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Check Transit Visa Requirements and Book Flight Tickets

September 16, 2018 | 21

Planning to Travel to your home country during holidays from USA?

Make sure you don’t require Transit visa in country where you have connecting flights.

  • USA – London – India (you might need Transit Visa)
  • USA – Dubai – India (Transit visa not required at time of this post)

Transit Visa – Europe

If you are traveling via Germany, UK and other European countries, check for Transit Visa requirements.

Friend of mine who is traveling next week to India, booked his ticket via London. His USA visa is expired.

Unfortunately, London requires UK Transit visa, if visa is expired. He had to shell out money to book a different ticket via Brussels in Jet Airways.

  • London – There will not be any problem flying via London towards USA. But, Transit Visa might be required while flying from USA via London.

Small mistake can cost you lot of money.

Don’t take travel agents word about Transit visa. Find the information from specific country’s embassy website.

Transit Visa – Middle East, Asia

Usually, travel from USA via countries in Middle East, Asia will not require transit visa.

Example – Dubai, Qatar, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc.

But, before you book your tickets, make sure Air Transit Visa is not required.

Here is good link that lists Transit Visa requirements for non-immigrants traveling form USA for most several countries.

Note – Students traveling to USA will usually not require transit visa. I have never seen any country requiring Transit visa for onward flight travel to USA.

I have seen few instances with my friend travelling to India with expired U.S. Visa but with valid I-20 or I-94 form.

So, if you have expired visa, then transit visa requirements will vary.

For instance, London would require to have an valid visa for transit. But, Middle East cities like Dubai, Doha will not require a valid U.S. Visa.

So, before looking for cheaper tickets, look for transit visa requirements for your connecting destinations. Then book your flight ticket.

It’s your responsibility, not your travel agents duty to check transit visa.

Next – What ID Can be Used for Air Travel Within USA?

Posted in Lifestyle and tagged ,

21 Comments

  1. KR on July 23, 2014 at 10:09 AM

    I will be travelling to India from USA via London. My USA visa is valid for another month. Will I still require a transit visa?

    Reply
  2. Avi Sharma on June 19, 2014 at 11:11 AM

    even for Canada?

    Reply
  3. Sushi on November 28, 2012 at 12:34 PM

    Hello,
    I have valid India passport and H1B Visa , and I am traveling from USA via London to India where hault is for 5 hours for next flight.
    Can you please let me know if I required the Transit Visa.
    I will be coming back from same route from India to USA via London.
    Please suggest .

    Reply
  4. meghan on November 22, 2012 at 5:49 AM

    Hello, I am travelling from usa to India and have 2 hours halt in london at same terminal. do i need to get transit visa. I have indian passport and usa green card. i am travelling by virgin atlantic airlines.

    Reply
  5. AK on October 29, 2012 at 4:56 AM

    Hi,

    I am transiting through UK (London) on flight from US to India. Recently, I got transferred from F-1 to H1B and will be doing H1B stamping in India during trip. My passport has a valid F1 stamp (actually valid for next couple of years) but the OPT I-20 is expired.

    Do I need a transit visa through UK?

    Thanks!

    AK

    Reply
    • PS on November 12, 2012 at 9:14 PM

      AK,

      Did you complete your journey? If so, I hope you were able to do that without any problems. Please let me know what happened as I am facing the same problem. Airlines and consulate are not clear about the exact requirements. I have F1 visa that has an expirt date of 2015 but I’ve moved to H1B class and need to get it stamped in India.

      Looking forward to your reply!

      PS

      Reply
  6. VJ San on November 18, 2011 at 8:10 PM

    You don’t require a UK transit Visa if there is no change in Terminal and the transit time is less than 24 hours (*You must however have an unexpired visa). This applies to vis-a-vis journey. You can call the nearest VFS helpline to confirm also.

    Reply
  7. Rohan Jadhav on November 18, 2011 at 2:04 PM

    Here’s the website that provides truthful information about transit visas ..
    http://www.immihelp.com/visas/nonustransit.html
    United Kingdom and Europe transit visas are not required if person has a valid United States ,Canada, Australia or Japan visa. It is applicable for through travel between United states and India in both directions. But if the visas of these countries expires, then the transit visa is required.

    Dear uploader, Please do not misdirect people. If you are not sure simply do not post it. International travel is not a joke.. Anything goes wrong person can be deported, made to pay huge fines or even get to imprisoned. So please reflect accurate information on this prestigious blog.

    Rohan Jadhav, Milwaukee, WI.

    Reply
    • PS on November 12, 2012 at 9:19 PM

      Rohan,

      Thanks for pasting the link – it was very helpful. I have a confusion regarding what does a valid visa means. I have an F1 visa with an expiry date of 2015. Recently I moved to H1B Class and have an approved petition ending in 10/2014. Are any of these documents considered a valid visa?

      Reply
      • ruchiagarwal on January 22, 2013 at 3:33 PM

        Hi Rohan,

        Did you get answer to your question? I have a similar situation. My F1 has an expiration date of June-2014 and I moved to H1B approved as well but needs to get it stamped from India. Can I travel via London without transit visa?

        Thanks,
        Ruchi

        Reply
  8. Raj on November 18, 2011 at 1:02 PM

    I am travelling from Chicago to Chennai .. Chicago > Paris > Bahrain> Chennai
    Do you think i may require a transit visa? I stay less than 4 hours at any airport during my transit, I am just worried abt the paris airport policies..
    Thanks HSB for bringing up this issue.

    Reply
    • Rohan Jadhav on November 18, 2011 at 7:22 PM

      Refer to my previous post. You DO NOT require transit visa of France as long as your American visa i valid (excluding B1/B2 visa).

      Rohan

      Rohan

      Reply
  9. Anjali on November 18, 2011 at 11:50 AM

    Hi,
    As far as I know, if a person checks out at the london airport , only then is the UK transit visa is required. The UK transit visa is valid for maximum of 48 hours. If the person just takes a connecting flight from the same airport WITHOUT checking out, transit visa is not required.

    Also, this is irrespective of whether the person is travelling USA-London-India or India-London-USA.
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Anjali on November 18, 2011 at 11:52 AM

      Further, there are two types of transit visas for UK, land transit and air transit. You can check the UKBA website for this.

      Reply
  10. Raj on November 18, 2011 at 11:20 AM

    I think your frnd shd be fine if his transit between flights is less than 5 hours

    Reply

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