Originally Posted by
TWA884
The only thing that I can think of is that having a valid US visa or permanent resident card may waive the requirement for getting a
UK Direct Airside Transit visa.
That might be the case I didn’t think about that. Though now Saudi citizens are part of the visa-exempt ETA family of nationalities. Not that that wouldn’t clash with airside transit directives from the UK gov. I think this might be it!
Edit: though the link says if there’s a valid ETA a transit visa isn’t needed. There are older pdf directives that specified nationalities that can TWOV if they have US visas or green cards among other things and Saudi passports are on that list. It could be the employees are still using that.
Originally Posted by
Section 107
In concept, to facilitate tracking entries and exits, one is supposed to enter and leave a country using the same document. Years ago, Congress demanded immigration exit controls - something the US has not made much progress on. Effectively, therefore, the US does not have exit controls and commercial carriers pretty much only had to check that the pax had the appropriate documents for the destination. Perhaps this is a new step towards actual exit controls?
It is much easier to implement these things on commercial carriers, and in particular, air carriers, than other forms of travel. Commercial carriers have much to gain by partnering with government...
I kept wondering if related to requiring exit visa info though I haven’t heard of any changes. TWA’s mention if the UK transit requirements might explain it though. When I did my own travel with a Saudi passport and green card I flew UA and LH and transited in FRA from U.S. to BAH and DMM and wasn’t asked for visa info though I also once flew to LHR from U.S. as a green card holder but had a UK visa at the time.