Green Card Holder (Alien Registration Card) flying to Barcelona, Spain

[Nightshade]

Hello everyone,

 

 

My husband and I booked 11 Night Western Med & Morocco Celebrity Cruise from Barcelona to Barcelona. My husband is a US Citizen (born in Ukraine) while I’m a Green Card Holder, Citizen of Russia.

I spoke with Capitan’s Club Member personnel and I was told that I wouldn’t need anything except my Green Card for this cruise :confused: . When I inquired about flying from US to Barcelona (the Schengen territory), the agent told me that I wouldn’t need anything. I don’t think she was right as I'm getting different information from the Spain Embassy web site. From FAQ

 

I am a legal resident of the U.S. and a green card holder. Do I need a visa to go to Spain?

 

The green card is an American document that allows you to re-enter the U.S., but to travel to Spain is necessary to have a visa.

 

It looks like I will need a transit or visitor’s visa in order to fly from US to Barcelona, Spain. We’re not planning to stay overnight in Barcelona, so most likely I will need a transit visa. I cannot reach Spain Embassy for now to confirm what kind of documents I will need – lines are either busy or they put you on never-ending hold.

If anybody had to fly out of US to Europe for a cruise with a Green Card on their hands, please share your experience. I don't even know if I'll be allowed to leave a ship in France or Italy without any kind of visa...

Btw citizens of certain countries e.g Brasil, Canada, Israil do not need a visa to visit a Shengen territoty. The full list of countries whose citizens don’t need a visa to enter Spain can be found here.

 

I know that my best bet is to contact Spain Embassy, but meanwhile I’m trying to do that I’d appreciate any input from you. If I have to get any kind of visa to go on this cruise, I’ll have to apply for it in person. I’m not sure if I’m willing to fly from Phoenix, AZ to Los Angeles, CA (Spain Embassy with jurisdiction in AZ) just to apply for a visa :( . Maybe it’s better for me to wait for my US Citizenship before venturing outside of Western Hemisphere…

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

</SPAN>

[leighuf]

My husband has a green card and a British passport. He hasn't cruised in Europe before, but when we traveled to France he needed his passport and no visa. The green card was needed to re-enter the US and on Caribbean cruises. Good luck finding out the information!

 

PS: My husband applied for his Citizenship in June as the prices were schedule to double in July.

[annychka]

You have to call to cruise company,and you have to get travel passport.

[Nightshade]

My husband has a green card and a British passport. He hasn't cruised in Europe before, but when we traveled to France he needed his passport and no visa. The green card was needed to re-enter the US and on Caribbean cruises. Good luck finding out the information!

 

PS: My husband applied for his Citizenship in June as the prices were schedule to double in July.

 

If I’m not mistaken, United Kingdom is a EU member and that may be the reason why your husband didn’t need any visa, only his passport. If I want to visit e.g. France or Italy by myself (=no cruise), I know for a fact that I will have to open a visa .

 

I was on a Caribbean Cruise in 2005 and didn’t need any visa. I also traveled multiple times to Mexico and Turks & Caicos (British territory), where presenting my Green Card and Russian Travel Passport was sufficient.

 

I also applied for US Citizenship approximately a month ago, before prices went up :) It’s just so much easier to travel with US Passport.

 

 

You have to call to cruise company,and you have to get travel passport.

 

Second time I called Celebrity and asked for a knowledgeable representative who can tell me if I need any visa, they told me to contact embassies of each country we would visit on our cruise and find out from them directly :eek: And I do have a Travel Passport which I got several years ago @ Russian Embassy in NYC . I used it with my Green Card for our Mexico & Turk & Caicos trips.

[jud123]

Your husband would need a visa, at least for the air travel portion. My husband and I were going to France from the USA. He has a green card and a passport from Barbados. We were denied boarding because he needed a visa to travel to France. I am assuming it is the same for Spain. He needed to get a Schengen visa. Check with the Spain Embassy...there should be a list of countries that need a visa to enter. We had to re-book our trip!! Thankfully, my husband is a US citizen now. We are going on the same cruise as you on November 12

[sushraya]

I believe you will need a Schengen visa - getting this visa is easy, getting all the papers they need in order can be a pain. You will need the originals and copies of all the originals - they keep the copy. I don't know how fussy the Spanish Embassy folks are - I applied for my visa at the Italian embassy and from past experience, knew to have everything ready and copied before getting there. So, was fairly straightforward - 10 min job. They mailed the passport back to my house since I had no interest in going down again :-)

[kaisatsu]

Definitely check with the embassies of every country you'll be visiting.

 

If all the ports are Schengen countries, see if you can get a multiple-entry Schengen visa. Since Spain is your first port of entry, you'll probably need to apply for it from them. You will probably need a multiple-entry visa, because every time the ship sails, you're leaving the Schengen zone. Explain to the embassies that you're on a cruise, and see what they say.

 

At least you're travelling to Schengen countries! My husband is an Indian citizen with a green card, and for our last cruise, he needed 6 different visas! We asked about transit visas, but all of them insisted he needed a regular tourist visa. We had two back-to-back ports in Vietnam, so we had to get a multiple-entry visa for there.

[okbrit]

I am sure you will need a visa to travel to Spain (the green card is irrelevant anywhere except for the USA - I am also a green card holder but am a UK citizen and have a UK passport so do not have your problem when cruising in Europe. Only your passport matters when travelling outside of the USA - not your green card). You probably need need visas for the other countries your cruise ship visits. You must check each country for their visa requirements.

 

When you book cruises the small print tells you it is your responsibility to check visa requirements. I think you were given some major misinformation by this agent. Good luck.

[kaisatsu]

Although this isn't so applicable on the Europe board, I just thought I'd throw in (for completeness) that a green card can come into play in the Caribbean. There are a lot of countries in the Caribbean that wave the visa requirements for green card holders, so it's worth checking there. But farther away from the US, the green card doesn't usually make a difference.

[Nightshade]

Thanks again to everyone who replied. I ended up applying for multiple entries Schengen Visa from Spain Embassy as Kaisatsu suggested. This will work for our ports in France & Italy because they are EU members. Corsica is a part of France, so it should be fine too; and in order to visit Morocco, I don’t need to get any visa, as they allow citizens of Russia to travel without it. Info from here.

 

If somebody else is in the same situation, please check all the countries in your cruise itinerary and make sure that you have enough time to apply for all visas you may need. Each embassy will ask you to leave your passport for several days/weeks = you cannot apply for numerous visas at the same time.