Heathrow transit visa for Indian passport holders

Before you book a connection through Heathrow

1. 1Check GOV.UK’s exemption list against the documents in your passport, and confirm each one will still be valid on the day you fly.
2. 2If your exemption is an electronic visa, such as an Australian or New Zealand e-visa, ask the airline whether it can verify it; GOV.UK accepts e-visas only in that case.
3. 3If you are not exempt, apply for a DATV online and give biometrics at a visa application centre in India before you fly.
4. 4Keep both flights on one booking with bags checked through, so you never pass border control.
5. 5Do not switch to Gatwick or Stansted on the same journey without a Visitor in Transit visa or Transit Without Visa eligibility.
6. 6Do not rely on a Schengen visa, which does not exempt you at Heathrow.

Who is exempt from the Direct Airside Transit visa

GOV.UK’s visa checker for an Indian national in transit lists the documents that remove the need for a DATV. The ones most relevant to Indian travellers are:

• “a visa for Canada, New Zealand, Australia or the USA (this can be used for travel to any country)”;
• a permanent resident visa issued by Australia or New Zealand, or a Canadian permanent resident card issued on or after 28 June 2002;
• “a common format residence permit issued by an European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland”, or a uniform format category D visa for an EEA country or Switzerland;
• an Irish biometric visa marked “BC” or “BC BIVS”;
• a US permanent residence card issued on or after 21 April 1998, or a valid US I-551 temporary immigrant visa;
• a UK Standard Visitor visa, Marriage Visitor visa or EU Settlement Scheme family permit.

Valid documents and e-visas

GOV.UK adds two conditions. “All visas and residence permits must be valid.” And: “E-visas or e-residence permits are not acceptable unless your airline is able to verify it with the issuing country.” Australian and New Zealand visas are usually electronic, so an Indian traveller relying on one should ask the airline before booking whether it can verify the visa at check-in.

Of the European documents, only an EEA or Swiss residence permit, or a long-stay D visa, counts. The short-stay Schengen C visa that most Indian tourists hold is not on the list.

Why a Schengen visa does not help at Heathrow

This is easy to get wrong. A traveller holding a fresh Schengen visa for a European holiday, flying home through London or onward to the Americas, often assumes the visa covers the UK stop. It does not. The UK is outside Schengen, and the GOV.UK exemption list names EEA residence permits and D visas but not the short-stay C visa.

The UK ETA does not help either. GOV.UK says ETA holders need no transit visa, but Indians cannot get an ETA, because India is on the UK’s visa national list. A US or Canadian visa, on the other hand, exempts you at Heathrow even when you are not travelling to the US or Canada.

Leaving Heathrow: the 48-hour visa and Transit Without Visa

If you need to pass through border control, for example to collect and re-check bags or to change airports, you need a Visitor in Transit visa (£74.50). It is for travellers “leaving the UK within 48 hours”, and GOV.UK says it lets you pass through border control, “such as to check in luggage for a connecting flight”. Beyond 48 hours you need a Standard Visitor visa.

Transit Without Visa lets some passengers through border control without any UK visa. You must arrive and depart by air, “have a confirmed onward flight that leaves on the day you arrive or before midnight on the day after you arrive”, hold the right documents for your destination, and meet a listed condition, such as travelling to or from Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the USA with a valid visa for that country. E-visas do not count for this route, and Border Force can refuse it.

Heathrow on a flight reservation

A flight reservation is an airline booking held without payment. A Heathrow connection on it is realistic only for a traveller who will hold a DATV or an exempting document on the day of travel. For a US or Canadian visa application, that is straightforward: if the visa is issued, it also exempts you at Heathrow, so a single British Airways or Virgin Atlantic booking through London is a sound plan.

For a Schengen visa application, a return through Heathrow to India, or onward to North America, would need a DATV unless you hold another exempting document. Unless you intend to get one, route the reservation through Frankfurt, Munich or Amsterdam, where Indians can transit airside without a visa, and keep the whole journey on one booking.

Each airline decides how long it holds a reservation, so it varies. Order it for the day you submit.

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