Visiting UK - Australians
 

Hi Everyone,

This may be an obvious question but I just want to make sure. I am travelling to the UK for 7 days from Australia and I am an australian citizen. I am only travelling as a tourist. I have checked the uk embassy site and they advise that I don't need a visa but do I have to advise them/purchase or fill out a form before I go? or are you just granted entry upon arrival at heathrow?

Any help will be much appreciated.

Cheers

You're just granted entry. No criminal conviction required (sorry. Couldn't resist)

You don't need a visa for your trip. The customs officer may ask you how long you are going to be in the UK for, and as 7 days isn't a very long time to stay when you have travelled so far, they may ask a few questions about where you are going next etc. As long as they are happy with your answers they will grant you entry.

Make sure you leave your laconic Australia humour at home and give straight answers to the questions!

I have to echo Cathies answer, just answer the questions and you should be fine. You've done all the right things, providing you have documentation re your hotel, or wherever you're staying and enough money to live on I would not think you will have a problem, but then I'm not an immigration officer at Heathrow or any other point of entry. Who can read their minds!!!

You will be given a form on the plane to fill in. It won't take long to complete.

In addition to the simple visa-less entry to the UK (presuming you don't have a criminal past) you will also be able to visit the continent or Eire without a visa if you decide to extend your visit.

The comment on humour was good advice. The one thing that airport security, customs officials and immigration officials of all countries - including Oz - have in common is a total lack of a sense of humour. Whatever you say will be taken very seriously. So say no more than is needed to answer questions.

Cheers, Alan, Australia
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/

<Make sure you leave your laconic Australia humour at home and give straight answers to the questions!>

Yeah, resist the urge to remind them where the convicts came from.

Having said that, I recently had a very pleasant chat with a UK Customs officer at the Eurostar terminal in Paris after I noticed he had by his desk a copy of Graham Robb's The Discovery of France, a favourite of mine as well. And I have to say that the staff of the London Underground were uniformly pleasant and helpful. And, unsolicited, the bloke on the entrance booth to Highgate Cemetery made sure I knew that Australian painter Sidney Nolan's grave is close by that of Karl Marx. Perhaps they were feeling sorry for us after our Ashes drubbings.

<i>You will be given a form on the plane to fill in.</i>

Indeed - it's called a Landing Card. Preparation is surprisingly important if you're unfamiliar with this procedure. Make sure you get a landing card when the cabin crew come through the plane handing them out at some point during the flight. Also have a pen with you to fill in the details and have the address of where you will stay in the UK (at least initially) to hand.

And that water falling from the sky is called "rain" - potentially a foreign concept for you.

You'll be fine, many pubs available throughout the UK.

Thanks everyone for your responces, glad to see it is that easy.
Thanks

If you don't get a landing card on the plane you can pick one up in the immigration hall before you reach the immigration officers. They are always right near the front of the queue, for all those people who don't know they need one, but you can always ask an official for one once you're in the hall. The questions are fairly simple. Once you are called forward, present it with your passport.

Kay