Check if you need a UK visa: Information based on your answers

You’ll need a visa to pass through the UK in transit

You should apply for a Visitor in Transit visa if you arrive on a flight and will pass through immigration control before you leave the UK.

You do not need to apply for a Visitor in Transit visa if you already have a Marriage Visitor or Standard Visitor visa.

Transiting without a visa

You may be eligible to transit without a visa if:

  • you 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
  • have the right documents for your destination (eg a visa for that country)

One of the following must also apply:

  • you’re travelling to (or on part of a reasonable journey to) Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the USA and have a valid visa for that country
  • you’re travelling from (or on part of a reasonable journey from) Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the USA and have a valid visa for that country
  • you’re travelling from (or on part of a reasonable journey from) Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the USA and it’s less than 6 months since you last entered that country with a valid entry visa
  • you have a permanent residence permit issued by Australia or New Zealand
  • you have a common format residence permit issued by an European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland
  • you have a permanent residence permit issued by Canada on or after 28 June 2002
  • you have a uniform format category D visa for entry to a country in the EEA or Switzerland
  • you have an Irish biometric visa (marked ‘BC’ or ‘BC BIVS’ in the ‘Remarks’ section) and an onward flight ticket to the Republic of Ireland
  • you’re travelling from the Republic of Ireland and it’s less than 3 months since you were last given permission, on the basis of holding a valid Irish biometric visa, to land or be in Ireland
  • you have a valid USA permanent residence card issued by the USA on or after 21 April 1998
  • you have a valid USA I-551 Temporary Immigrant visa issued by the USA (a wet-ink stamp version will not be accepted)
  • you have an expired USA I-551 Permanent Residence card issued by the USA on or after 21 April 1998, with a valid I-797 letter authorising extension
  • you have a valid standalone US Immigration Form 155A/155B issued by the USA (attached to a sealed brown envelope)

You will not be able to transit without a visa if a Border Force officer decides you do not qualify under the immigration rules. You can apply for a transit visa before you travel if you’re unsure whether you qualify for transiting without a visa.

E-visas or e-residence permits are not acceptable for transiting through immigration control without a visa.

All visas and residence permits must be valid.

Australian paper confirmation slips are not accepted.

Your answers

Start again

What’s your nationality as shown on your passport or travel document?
South Africa
Change What’s your nationality as shown on your passport or travel document?
What are you coming to the UK to do?
Transit (on your way to somewhere else)
Change What are you coming to the UK to do?
Where are you travelling to?
Somewhere else
Change Where are you travelling to?
Will you pass through UK border control?
Yes
Change Will you pass through UK border control?

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