A traveller flying Toronto → Paris → Mumbai was asked for their Canadian PR card at Air France check-in and told that without PR status they would have needed a transit visa for the Paris layover. The thread's debate produced a clear picture:
- Schengen airport transit visa (ATV) rules are real and nationality-based. France — like other Schengen countries (Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, etc.) — requires an ATV from certain nationalities even if you never leave the international transit area. Holding a valid Canadian (or US) PR card or visa is a common exemption.
- Don't rely on the 'you never leave the airport' assumption. Several members insisted no transit visa is needed if you stay airside; others with first-hand experience pushed back — the exemption for Indian passport holders transiting France came from holding Canadian PR, not from staying airside. Check the official French government ATV page (or the equivalent for your layover country) for your nationality before booking.
- Enforcement is inconsistent, which makes it dangerous. Check-in agents sometimes miss the rule, so people 'get away with it' — but a knowledgeable gate agent can and will deny boarding, because airlines face heavy fines for carrying passengers without transit rights.
- Carry the physical PR card even when leaving Canada permanently or for a long trip. Checking it on the way out of Canada seems pointless until a transit rule makes it the document that gets you on the plane. If you only hold a COPR and no PR card yet, verify the layover country's rules before choosing that routing — or route via gulf hubs, which the thread noted are far more relaxed.