intuition

I am travelling together with a non-european friend through LHR. We have an 2 hour transit in LHR, T5-T5. We of course both have visa/recidency permits/citizenships that allows us into both origin and destination countries.
But as I understand UK border agency, my friend will need a visa just for transiting in LHR, for not being a european citizen.

This visa application is a 11 page document, including sections where you need to list among others: all countries you visited in the last 10 years, your complete family, your traffic violations (!) and how you plan to support yourself during this 2 hour stay in T5...

So that really makes me wonder. This visa application is more complex than anything I ever seen. Myself I have transited at many airports in countries where I do not hold a visa, without any trouble. Yes, I know that I as an european citizen am very privileged when it comes to visa exemptions, but as I said, this is more complex than any visa I ever had to deal with for entering any country. And now we are talking about a transit!

So did I really get this righ (that you need such a visa for a T5-T5 airside 2 hour transit) and what on earth could be the reason to make this transit visa so complex?

frkstyle

Unless ur friend has EU resident card or US green card, otherwise he/she must apply for the transit visa...we all know UKBA sucks!

corporate-wage-slave

If you arrive on an international flight into T5 and leave T5 on another international flight without going landside, you do NOT need a visa. Indeed there is no place for it to be checked. If there was another terminal involved it may get slightly more complicated, but even then there are ways around it.

You only problem may be some departing airports overseas may want to see a UK entry method, but with a connecting set of tickets that is not needed.

International in this context means no entry into the UK, Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man - the Common Travel Area.

heckenhocker

Yes, the form is long and detailed. However it applies to only certain nationalities, and there are certain exemptions if one has the right to live / enter (for example) US, Australia.

This page gives the information, including circumstances of exemption.

Without knowing the nationality of your friend, and his/her existing visas etc, it is hard for anyone to comment in detail.

divenow67

What about an interview?

Recently, whilst we were working on a job in India, a South African colleague of mine had to go to the British High Commission for an interview to support his transit visa application for a 3 hour transit in London en route to another job we were due on in the Caribbean....

Beggars belief huh?

Dave Noble

This is factually inaccurate. Depending on passport held , there may be a need for a visa even to transit airside

intuition

The friend is a chinese citizen, with a schengen residency permit.

UK border agency site has a "visa tester" and it says chinese citizens who live in schengen countries need airside visa. However, the page heckenhocker links to (also UK border agency) says china is under DATV exemption rules and do not need transit visa if they hold residence permits of EEA.

Dave Noble

.....

Blenz101

This is not true at all - for many countries an airside transit visa is required.

Departing and arriving customers are kept separate until and checks are made at the T5 flight connections centre.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/cu...ansit-airside/

One immediate hole I could see in the border if these visitors were not captured would be once in the departure lounge to discard any onward international travel and instead board a domestic flight.

corporate-wage-slave

Yes but the fact is that there is no passport control airside within Terminal 5. And indeed Chinese residents transit LHR T5 on a daily basis without visas.

The domestic loophole is filled by the photo régime for domestic flights, specifically for that purpose.

intuition

Well, first list on UK BA says:
Countries covered by the DATV system

and PRC is on that list.

Below that it says

"If you are a national of a country covered by the DATV system, you may be able to transit the UK airside without a visa. To qualify for this exemption:"

My bolding. But PRC being on that list should then mean covered by the exemption, right?

corporate-wage-slave

That would be my reading. Indeed the citizens of Chad (to take a random example) are also covered by that exemption.

Blenz101

Yes - a full visa is not required.

The DATV - Direct Airside Transit Visa paperwork / length is the OP's original cause of complaint.

Blenz101

Only UK citizens are photographed as I understand it. Other passport holders are required to show passports at the gate.

corporate-wage-slave

All domestic passengers are photographed. The photographers are BAA staff so they don't know passport ownership. If a person presents an overseas passport at the UK departures gate it may be checked by the security staff (not UKBA), and a passport can be used if the photo fails to show up on the computer at the UK gate.