This article comes as a general warning to those of you with South African passports wishing to travel to the US or Europe via the United Kingdom. I URGE you to use another hub of sorts, as the new requirements for a simple transit visa are EXACTLY the same as if you were applying for something far more dramatic.

I should mention that, due to SA Home Affairs not complying to required changes to SA passports (which they were warned about a few years back), UK’s Border control have put South African passports in the same category as Taiwanese, Jamaican, Bolivian, Venezuelan, Lesotho and Swaziland passports.

Awesome!

Due to changes in my schedule, I will be flying via London on my way home from Europe in July. And when I say “via” London, I mean LITERALLY landing at Gatwick, going straight to Heathrow and taking off again.

The requirements for this transit visa are nothing short of RADICAL! The exercise I had to undergo has been well documented on LivingStylishlyWell in an article entitled “Broken Britain – It’s no joke. Keep out!”

Check it out:

However, to those holders of the above-mentioned passports this can create major problems and involve a huge expense if you wish to:

a) use Heathrow airport as a transit hub to change planes to another destination

b) land at Heathrow airport from, for example, Cape Town, and then travel by bus/train/taxi to Gatwick to connect to a European destination

The UK Border Agency makes no distinction between a so-called illegal worker, foreign national prisoner or simple tourist. Fact.

Let’s take the example of someone who has landed in Heathrow during June 2009, connected to Gatwick, flown to Marseille and is returning to Cape Town via Gatwick/Heathrow in mid-July (ie after the deadline).

A ‘Transit Visa’ is necessary. This entails visiting the UK Visa Agency office in Marseilles armed with pictures, Euros (plenty), a 30 page form all completed (colour of underpants mandatory), copies of bank statements to denote you have the funds to connect on a 60 minute bus journey, proof of employment, letters from your hosts, a signed document stating you will “NOT SIGHTSEE or SHOP WHILE IN TRANSIT” – and make an on-line appointment to see an immigration officer.

Once you have waited three and a half hours after your appointment time has come and gone, you are interviewed, and then handed back a letter and a sealed envelope and told, “Go to the Post Office, post it to Paris and wait!”

26 Euros later your envelope (including your Passport and precious Shengen visa) is in the hands of La Poste and you wait, and wait. Our example is traveling to Paris in a weeks time to collect the visa.

Ironically, this weekend the English newspapers are full of brochures and supplements marketing Britain to the British – alongside corrupt politicians, disaffected citizens, a Speaker less House of Parliament (they fired him for being useless) and thousands of centimeters on how good the British Lions are.

They need to market Britain to the British – no self-respecting visitor needs go near Heathrow ever again.

[read more here]

Honestly, until they sort this out I’ll never go to Europe or the States via London again, even if British Airways are giving the flights away (which they are doing at the moment). It will be unfortunate to skip the little visit with friends in London on the way but it’s just not worth the pain. I will happily pay double for flights and go direct to the States or via Frankfurt or Munich for Europe.