Can I transit through Germany with an unused Schengen visa issued by Spain?

Question

I am a Indian citizen, traveling to Mexico via Frankfurt (from Mumbai) with a multiple-entry Spanish Schengen visa. (The return journey would be Mexico-Munich-Mumbai.)

As per official Mexican Visa authorities (link doesn't work anymore, but here's an unofficial copy):

...Holders of any valid U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom and Schengen Visas (any nationality) DO NOT require a visa to enter Mexico on tourist, business and transit purposes only....

And that was confirmed to me by the Mexican embassy also.

I have applied for and gotten the Schengen visa, for the first time.

But my query is:

I am not sure as I have never entered a Schengen country and the German authorities would consider my first point of entry as Germany and deny my entry as my Schengen visa was issued by Spanish authorities and on top of that I am travelling to Mexico!

Answer 1

As an Indian national you would ordinarily need an Airport Transit Visa in order to make an airside transit at a German airport. However, holding a valid type C visa from any Schengen state exempts you from this requirement.

See the Schengen Visa Code, article 3(5)(a).

Whether you have the right paperwork for the transit will be checked by the airline rather than the German authorities. The airline is not competent to judge whether the reasons for issuing the visa still apply (which is what could create a problem at the border if you tried to enter the Schengen area on a visa that clearly doesn't match your stated plans); they merely check that you have a visa of the right kind.

And even so, logically the exemption from airport transit visas that comes with a type C visa will practically always be something you use on a different trip than the one your visa was issued for -- because on the trip your visa was issued for you won't need to transit anyway but to enter the Schengen area. So you're not using the exemption in a way it wasn't intended to be used.