Transiting Through Amsterdam For USA-India Travel – How’s The Experience?

Last Updated on Sep 30th, 2024 by Heena Ganotra, 3 comments

Do you have a transit in Amsterdam for your USA to India journey? Are you unsure about the transit visa requirements and experience? Well, we have crisp answers for you.

Transiting Through Amsterdam For India Travel 

Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands and this country has an EU entry ban in motion if you live outside the EU/Schengen area. 

However, you are exempted from this entry ban if –

1. You Are Travelling From A Safe Country

You can travel to the Netherlands if you come from a safe country/ region where the risk of contracting COVID-19 is low. There are 17 countries on the list. Sadly, USA isn’t a part of it. So can US citizens transit through Amsterdam? The answer is yes if –

2. You Are Fully Vaccinated

If you are a resident of a country that is not on the list of safe countries and fully vaccinated, you are exempted from the EU entry ban. You must be fully vaccinated with a vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Documents You’ll Need 

• A completed ‘Vaccine Declaration COVID-19‘ form;
• Proof of vaccination;
• Visa (If Needed)

Please note that you won’t need these documents in case of transit/transfer. 

3. You Are Transiting 

This will solve most of your problems. If you are traveling from USA to India and Amsterdam is your transit destination, you only need to prove that you have a connecting flight to a country outside the Schengen area i.e. India. Also, the connecting flight must depart within 48 hours of your arrival at the airport. Please note that you must not leave the airport’s international transit zone during this period. 

4. You Have Recovered From COVID

If you are a resident of a country that is not on the list of safe countries and you have recovered from COVID-19, you can enter the Netherlands if –

• You recovered from COVID-19 at least 11 days ago; and
• You have proof of recovery – valid for a maximum of 180 days & that was issued by a country taking part in the EU Digital COVID Certificate (DCC) scheme. USA isn’t a part of this list and proof of recovery from other countries is not accepted. 

The reason we are mentioning this is to avoid any confusion. While this exemption will work for many, it won’t if you are a COVID-recovered US citizen.

Other categories that might not help the US citizens traveling to India but are exempted from the travel ban are – 

5. Nationality & Right of Residence

6. Study, Knowledge, & Research 

7. Work

8. Compelling Reasons To Visit Family

9. Long-Distance Relationship 

10. International Protection

Requirements To Transit Through Amsterdam For US-India Travel

You need to fill out the Air Suvidha Form irrespective of your age, gender, or nationality. This is the only requirement to transit through Amsterdam for US-India travelers.

To reiterate (because a lot of travelers remain in doubt), you will need to fill out the form for your kids (whatever their age be) as well. You can follow the Air Suvidha form-filling procedure here.

Also, please note that you will NOT have to undergo the RT-PCR test if you’re fully vaccinated.

However, if you’re not fully vaccinated, you WILL HAVE to undergo the RT-PCR test. Again, this is irrespective of age, gender, and nationality.

Furthermore, you will have to upload a Certificate of completing the full primary vaccination schedule of COVID-19 vaccination along with the location (where you got it done) and the date in the Air Suvidha form. 

Please note that a booster shot won’t make a difference. Getting or not getting the same won’t affect your travel in any way.

This will suffice for your India travel from USA and your transit in Amsterdam.

Will You Need A Visa To Transit Through Amsterdam? 

Whether you are an Indian national or an American citizen transiting through Amsterdam,  you won’t need to have a transit visa if you don’t leave the international transit area. Besides, there’s a beautiful tool that will resolve all your queries regarding visa requirements. This tool is authorized by the Schengen government. 

What Does “Fully Vaccinated” Mean? 

You are considered fully vaccinated –

• 2 weeks (14 days) after your dose of an accepted single-dose vaccine.
• 2 weeks (14 days) after your second dose of an accepted 2-dose series.
• 2 weeks (14 days) after you received the full series of an accepted COVID-19 vaccine (not placebo) in a clinical trial.
• 2 weeks (14 days) after you received 2 doses of any “mix-and-match” combination of accepted COVID-19 vaccines administered at least 17 days apart*.

Note: File type should be PDF & up to a maximum size of 1MB. File name with any special characters and spaces are not permitted. Only hyphens and underscores are permitted.

Experience Transiting Through Amsterdam

We understand how taking an international flight journey is a tiresome experience but we can assure you that the experience is pretty smooth. There’s absolutely no need to worry about the same. Should you have any specific concerns, please feel free to raise them and we’ll help you out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Will 1.15 hours of transit time be enough to catch my connecting flight?

A: Absolutely. Since you will only have to run through security checks and verifications, 1.15 hours will do.

Q: What all do I need to carry if I am traveling to India from USA with transit in Amsterdam?

A: You only need to carry the hard copy of the Air Suvidha form and nothing else. For the Air Suvidha form, you will either need to upload your vaccination status (if fully vaccinated) or an RT-PCR report conducted 72 hours before the departure (if not fully vaccinated). That is all.

Did we miss out on anything? Do let us know your queries in the comment section and we’ll do everything possible to resolve the same.

Here’s hoping that your journey is smooth and hassle-free if you’ve already made the bookings. In case you haven’t, MyTicketsToIndia can help you get the cheapest airfares on USA to India flights. Not just KLM booking with Amsterdam as transit, we’ll share diverse flight itineraries based on your requirements that will make you save BIG!

Until we see you at the other end of the conversation, we’ll try and keep resolving each of your queries.