate: CA (310/235-3200) or (415/397-4330), FL (305/372-9799), GA (404/495-1660), IL (312/787-5359), LA (504/523-5772), MA (617/542-7374), NY (212/606-3644) or TX (713/572-2799). Internet: www.info-france-usa.org

For additional information, contact the consular section of the Embassy of Greece, 2211 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington D.C. 20008 (202-939-1333) or nearest Greek Consulate: CA (310/826-5555 OR 415/775-2102/4) GA (404/261-3313), IL (312/335-3915 or 17), LA (504/523-1167), MA (617/523-0100), NY (212/988-5500) or (713/840-7522). Internet: www.greekembassy.org

Answer 3

I think you are all right (not a legal opinion). Be sure that you have proper documentation for _returning_ to the U.S. (such as a Green card and valid picture I.D., etc.).

Hope that your grandmother's health has improved by the time you arrive.