Manchester Airport immigration - mixed nationality family?
Nov 24, 2015, 11:01 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Tokyo
Posts: 94
Manchester Airport immigration - mixed nationality family?
Apologies if this is the wrong board, please move as appropriate
I (British citizen) will be flying with my Japanese spouse and baby (currently with Japanese passport) to Manchester, an airport I've never been to before, for a two-week visit.
Is it possible to take my non-British family members with me through the British/EU channel, or will I have to queue with "everyone else"?
Thanks.
I (British citizen) will be flying with my Japanese spouse and baby (currently with Japanese passport) to Manchester, an airport I've never been to before, for a two-week visit.
Is it possible to take my non-British family members with me through the British/EU channel, or will I have to queue with "everyone else"?
Thanks.
Nov 25, 2015, 1:30 am
#4
Moderator: UK and Ireland & Europe
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Biggleswade
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From reports on here, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
I'd ask. There's generally people around at the entrance to the queues.
I'd ask. There's generally people around at the entrance to the queues.
Nov 25, 2015, 1:32 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Tokyo
Posts: 94
The government says: You must: ... move through passport control together if you’re in a family though unhelpfully doesn't say what the situation is with mixed nationalities.
Nov 25, 2015, 1:41 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Tokyo
Posts: 94
And if this post is anything to go by, the non-EU queues might be shorter at Manchester.
I have spent a couple of hours with my wife at LHR in the non-EU queue and pretty sure someone told us we could have gone through the other much more quickly...
I have spent a couple of hours with my wife at LHR in the non-EU queue and pretty sure someone told us we could have gone through the other much more quickly...
Nov 25, 2015, 4:05 am
#9
Senior Moderator, Moderator: Community Buzz and Ambassador: Miles & More (Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, and other partners)
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: 150km from MAN
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Assuming you are arriving on AY937 at 17:00 all flights arriving in T1 around that time are from EU countries and the majority of passengers will have EU passports. It's possible that the non-EU queue is actually shorter though each passenger with a non-EU passport will obviously take longer to go through passport control.
Nov 25, 2015, 5:04 am
#11
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Malaga, Spain
Posts: 1,077
UK Border Force (a really welcoming name if ever I heard one
) always says we should queue together in non-EU on return to UK.
Nov 25, 2015, 1:35 pm
#13
Senior Moderator, Moderator: Community Buzz and Ambassador: Miles & More (Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, and other partners)
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: 150km from MAN
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Posts: 29,511
The longest queue I've seen in T1 was the EU passport queue late on a Sunday evening. Unless you arrive just after one of the EK flights or when international students return from their visit home, MAN T1 passport queues are nothing like what you might find at LHR.
Nov 25, 2015, 11:57 pm
#15
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
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Posts: 6,344
At LHR you can join any queue. I have used both the EU and non-EU queues with groups of EEA/non-EEA citizens. AFAIK all UK immigration officers are obliged to process anyone who presents themselves in front of them, but I've never travelled internationally from MAN so can't be sure about that airport.
The non-EU queue often seems shorter but may take longer, although before I gained the right to use the EU queue, when I've had a long wait it was usually due to slow Americans (landing card? what landing card? oh, I thought we didn't need one)...
The non-EU queue often seems shorter but may take longer, although before I gained the right to use the EU queue, when I've had a long wait it was usually due to slow Americans (landing card? what landing card? oh, I thought we didn't need one)...
Last edited by :D!; Nov 26, 2015 at 12:03 am