There is a certain amount of confusion about the conditions under which a transit visa is required when changing planes at Heathrow. There is an official list of conditions here. It seems clear that if you are on the list but you have a visa that allows you entry into the US then you can go in either direction via Heathrow without needing a transit visa provided you don't change airports. It becomes murky when you have a status change when in the US. I flew a week ago via Heathrow and did not need a transit visa.
The following facts may all be relevant or useful to other people:
The following facts may all be relevant or useful to other people:
- I had an unexpired (but invalid) F-1 visa in my passport.
- I no longer have a valid I-20
- I changed status from F-1 to H-1B while within the US
- I did not have a H-1B stamp in my passport
- My stopover time was 2 hours (as a side note, I would not recommend a shorter transit time because you have to go through security again)
- My connecting flight was from the same terminal and the same airline
- The only person who checked my passport for visas was the BA desk clerk at Logan
- At Heathrow the passport is only used to verify identity
- No one asked for an I-20 (I recall vaguely someone asked for an I-20 at Heathrow last time I came to the US via London, but I don't recall if they actually looked at it or merely reminded me that I would need it in the US)
- I did NOT need a transit visa
Comments
Post a Comment