Germany announces visa free transit for Indian travellers

The German Embassy in New Delhi on Tuesday announced that Indian nationals will no longer require a transit visa when travelling to another country with a layover at a German airport.

“The lifting of the so-called airport transit visa requirement for Indian citizens was announced in the Federal Law Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt) on June 2, 2026, and takes effect on June 3, 2026,” the German Embassy in New Delhi stated.

“This implements a result of Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz's trip to India in January of this year. It underlines the Federal Government's commitment to deepening German Indian relations, facilitating the movement of people, and further strengthening economic ties,” it added.

During the visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Federal Chancellor Merz welcomed the sustained growth in bilateral trade and investment and noted that bilateral trade reached a record high in 2024, with the positive trend continuing through 2025.

India and Germany had signed a slew of agreements across sectors such as trade, technology, health and renewable energy. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the two sides concluded 19 agreements and made several policy announcements aimed at deepening cooperation across strategic, economic and people-to-people domains.

The two leaders had reaffirmed their strong support for the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and emphasised its transformational potential in reshaping and promoting global commerce, connectivity and prosperity. The two leaders also looked forward to the first IMEC ministerial meeting to take concrete steps for advancing this initiative.

"The Leaders welcomed the signing of a Joint Declaration of Intent to develop a Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap to promote long-term industry-level collaboration, including technology partnerships, co-development and co-production of defence platforms and equipment. India welcomed Germany’s efforts to facilitate expeditious export clearances of defence equipment,” a joint statement released by the leaders detailed.