<div>You might need a visa to enter a country or for transit purposes, even if you don’t plan to leave the airport.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Before booking your trip, it’s a good idea to check the requirements of your destination as well as the countries you’ll pass through — <strong>it’s your responsibility to ensure you have the correct and necessary visas</strong>.&nbsp;</div>

We recommend checking the visa requirements of all the countries on your itinerary.

How to know if you’ll need a visa

<div>The self-transfer <a href="https://www.kiwi.com/help/search/article/338/">travel hack</a> makes travel cheaper by <strong>combining separate flights</strong> into unique itineraries.&nbsp;</div><blockquote><em>Example: A direct ticket from New York to Prague is more expensive than 2 separate tickets New York → Amsterdam and Amsterdam → Prague, so we book you these separate flights.&nbsp;</em></blockquote><h2><strong>What’s the catch?&nbsp;</strong></h2><div>This isn’t an official itinerary offered by the airlines and they won’t take responsibility for the unofficial connections with self-transfer.</div><ul><li><br>You might need to <strong>leave the visa-free zone</strong> (the area behind security control, where the gates are) during layover and enter the layover country to recheck your baggage, check in for your next flight, change terminals, or simply because of the airport’s design.</li><li>If there are <strong>delays or disruptions</strong> during travel — like a delayed flight that will cause you to miss your second flight — the airline who caused the disruption will only help you with flights that are part of their reservation. <strong>They won’t help you find a replacement or issue a refund for any other flights you missed</strong>. And the same applies to any extra compensation you might be legally entitled to — only the disrupted airline reservation will be taken into consideration.&nbsp;</li><li><blockquote>💡 <em>We recommend adding our </em><a href="https://www.kiwi.com/help/search/article/28"><em>disruption services</em></a><em> for better coverage in case of any airline disruptions.<br><br>Check </em><a href="https://www.kiwi.com/help/search/article/396/"><em>this article</em></a><em> to find out more about your rights when your trip gets canceled, changed, or delayed.&nbsp;</em></blockquote></li></ul><h3><strong>Rechecking your baggage between flights</strong></h3><div>If you have checked baggage or if the airline takes your cabin baggage into the cargo hold, you will need to “recheck” it. Here’s how to do it:</div><ul><li><br>Collect your baggage at the transfer airport. Go to the Baggage claim area and look for the belt with your previous flight number.</li><li>Get out of the visa-free zone and take your baggage to the check-in counter (or baggage drop) for your next flight.</li><li>Go through security and customs to the gate of your next flight — just like you did at your departure airport.</li><li><blockquote><em>⚠️ If the self-transfer is too short, we </em><a href="https://www.kiwi.com/help/search/article/253/"><em>won’t offer you checked baggage at all</em></a><em> — you would not have enough time to recheck it. You’ll see this before you book your trip.</em></blockquote></li></ul><h3><strong>Check-in for your next flight</strong></h3><div>We usually offer to <a href="https://www.kiwi.com/help/search/article/108/">check you in online</a> and send you your boarding passes in advance. But if you do not have your boarding pass for your next flight, you will need to go out of the visa-free zone to check in.</div><h3><strong>Going through immigration</strong></h3><div>You might need to leave the visa-free zone even if you don’t have checked baggage and are already checked in for the next flight.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>At some airports, you go through passport control and immigration right after arrival. If you need a visa to enter the country, you will also need it for the self-transfer.&nbsp;</div><blockquote><em>ℹ️ You’ll need the same documents as if the transfer country were your final destination. You’ll find more info</em><a href="https://www.kiwi.com/help/search/article/68"><em> here.</em></a></blockquote><h3><strong>Transfer between different airport terminals</strong></h3><div>At some large airports, you might also need to travel to a <strong>different terminal.</strong> The terminals might not be connected.</div>

Book separate tickets instead of more expensive direct flights or airline connections.

Self-transfer travel hack

<div>If you have a <a href="https://www.kiwi.com/help/search/article/131">self-transfer</a> between flights, your connections are not covered by the carriers. It’s likely that you’ll need to leave the transit zone at the transfer airport and go through security and customs again.</div><div><br></div><div>If you have checked baggage, you must<strong> recheck it between flights</strong>:</div><ul><li>Collect your checked baggage at the transfer airport. Go to the baggage claim area and look for the belt with your previous flight number.</li><li>Leave the transit zone and take your baggage to the check-in counter (or baggage drop) for your next flight.</li><li>Go through security and customs to the gate of your next flight.&nbsp;</li></ul>

If you have a self-transfer between flights, the carriers don’t transfer your baggage.

Rechecking your baggage between flights

<div>Here’s an overview of what you’ll need for check in — this goes both for when we check you in ourselves, and when you check in directly through the airline.&nbsp;</div><blockquote><em>If we offer our online check-in service for your trip, add the required details in </em><a href="https://www.kiwi.com/user"><em>your trip</em></a><em> up to 24h before departure. </em><a href="https://www.kiwi.com/help/search/article/108/"><em>Read more</em></a><em> on how check-in with Kiwi.com works.</em></blockquote><div>Make sure to review the check-in and boarding requirements for <strong>all of the stops in your itinerary</strong>, especially if you have a <a href="https://www.kiwi.com/help/search/article/131">self-transfer</a> or <a href="https://www.kiwi.com/help/search/article/272/">“hidden city” itinerary</a>.</div>

You’ll always need a form of identification. Anything else depends on your specific itinerary.

What documents do I need for check-in?

<div>The best way to know whether you need a visa to enter a certain country is to check the websites or contact the embassies or foreign ministries of the places you’ll visit.&nbsp;</div><blockquote><em>Since each nationality has its own unique set of visa requirements, we can only provide you with general guidance and a warning that a visa might be required for your travel.</em></blockquote>

How to check your visa requirements

<div>Even if you don’t plan to leave the airport, you might still need a visa — especially if you have an itinerary with a <a href="https://www.kiwi.com/help/search/article/self-transfer-travel-hack-131/">self-transfer</a>.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>During a self-transfer between flights, you may need to go through passport control to recheck baggage, switch terminals, or for no reason other than the airport’s design.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>To check whether you need a visa, you can contact the country’s embassy and ask for visa requirements for entering that country. Make sure to mention:</div><ul><li>That you’ll leave the visa-free transit zone during your self-transfer</li><li>The duration of your layover</li></ul>

Visa requirements for self-transfers

<div>If you booked a <a href="https://www.kiwi.com/help/search/article/272">hidden city itinerary</a>, make sure to have the required visas <strong>for the final destination in the official airline itinerary</strong>, not just your intended destination. The airport staff may check your visas before your first flight, so it’s important to have these documents ready. You can find more recommendations in our <a href="https://www.kiwi.com/help/search/article/309/">hidden city check-in guidelines</a>.</div>