Travelling to Dublin from Jakarta via London; do I need visa if I'm ticketed separately?

Question

I'm studying in Dublin and I'm Indonesian. I bought a return flight from Dublin to Jakarta, and I have a problem with my return flight to Dublin. The ticket I bought requires an airport change, from Heathrow to Gatwick, and, for that I would need a visa.

I called SQ and asked whether I can change the London-Dublin ticket so that I can fly out from Heathrow. They can't change just that portion; they need to change the whole ticket and that would be quite expensive.

They recommended that I buy a separate ticket on Aer Lingus to fly directly from Heathrow to Dublin. However, I will need to get my luggage and re-check it with Aer Lingus.

If I do this, will I need a transit visa because my luggage wouldn't be going through from Jakarta to Dublin.

Answer 1

According to Timatic:

Visa required, except for Passengers holding confirmed onward tickets passing through United Kingdom immigration to make a landside transit to a third country on a flight that departs before 23:59 the next day. The following conditions must be complied with:
- passenger must arrive and depart by air; and
- passenger must have no purpose in entering the United Kingdom other than to pass through in transit; and
- passenger must hold all documents required for the next destination; and
- passenger must pass through United Kingdom Immigration; and
- passenger travels with a document listed in the following warning(s):
- Warning Passengers may make a landside transit if holding a valid, common format residence permit issued by an EEA Member State For details, click here or Switzerland. (SEE NOTE 57399) NOTE 57399: E-visas or e-residence permits are not accepted for landside transit.
- Warning Passengers may make a landside transit if holding a valid common format "D" visa issued by an EEA Member State For details, click here or Switzerland. (SEE NOTE 57399) NOTE 57399: E-visas or e-residence permits are not accepted for landside transit.

From your description it looks like you might fill these restrictions if you hold the residence permit and your next flight leaves within the approved time. However as you can see, it is a complicated set of restrictions so confirming with the British consulate that you indeed can do it would be your best choice.

Source: https://www.timaticweb.com/cgi-bin/tim_website_client.cgi?SpecData=1&VISA=&page=visa&NA=ID&PASSTYPES=PASS&AR=IE&DE=IE&selDest=Ireland+%28Rep.+of%29&TR=GB&selTrans=United+Kingdom+%28GB%29&user=PYB2C&subuser=PYB2C