Hi all, does anyone here have the whole transit visa thing figured out? My fiance is coming from Rwanda and flying through Britian. He is going to have to switch airlines. Will he need a transit visa? I'm getting conflicting answers from different sources! Thanks so much for any advice you can give!!!

http://www.delta.com/planning_reservations...ation/index.jsp

hi
my husband just went home to visit nigeria for 3 weeks and he is back here now. your fiance will need a transit visa since he is possessing a Rwanda passport. If he is switching airlines in the same airport he will only need transit A visa, but if switching thru a different airport(ie, heathrow, gatwick) he will need transit B.
You can also check out www.ukvisa.gov.uk
Sweetee

National NIGERIA (NG)
Transit UNITED KINGDOM (GREAT BRITAIN) (GB)
Destination U.S.A. (US)
ALSO CHECK DESTINATION INFORMATION BELOW

UNITED KINGDOM (GREAT BRITAIN) (GB


Visa required, even when in direct airside transit.
Exemptions apply when holding specific resident permits or
visas for Australia, Canada, New Zealand, U.S.A. and E.E.A.
countries (TIRGL/EEA )and TWOV is then permitted.


Using the link I provided earlier, you can look up the visa requirements. According to this, since he will have a visa for the US in his passport, TWOV is permitted.

My husband did not need one in Amsterdam, but he has Cr1.
Best Wishes

look, the best way to find out is for you to write the embassy. my husband had to do the same thing b/c when he called the airlines they informed him that the airlines can no longer give out the info b/c it seems they were giving misleading info and london has changed a lot of rules regarding their visa permits. also, even i, an american citizen now needs a visa to travel to london, whether im staying there or just passing thru on my way elsewhere. when i went to nigeria in 2004, i didnt have to have a visa at all....none whatsoever but now i do. my husband has a green card and when he left for nigeria passing thru london, he still had to get the visa. he applied online and received it within the same week. so like i said, maybe u should write the embassy and ask the question. don't bother calling them b/c they will charge u $2.00 per minute. hope this info can help you. good luck.
Sweetee

The answer I got from the embassy was of course it wont hurt to buy one, but if I was unsure contact a travel agent who of course said yes buy one.. but after some research I discovered that there is a form inside that envelope that entitles the visa holder to travel w/o transit visa for that trip. Im not sure if its good for future travel or not but as long as the visa holder doesnt leave the airport or if he leaves the airport to transfer to the same airline flight (ie. heathrow to gatwick with bith flights on BA not changing BA to KLM) then they wont need one.

my husband flew British Airways straight from here to Lagos. He had to change airports...Heathrow to Gatwick in London. He is a green card holder and he STILL had to purchase a visa. It only cost something like $55. He had to get a visitor in transit visa.

One thing that I am noticing is that most k3 and cr1 havent needed a transit.. maybe a few more k-1er's could add their experiences. cr1 and k3 are immigrant visa and I am not sure if the same applies to k1

well we had a k1. My husband is from Nigeria but was in South Africa at the time. We bought a ticket that went through AMsterdam but didn't get a transit visa--beacause all the other K1's from Nigeria didn't need a transit visa through Amsterdam. However, they refused to let my then fiance to board the plane and we lost out the whole ticket and ended up buying a direct flight to the States. So my advice, get a transit visa or pay extra for a direct flight if that is possible.

k1 is also considered immigrant visa.

I noticed that too. When I called the airlines initially, they said they can't give out that information anymore, but when I went on the websites for the london and Netherland embassies there was something about "if you have a valid US visa you do not need a transit visa". Yet, I seem to remember a few K1 ers that had to get the transit thing. Maybe it is better to be safe than sorry.