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Transit visas at London Heathrow

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:
  1. I had an unexpired (but invalid) F-1 visa in my passport.
  2. I no longer have a valid I-20
  3. I changed status from F-1 to H-1B while within the US
  4. I did not have a H-1B stamp in my passport
  5. 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)
  6. My connecting flight was from the same terminal and the same airline
  7. The only person who checked my passport for visas was the BA desk clerk at Logan
  8. At Heathrow the passport is only used to verify identity
  9. 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)
  10. I did NOT need a transit visa

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