transit visa

[rajesh_rohra]

I am a citizen of India and have travelled to Toronto transitting at London, UK with a single entry tourist visa for Canada. I need to go back to India transitting at London, UK. Do I need a transit Visa for that?

[mystress]

Hi rajesh,

Personally,as you are transitting London (not enterering the UK) I would not have thought you would need any sort of Visa,especially as you are going back to you home country,but please check 1st, as this is only a personal opinion.

I am hoping Dom Tuk will see your post as he is excellent any Travel query.

Dom, where are you? LOL

[KARL]

Mystress is right. As a general rule, you do not need any visa for any country unless you intend to enter that country - that is precisely what the visa is: a permission to enter. There are some exceptions, most notably where you need to pass into the country in order to reach your onward flight at (say) a different terminal, perhaps even at a different airport. Some countries (particularly in the past, e.g. communist countries) even required you to obtain some form of visa just to land there even if never leaving the building. In fact, what people refer to as transit visas are in fact very short duration tourist visas.You, as everyone, will need visas to enter som countries, depending on whether those countries have bi-lateral agreements with the country that issued your passport (one visa for each, except in cases such as the Schengen group in Europe, where the single visa does for all member countries).

[Dom Tuk]

Passengers presenting Indian passports will qualify for a concessional visa waiver if they are travelling within 48 hrs to another country. In short transitting through any UK airport. In order to qualify for this waiver the passenger has to show 1) onward confirmed booking to destination (it has to be confirmed) 2) you are arriving and leaving by same mode of transport ie: arriving and leaving by plane (and not by boat or train). 3) passenger is assured of entry to destination and any other country enroute (so all visas for destination and enroute should be on passport). If all 3 above are in place then the passenger will be given 48 hrs to catch the connecting flight. This waiver cannot be used for any other purpose like business etc. If the passenger has had any immigration problem in the past then above is not necessarily valid and passenger is advised to get a visa.

[dazf]

hi rajesh,

i work in the airline industry

and i have just looked at the regulations in what we call the timatic which is a basic visa regulation that airlines use.

it states that indians transiting any UK airport that:

normal passport only - Visa Required, even when in direct airside transit. Exemptions apply when holding specific resident permits or Visas for Australia, Canada, New Zealand, USA & EEA countries...

so in answer to your question no u do not need a transit visa if u r staying at the same airport and in direct transit other wise u will need a visa.