Hi, this is my first time posting a topic on Fodors as I'm new to it,
and I hope to get your help in my questions.

My wife and I and our 2 kids will be traveling to Los Angeles at the end of this upcoming week via London Heathrow from Amman Jordan.

our flight Itinerary will be leaving Amman at 5PM arriving in London at 9 PM and leaving to Los Angeles the following morning at 12 PM. which gives us a 15 hour layover.

My questions is Myself and our 2 kids are US citizens, however my wife is Jordanian National, but she will be immigrating to the USA with an Immigration visa on this trip. therefore we would like to spend the night at a hotel near Heathrow airport as it will be hectic on the two kids to stay for this long layover.

For me and my kids we have no problem to enter the UK with our US passports However my wife she needs a visa to enter. Now does she require to get a visa ahead of time or can we just proceed to the immigration officer directly upon arrival to grant her an entry.
As mentioned above we will be leaving at the end of this upcoming week, so really to get her a visa at this point is really tight on time and I don't think we will be able to make it in time.

so please if someone can help me out with this inquiry I sure do appreciate that.

Thank you
MSaleh

In this type of situation you really cannot rely on people on this board - we are tourists and travelers - not immigration attorneys.

You MUST go to your nearest British embassy or consulate to get an official answer on this.

My guess - and it is no more than that - is that she will not be allowed to enter the UK. If that is the case you might want to find out if any of the airline clubs in the termainl(s) you will be using has an airline club open all night at which she might stay. Bu PLEASE do not take my work for this. And do NOT assume that she will be allowed to enter the UK without a visa.

Separately, if she requires a visa to enter the UK and she doesn;t have one the airline may well not allow her to board the plane for London - and she may be forced to stay behind in Jordan.

If you cannot get a specific answer on this from the British embassy/consulate I would immediately change your flights so that you do not have an overnight stay in London - but a flight that leaves only a few hours later. Expensive perhaps, but much better than you wife being left behind in Jordan.

I'm not an immigration expert either, but I do remember hearing there are special exceptions (under certain qualifying circumstances) for landside transfers within 24 hours. Have a look at this page from the UK Border Agency's website:- http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/vi...nsit-landside/

Scroll down and read carefully what it says under <u>'Transit without visa' concession</u>:-

If you are a visa national [<i>as a Jordanian national, your wife is classified as a "visa national"</i>] or recognised as stateless, you may be able to transit the UK landside without a visa. To qualify for this exemption:

- you must arrive and depart by air;
- your onward flight must be confirmed, and must depart within 24 hours; and
- you have proper documentation for your destination, including a visa if necessary

To my (non-expert) reading she <i>would</i> qualify under these conditions as she is arriving and departing by air within 24 hours and would be able to present a US entry visa and supporting travel documentation. Notice the UKBA refer to "may be able to" though, so there is no cast iron guarantee, but I would have thought you would be fine unless there is some irregularity about your wife's circumstances. Hope this helps!

NYTraveller - IME all the airport FF lounges close down at night. LHR authorities are not keen at all on people spending the night in the terminal, quite apart from the obvious discomfort doing this would involve for the traveller.

Thank you Gordon _R, this is valuable information, I have read it but I was not too sure of it, I hope it will work in her case here, it will be great.

IMHO to rely on something on a website that says "may be" possible is extremely risky. If this works it would be great. But if it doesn;t work -

the airline in Jordan doesn't allow her on the plane

the immigration official in London says she doesn;t qualify for some reason

you will be facing a huge problem. And quoting from a Fodor's post won't help.

PLEASE contact the closest UK embassy or consulate to make sure your wife qualifies.

Even having a visa is no guarantee of entry into a country, it is still at the discretion of the immigration official.

My interpretation of the UK Border agency info is also that she should be allowed landside for 24 hours.

If she can'leave the airport, you might consider staying in the Yotel that is at LHR. Perhaps you and the kids could still stay at a tel off of airport property, more space.

Nope. The Yotel is landside, so you have to pass thru UK immigration to get to it, so no advantage over any other hotel near LHR. The Yotel is also located at T4, which may or may not be convenient in this case.

Here are airside rooms at T3:
http://www.no1traveller.com/airside-...Fct7QgodTWgAZA

But I suspect she'll be allowed to join you at an airport hotel. Just look into it further with UK immigration or the nearest consulate. Get something in writing.

MmePerdu, the place you mentioned at T3 states clearly: "Open daily from 6am - 10pm", so you can't actually spend the night there (only rest during the daytime).

Thank you all for your valuable information. I wish the airside rooms are open 24 hours it would of been perfect, but I don't think we can make it intime as they close at 10PM and we arrive at 9 PM. But I really don't think that the airline in Amman Airport will not let her fly as it is a continuous ticket to Los Angeles, and she can well stay in the airport as a transit. But I will dig into it more I will contact the embassy or consulate down here and see.

<I> I wish the airside rooms are open 24 hours it would of been perfect, but I don't think we can make it intime as they close at 10PM and we arrive at 9 PM.</I>

...Even if you did arrive at the No1Traveler rooms by 9pm, they won't let you spend the night there. My understanding is it closes - completely - at 10pm.

The most important thing here is to confirm the airline will not deny boarding to your wife in Amman - I would call them NOW to find out their policy. If they let her on the plane, but the LHR immigration officer will not let her proceed landside into the UK for 24 hours (under the concession I mentioned earlier), then in the worst case you could spend the night in the airport airside. Not comfortable and unlikely to be good for any sleep, but the trip is at least not a disaster.

Hi, I am really interested to know what happened with you, did she manage to make a landside transit after all?
I am a Jordanian who booked non-refundable tickets to transite overnight at Heathrow (twice in a month, each at 12 hours), and my flights are in four days (too late to apply for a visitor in transit visa), and just found out that I might need one (still not sure). Kind of freakin out, and would really appreciate some insight.
Still shocked that Heathrow Airside closes at night (first time I hear of an international airport that does that).
Please any insight would help!!!