Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hopefully all you experts can help with a question. I'm finding so much conflicting information online and I can't get the UK Consulate's office in Los Angeles to answer the phone.
I'm a US citizen and my wife is from Colombia originally. She has permanent residency in the USA (green card). She has previously gotten a tourist visa to visit the UK but they only granted it for 90 days. She got the tourist visa before she got her green card.
We're visiting Europe and spending the summer there in EU countries. However, our flight back to the US is via Heathrow as it was the only airport I could find first class tickets to redeem on American Airlines.
I read online that there are exemptions for having to get a visa if you are only in the country less than 48 hours. (She will only be in the country less than 24 hours) as we're flying in from Amsterdam and then leaving the next morning for the USA.
Can anyone tell me for sure if she will need to apply for a tourist visa? It sounds like it since she is from Colombia and considered a "visa national". But if anyone has more specific information it would be greatly appreciated.
The last time she applied for a tourist visa for the UK, we were living abroad but I remember they still had to send in her passport to New York. It was a really slow process. Alternatively, we're spending the summer in France including 1 month in Paris. Could we just apply there for a tourist visa for the UK?
Last edited by earlyretirement; 03-17-2012 at 05:50 PM..
Hopefully all you experts can help with a question. I'm finding so much conflicting information online and I can't get the UK Consulate's office in Los Angeles to answer the phone.
I'm a US citizen and my wife is from Colombia originally. She has permanent residency in the USA (green card). She has previously gotten a tourist visa to visit the UK but they only granted it for 90 days. She got the tourist visa before she got her green card.
We're visiting Europe and spending the summer there in EU countries. However, our flight back to the US is via Heathrow as it was the only airport I could find first class tickets to redeem on American Airlines.
I read online that there are exemptions for having to get a visa if you are only in the country less than 48 hours. (She will only be in the country less than 24 hours) as we're flying in from Amsterdam and then leaving the next morning for the USA.
Can anyone tell me for sure if she will need to apply for a tourist visa? It sounds like it since she is from Colombia and considered a "visa national". But if anyone has more specific information it would be greatly appreciated.
The last time she applied for a tourist visa for the UK, we were living abroad but I remember they still had to send in her passport to New York. It was a really slow process. Alternatively, we're spending the summer in France including 1 month in Paris. Could we just apply there for a tourist visa for the UK?
So it looks like she will need to get one. It's just frustrating because there doesn't seem to be anyone you can talk on the phone about it for full clarification.
Further complicating things is I believe I read you can't apply more than 90 days prior to your trip. The problem is we're already leaving for our trip as we'll be traveling in Europe 2.5 months and London is at the end of our trip so it's too early to apply now. I guess we'll see if we can do this while we are in Paris.
Travelling to the UK in transit on a
Columbian passport, and
Living in the USA
the results were:
YES, you generally need a visa to transit the UK
You told us that
-- you are a national of Colombia.
-- you are coming to UK to Transit.
-- you are normally and legally living in United States.
What do you need to do?
If you are coming to the UK briefly as part of your journey to another country, you will generally need to obtain a UK visa before you travel.
If you will arrive on a flight, remain in the arrival lounge of the airport without passing through immigration control, and then depart on another flight from the same airport, you should apply for a direct airside transit visa.
If you will arrive in the UK, pass through immigration control and then leave the UK within 48 hours, you should apply for a visitor in transit visa.
If you will spend more than 48 hours in the UK, you must obtain another type of visitor visa before you travel. The Visiting the UK section lists the types of visitor visa.
In some circumstances you may be exempt from the need to obtain a visa - this is called the 'transit without visa concession'. The Transiting the UK section contains more information, and explains how to apply for a transit visa.
So it looks like she will need to get one. It's just frustrating because there doesn't seem to be anyone you can talk on the phone about it for full clarification.
Further complicating things is I believe I read you can't apply more than 90 days prior to your trip. The problem is we're already leaving for our trip as we'll be traveling in Europe 2.5 months and London is at the end of our trip so it's too early to apply now. I guess we'll see if we can do this while we are in Paris.
I don't think it is too early if your trip is 2.5 months away:
You can apply for your visa within three months of your intended date of travel. We are only able to post-date visas by a maximum of three months from the date of the decision on your visa application. You can enter the UK anytime after your visa issue date but not before.
=============================================
And they are quoting processing times as follows:
Service standards
We have service standards for processing UK visa applications. Our standards say that we will process:
90 per cent of non-settlement applications within 3 weeks, 98 per cent within 6 weeks and 100 per cent within 12 weeks of the application date;
Thanks so much sunshineleith! Very helpful information. We're definitely wanting to apply ASAP but my wife is out of town on business and needs her passport. Then we have to go to the France Consulate in L.A. to apply for her EU visa and that will probably take some time. So hopefully we have enough time or I guess we'll try in Paris. Thanks again for your helpful information.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
