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I am traveling from the US to India via London Heathrow on November 6. I will be at LHR on 7th at 6:20 am and departing at 9:25 pm. I'm an Indian national and have a valid US visa.

Do I need a transit visa to stay airside?

I have been scared that British Airways have stopped few people from boarding flight (no details just rumors).

Do I need transit visa to stay landside? I want to do some sightseeing. What are the chances of getting through with officials using transit without visa concession?

Real stories will help a lot to calm the butterflies in my stomach.

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1 Answer

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I'm assuming from what you've said that you're on your way to the US? And so your full status is an Indian passport holder, Indian resident, with a US visa en-route to the US?

If so, it looks like you should be covered by the 'Transit without visa' concession (scroll to near the bottom of the page and click to expand). The landside Transit without visa concession indicates that as your transit is under 24 hours, you should be allowed to exit the airside during your layover.

The key bit here is that you have a US visa, you're en-route to the US, and your stopover is under 24 hours. If any of those weren't the case, you'd almost certainly need a visa. For the general case, the UK Border Agency "Do I Need a Visa" website wizardy thingy can help you work it out.

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Thanks.i am travielling from uZ to india via london. butnwordings on websitebstill works. I am almost certain about airside transit. however I am not so sure about using this concession for landside as only purpose is siteseeing and not transiting to another airport etc. any thoughts on that. – Atul Oct 2 '12 at 10:15
@Gagravarr: Landside transit visas are only issued if you're not a 'visa national'. Indian passport holders are considered visa nationals, hence, only the standard TWOV airside transit is possible. – Ankur Banerjee♦ Oct 2 '12 at 10:58
@AnkurBanerjee Take a look at the "Transit without visa concession" section that you have to expand to view. That says that "visa nationals" can transit without a visa in some situations, including if you're flying home from the US and have a US visa – Gagravarr Oct 2 '12 at 15:22
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Ah I see. Yes indeed. Seems like I was incorrect. – Ankur Banerjee♦ Oct 2 '12 at 15:46

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