If your route includes more than one Schengen country, you enter the Schengen area.
Travelling to a Schengen country through another Schengen country
If you are travelling to your Schengen destination country via another Schengen country, you need to fulfil the visa regulations of both the country through which you enter the Schengen area and the destination country. Although both countries are Schengen member states, the regulations and the accepted documents may not be the same for both countries.
- For example, if you are travelling from Shanghai to Frankfurt via Helsinki, your travel documents must be valid for entry via Finland (fulfil the requirements of Finland) and they must be valid for onward travel to Germany.
Transferring via one Schengen country
If you only transit via one Schengen country and your destination is outside the Schengen area, you don’t enter the Schengen area, and a visa is not required.
- For example, if you are travelling from New Delhi to New York via Helsinki, your travel documents must be valid for the USA.
Transferring via more than one Schengen country
If you transit via two or more Schengen countries although your destination is outside the Schengen area, you need to enter the Schengen area, and a visa is required.
- For example, if you are travelling from New Delhi to Montreal via Helsinki and Paris, your travel documents need to be valid for the Schengen area (fulfil the requirements of Finland) and for Canada.
EU Digital Covid Certificate (DCC)
You can use the EU Digital Covid Certificate to prove your coronavirus certificate status at border crossings in many countries.
The EU Digital Covid Certificate can contain three different certificates: a coronavirus vaccination certificate, a certificate of a negative coronavirus test result and a certificate of recovery from the coronavirus.
As a Finnish national or resident, you can access your EU Digital Covid Certificate through My Kanta Pages. For other nationalities, please check your government websites for more information. Read more on My Kanta pages here or on the website of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.
In case your destination or transit country requires checking coronavirus related requirements, to many of these destinations you can pre-check your certificates using our digital tool as part of the online or mobile check-in. Read more