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I have ticket booking and have a query if layover at 2 airports. I will be highly obliged if u can respond to my query or share contact who can solve my query.

My itinerary is - Passport and nationality- INDIAN Valid Visitor visa - CANADA

British airways ticket DEL-TORONTO /single pnr

Delhi dep 01:35 am

London arrival 06:50 dep 09:50 (layover 3 hours)

Dublin arrival 11:15 dep 13:30 ( layover 2 hour 15 mins ) Will I require a transit visa on both airports because all persons I asked have different opinion.even airlines are not sure about this query. Last time I went outside Heathrow as I had 20 hours layover so I got transit visa at London airport, this time I don’t have to go outside and have shorter layovers. Kindly confirm actual status if possible.

Thanks for support. I have received an email confirmation from dublin airport that I dont need a transit visa to cross Dublin as LHR-DUB-YYZ are operated by Aer Lingus and both are on the same day.

There rest the question is will I be eligible for TWOV or even I need TWOV as I have no need to go outside airport, but that is for an other question.

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The middle leg from London to Dublin will be a problem. Because the UK and Ireland are part of the Common Travel Area, there are no immigration controls between the two countries, and this flight will be considered domestic. This means your connection in London is not an international transit, and you will need to go through immigration controls at Heathrow.

Furthermore, according to https://www.gov.uk/transit-visa/visitor-in-transit-visa, you will not be allowed to complete this itinerary with a Visitor in Transit visa, either, because that visa does not allow you to enter Ireland. If you plan to proceed with this route, you will need to obtain a UK Standard Visitor visa, which is more expensive and may be substantially more difficult to obtain.

I would suggest that you seek a different option.

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  • This UK government site implies that the OP could also apply for an Irish visa and then be eligible for TWOV through the UK. Would an Irish visa be any cheaper or easier to obtain?
    – Michael Seifert
    Mar 14 at 20:23
  • @MichaelSeifert I don't know. If the CTA is like the Schengen Area in this regard, an Irish visa would be denied on the grounds that OP will arrive first in the UK and the trip has no greater tie to Ireland than to the UK. If OP chooses to pursue this itinerary, advice might be in order from somebody more qualified than the Internet.
    – Andrew Ray
    Mar 14 at 20:26
  • @MichaelSeifert According to irishimmigration.ie/coming-to-visit-ireland/…, for these visas, you must travel first to the country that issued the visa, so OP cannot get an Irish visa instead of the UK one.
    – Andrew Ray
    Mar 14 at 20:34
  • The CTA is not like the Schengen area in this regard.
    – phoog
    Mar 17 at 7:54
  • @phoog No, but as I pointed out, an Irish visa is still not an option.
    – Andrew Ray
    Mar 17 at 16:12
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Note: the answer below seems to conflict with information on official UK government websites. I'm leaving it up so that the "official" Timatic advice is available, but I encourage other folks to provide different answers if they have more expertise than I do.

According to TIMATIC, which is the system that airlines use to check immigration requirements:

In the UK, the following people are eligible for TWOV (Transit Without Visa):

Nationals of India with a normal passport transiting through London (LHR) with a confirmed onward ticket for a flight to a third country on the same calendar day. They must:

  • have a visa issued by Australia, Canada, New Zealand or USA, and
  • stay in the international transit area of the airport, and
  • have documents required for the next destination.

...

Nationals of India with a normal passport making a landside transit with a confirmed onward ticket for a flight to a third country that departs before 23:59 the next day. They must:

  • have a visa issued by Australia, Canada, New Zealand or USA, and
  • be traveling to the country that issued the visa, and
  • clear immigration, and
  • have documents required for the next destination.

In Ireland, the following people are eligible for TWOV (Transit Without Visa):

Passengers transiting through Dublin (DUB) with a confirmed onward ticket for a flight to a third country. They must:

  • arrive at and depart from Terminal 2, and
  • be transiting between 04:00 and 16:00 on the same calendar day, and
  • stay in the international transit area of the airport, and
  • have documents required for the next destination.

So, to summarize:

  • If you have a valid tourist visa for Canada, it appears that you can make both of these transits without a visa so long as your transit at Heathrow does not involve leaving the international transit area, and so long as you arrive & depart from Terminal 2 at Dublin. Whether or not this will be possible depends on the airlines you are using.
  • If you need to arrive & depart from different terminals at Dublin, you will need a visa for Ireland.
  • If you need to leave the international transit area at Heathrow, you can still transit without visa there but you will have to clear immigration in the process.

Moreover, it was pointed out in the comments (h/t @AndrewRay) that since the UK and Ireland are both in the Common Travel Area (CTA), the LHR-DUB flight may be treated as a domestic flight, meaning that you would have to transit landside in London and that you would not be able to "remain in the international transit area" in Dublin.

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    Hmm. Wouldn't LHR -> DUB be treated as a domestic flight because of the CTA?
    – Andrew Ray
    Mar 14 at 18:41
  • @AndrewRay: Quite possibly. Most likely this would present a difficulty for transit in Dublin, since the passenger wouldn't be arriving on an "international" flight. I don't know the precise details of how this transfer would work, but I'll edit my answer to be clearer about this.
    – Michael Seifert
    Mar 14 at 18:57
  • Any issues would arise on the London side, as you would be required to clear immigration there. There's even a special line (at least at LHR T5) for connecting flights within the UK and Ireland at immigration. On the Dublin end, you would just walk up to the gate like any other flight, since UK/Ireland don't have exit controls.
    – Andrew Ray
    Mar 14 at 19:01
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    So I've just looked it up at gov.uk/check-uk-visa. Remember that the UK has no way to stop OP from getting off the plane in Dublin and staying there, so from their perspective, OP is transiting DEL > LHR > DUB; the Canadian leg is mostly irrelevant. For this connection, the UK requires a full Standard Visitor visa; note that the Visitor in Transit visa cannot be used to connect to Ireland (see gov.uk/transit-visa/visitor-in-transit-visa).
    – Andrew Ray
    Mar 14 at 19:21
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    You checked at Copa Air version of Timatic. If you check at traveldoc.aero, it says that the person is not clear to travel from Delhi to Heathrow and needs a UK visa or UK residence permit. And if you select transiting to Ireland at www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa, it shows that one needs a standard visitor visa.
    – Thomas Cruise
    Mar 14 at 19:50

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