ntb

Hello Helpers,

I am an American, traveling from California to Florence Italy to visit my boyfriend for 2 weeks. I leave on Friday morning, and I've been struck with a fear of detainment.....

I've only attempted to travel out of the country once. My LA based company sent me to London (heathrow) to work for 3 months. They didn't mention the need for me to have a work visa.

Needless to say, I was detained for 7 hours, and sent back to the US with a black X through my stamp in my passport.

Now, on my flight to Italy, I have a short layover in Heathrow....

Will I have to go through customs in Heathrow before Italy?

What kind of measures do I need to take to assure I get through?

I can't go back into that detaining room... and I'm dying to see my boyfriend.

Please help!

Thank you!!!

xyz123

No customs...no passport control....follow signs for airline transfer.....you will go through a security check whether you remain in same terminal or different terminal but at no point, if your baggage has been checked through will you go through passport control....

If the stamp in your passport annoys you, why don't you report your passport lost and get a new one?

ntb

I figured they have some sort of electronic record of my detainment and it would show up and look suspicious that I "lost" it right after the incident.

Thank you for the comforting words about the airline transfer.

jamikins

It will definitely be in their computer system, and if you do go through UK passport control again at some point you will likely be more thoroughly questioned. However, if you are legally ok to visit the UK you should be fine. Just more questions. I'd be prepared with name and print out of hotel reservations and return flight information and be ready to answer questions about last time...

This time you wont go through passport control so shouldnt have any problems.

alanRow

As long as you stay airside (follow signs for Flight Connections) you won't have to worry about UK immigration.

What Italian immigration will say if they see the "denied entry" mark is another thing.

jamikins

Good point about the Italian passport control. I would definitely bring proof of your return flight and where you are staying. And be prepared to explain the situation easily and clearly to officials if they ask what happened.

isabel

Some of the people who have answered above answer lots of questions and seem to be very seasoned travelers. So I don't get it - I can't ever remember landing in Europe after a flight from the US and not having to go through passport control in that first country. Regardless of bags checked through, no bags checked, etc. I always recall passport control at that first destination (in the OP case, LHR)and not the second country (in this case Italy)( unless the second country is outside the EU, in which case passport control at both airports).

Zerlina

The difference, Isabel, is in the airports, not the countries. In some European airports, and LHR is one of them, you can stay "airside" and *not* go through passport control. In many (most?) European airports, it's not possible to stay airside, and you do have to go through passport control.

persimmondeb

I'm pretty sure that you do not have to go through passport control, since I once got lost in Heathrow, went through passport control accidentally (despite my repeatedly telling them that I wasn't supposed to be there, since I was trying to make my connection to Shannon), and nearly missed my plane. The plane people confirmed that I had been lost, and Irish passport control was a little annoyed that they had stamped me in Britain, rather than just pointing me in the right direction. Now this was years ago, so it may have changed, and points up how easy it is to get misdirected in Heathrow.

flanneruk

" I always recall passport control at that first destination (in the OP case, LHR)and not the second country (in this case Italy)( unless the second country is outside the EU, in which case passport control at both airports)."

Either your memory is wrong, or you're misapplying limited experience.

If your baggage is through-checked to your final destination and you're changing planes en route, the international standard practice is that you don't go through immigration until you arrive in the Common Travel Area where your journey terminates.

So if you're changing planes in London for a destination other than the UK or the Irish Republic you don't go through immigration at London. It's irrelevant whether that next destination is France or Azerbaijan: they're both foreign (France obviously more so: we've spent most of the past 1,000 years at war with them)

"unless the second country is outside the EU, in which case passport control at both airports" is universally untrue.

The belief that one goes through immigration at the "first destination" is a confusion either with the US (which, almost without exception, forces transiting passengers through immigration - and fingerprinting, photography and all the rest - whether they want to stay in the US or not, but that's a piece of gratuitous nastiness to foreign visitors unique to the US) or with the system in Schengen, where transit passengers to the Schengen destinations go through immigration at the first SCHENGEN airport

PatrickLondon

PS. I hope the OP sued the employers who sent her to work abroad without a work permit and potentially screwed up her future foreign travel as a result!

alanRow

What sort of company sends someone abroad to work without getting the right visa first.

alanRow

Isabel, you are confusing the EU with Schengen. The two aren't the same. One is a common trading area, the other is a common travel area.

When you first enter the common travel area your passport is checked if your next destination is within the common travel area. The UK isn't a member of that common travel area, hence there's no need to have your passport checked if you stay airside.

The UK does however share a common travel area with Ireland therefore if you arrive in the UK for a destination in the Republic your passport would be checked

nochblad

OP

Presuming that you don't want to miss meeting up with your boyfriend then I would strongly suggest you contact the Consulate of both the UK and Italy before leaving. This could clarify everything before departure.

You are probably not on a non-fly list but just as the UK and others deliver lists of passengers to the US before departure the same happens in the other direction so you will probably be flagged on your arrival in the UK so it it is better to have sorted things out before departure with hard copy in hand.

As far as Italy is concerned you will still have to go through passport control (passport control is one control and customs is another) as the UK is not in the Schengen area. Your name could also be flagged on Italian passport control computers due to data sharing so I suggest you do not clear things only with the UK authorities.

Love sometimes means you have to go that extra mile!

isabel

Thanks alan, that makes it more clear. I haven't actually transferred through LHR (always stayed in the UK at least for a few days) but recently transferred through both Madrid and Paris and in both cases the passport was checked there even though I was just transferring through to someplace else.

november_moon

Last year we connected at LHR on our way to Brussels - no passport control in LHR as we didn't technically enter the UK.

I don't think it will be a problem to enter Italy with the entry denial from the UK due to the work visa issue - will just probably result in some extra questions. I do think that checking it out on the Italian side is a good idea though, just to be sure - there is probably a web site with the information on it.

Also good advice about making sure you have all your information in order - receipt for your onward flight, name address and phone number of where you will be staying, etc.

travelgourmet

<i>What sort of company sends someone abroad to work without getting the right visa first.</i>

It isn't clear that the OP actually needed a visa or that they actually violated any law. As long as the OP is an American citizen, their salary was paid by they US entity, and they didn't take the place of a 'local', then a 3 month assignment could readily fall under the business visitor category. We could simply be dealing with a confused or overzealous immigration agent.

november_moon

travelgourmet - I was thinking the same thing. We have overseas contracts in my company and sometimes do work on-site in other countries. Next week I am going to Spain to do just that. No visa needed because we are business travelers, not foreign workers - our salaries and expenses are paid by our own company. A visa is only necesary if someone is going to overstay their 90 days.

I could see how an immigration agent might draw the wrong conclusion depending on how questions are answered though.

"I am here to do some work for company X in the UK" is very different from "I work for company X in the US and we have a contract with company Y in the UK - I am here on assignment as part of that contract."

walkinaround

i agree with Nov...never, ever, ever say that you are going anywhere to 'work' unless you really are going to work with the proper work permit. 'work' + no permit = nightmare (in any country).

we britons fingerprint all foreign visitors at heathrow so we can certainly find everyone in our databases. we do not respect the privacy and human rights of foreign visitors on our shores. sad really that our agents are so aggressive and unaccomodating to visitors. it's a dark day and i'm ashamed to be a briton.

alanRow

"we britons fingerprint all foreign visitors at heathrow"

NO WE DON'T. People applying for visas for the UK are fingerprinted as part of the application process. But there isn't a requirement to fingerprint everyone who enters the UK by the front door - not even at LHR.