B747-437B

The UK no longer issues "B" type "Visitor in Transit" visas except in very rare and specific circumstances.

The requirements and the fees for a "C" type "Visitor" visa has been standardised with the erstwhile "B" visa and all applicants for "B" visas are encouraged to apply for "C" visas instead.

measures

Its unlikely to be T1. Having looked at the map, I believe its the Flight Connection Centre (unless they have moved it).
Remember, the distance to the Aer Lingus gates in T1 is looooooong!

Kris Rao

Sorry, I was not clear earlier.

Having looked at the application forms and UKBA website, I am concerned that OP may not qualify for a UK C Visa as his final destination is Ireland.

British Consulates normally issue a visa after they are satisfied with the supporting documents which are: proof of holiday in the UK, accomodation in the UK, return flight to UK, finances, etc.

In OP's case he is visiting Ireland via UK but is applying for a UK "C" Visa. So he may wish to check with the consulate well before applying.

B747-437B

He will need to provide the ECO with all of these items with regards to his stay in IRELAND as well as proof of transit to Ireland via a UK airport. It is a routine process for visitors to a CTA destination who plan to transit via the UK.

gnarly

And ECOs can have good or bad days (depending on your point of view). My mother-in-law is able to get a visa to visit the UK, but when an invitation with 90% commonality for a cousin was submitted it was rejected.

An immigration lawyer (who used to work in the British High Commission in Lagos) said that we simply got unlucky with our ECO. She also said that the ECOs had quotas....they had to fail a certain percentage of applicants. Sounds fishy to me.

B747-437B

Oh believe me, I have seen ECOs make some absolute howlers of decisions over the years. It is especially bad during the summer when a number of the local staff are on leave and are being covered by rotating temps. He should be fine at this time of year though.

desi

Sorry to pull up an old thread but thought it was better than starting a new one.

This is about recent travel from Asia to Dublin via LHR on US passport

(There was a choice of connecting in Abu Dhabi too but Lounge at T5 is convenient for shower and breakfast before short hop to DUB which does not have good facilities at the airport)

It seems that one could have simply gone into international connections line and then through usual security to T5 departure lounge. But unfortunately noticed that UK domestic connection line was actually labelled "UK and Ireland". So went into that line. Big mistake. Had to go through typical UK immigration zoo (worse than most 3rd world countries by huge margin - simply horrible), get biometrics collected and immigration officer frowning at N/A for UK address and ZERO days for duration in UK.

Lost 2 hours for nothing.

It might have been less painful, if under CTA, that would have helped simply walk-off plane at Dublin. But no, the Irish want you to go through immigration all over again. So what was the point of pain of UK immigration at Heathrow?

(US preclearance at DUblin indeed meant no immigration upon arrival in US but same did not happen with painful UK zoo experience)

So question is would one be in any trouble if one were to go through international connection line at Heathrow?

stifle

Yes. You would be liable to be refused boarding for your flight to DUB as your photo would not be on file when you arrived at gate A22. The reason is that you can walk off a flight from Ireland on arrival in the UK, so the UKBF wants to prevent people using this as a loophole way of getting into the UK — as at at least some gates of at least some Irish airports you can connect without passing through immigration.

The existence of far larger loopholes seems not to concern them.

ajax

When you come from Ireland to the UK, you do not pass through immigration controls. In order to avoid you coming into the UK without passing through any sort of UK immigration screening, they will screen you on your way into Ireland.

Ireland will also screen you, because even though you can enter the UK from Ireland without being screened, it does not work the other way - although I've never been sure why this is and would be interested to know if anyone knows.

desi

Thanks for your explanations, Ajax and Stifle.

Although it does not make sense to me in terms of illegal entry prevention.

One could have connected via Abu Dhabi on Etihad to Dublin (avoiding UK Zoo completely) and then possibly fly from Dublin to UK for illegal entry to UK, correct?

Well, hot shower and pretty good breakfast at T5 lounge after 10 hour cattle class flight, saved the day in Dublin from jet-lag. So , I guess UK border control zoo was worth it but next time will avoid UK altogether (and save on high airport fees too)

Was more bummed that this caught me by surprise and didnt occur to research this upfront. Wud have carried one of those unused fastrack cards.

It continues to amaze me how badly passport control is managed at Heathrow especially when yelling at junior person assisting lines actualy works (an extra person shows up or an officer from UK resident section is diverted to service few international pax)

Calchas

You can certainly enter Ireland from the UK without passing an immigration inspector. Just walk across the border.

The UK does not inspect Irish-originating traffic because HMG simply could not afford the additional inspection capacity that would be required to do this. LON-DUB is one of the busiest international air corridors in the world, and most of those pax are absolutely entitled to enter as Irish/British citizens. In principle if you are not a Common Travel Area national you are supposed to find an immigration inspector and report your entry.

The Irish state now does impose immigration controls on UK-originating air traffic. I imagine it is to do with the volume of transfer traffic from outside the UK—they do not want to be reliant on UK immigration enforcing their own visa policy. HMG does not have quite the same problem, since not so many people will be transferring through DUB to get into the UK.

I do not know why Heathrow does the immigration inspection + biometrics on DUB-destined transfer pax. It seems to me that there's no need for biometrics at the gate. I can see that biometrics could be necessary for UK-originating pax in case they changed their mind before boarding the aircraft and wished to exit the terminal. However it may be that part of the CTA agreement requires London to inspect passports for Irish-destined pax.

Calchas

Or you could have taken a bus or even simply walked into the UK. The Irish immigration have some responsibility for checking you are not going to enter the UK illegally and will deny you entry to Ireland if they think you are doing this.

desi

Since the topic was about connecting at Heathrow, walking, driving or taking bus/train into Ireland is out of question for the topic.

If you draw parellal with Schegen, immigration at UK is correct step as first entry point to CTA. But given that Irish do immigration any way, UK can easily save its meager resources at Heathrow and NOT force international connections to go through terrible UK immigration, IMHO.

BTW, all these to US passport holders!! is there even one in billion cases where US passport holder has tried enter UK or Ireland illegally???

Anyway, this was more curiosity question. It would be good if this case of UK immigration needed for simply connecting planes to Ireland is well publicised so that travellers can avoid Heathrow zoo by connecting somewhere else.

Mizter T

Yes, of course!

Calchas

Then why did you bring up Abu Dhabi?
Well, I agree, it seems a bit pointless to me.