UK Visa requirements for GNIB holder

[greatgatsby]

Hi,

I am a South African passport holder in Ireland on a Green Card with GNIB stamp 1 status (I have been here just over a year). My family and I are planning to travel to France via the UK in the summer holidays.

THe UK has changed the visa requirements for South Africans this year, and the advice from the UK Visa call-centre as well as http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/ was similar to that provided in this (http://www.indiansinireland.com/forum/v ... =2&t=28080) thread, i.e. that we would need to apply for Visas, notwithstanding our valid GNIB status in Ireland.

My questions are about the exemptions provided for UK Direct Airside Transit (DAT) visas:

1. "A valid common format Category D visa for entry to an EEA State". What exactly is a Category D visa?

2. "A valid common format residence permit issued by an EEA State pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No. 1030/2002". Is the GNIB card compliant with this EC Regulation?

I noticed somewhere that if you have legal residence status in a EEA country, that the UK visa is free if applied for. Is that the case with GNIB stamp 1 from a non-EEA country?

Regards,
greatgatsby

[ca.funke]

Hi greatgatsby,

welcome to the forum

I am a South African passport holder in Ireland on a Green Card with GNIB stamp 1 status (I have been here just over a year). My family and I are planning to travel to France via the UK in the summer holidays.

Is your family joining you in France from South-Africa, or are yee all travelling together from Ireland?

As you probably already know, yee will all need a Schengen-Visa for France regardless.

THe UK has changed the visa requirements for South Africans this year, and the advice from the UK Visa call-centre as well as http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/ was similar to that provided in this (http://www.indiansinireland.com/forum/v ... =2&t=28080) thread, i.e. that we would need to apply for Visas, notwithstanding our valid GNIB status in Ireland.

As South-Africans (only) yee would need seperate UK-visas. However, your Irish Stamp 1 should qualify for an exception.

My questions are about the exemptions provided for UK Direct Airside Transit (DAT) visas:

1. "A valid common format Category D visa for entry to an EEA State". What exactly is a Category D visa?

As far as I know (not sure though) this is an entry-visa for any EEA-state. This is the single-entry visa issued for new-arrivals, who will subsequently stay.

2. "A valid common format residence permit issued by an EEA State pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No. 1030/2002". Is the GNIB card compliant with this EC Regulation?

This is the residence-permit issued by any EEA-state for those who (also) arrived via the previous visa. Your stamp 1 should do.

I noticed somewhere that if you have legal residence status in a EEA country, that the UK visa is free if applied for. Is that the case with GNIB stamp 1 from a non-EEA country?

UK-Visas are only free of charge, if you are the family-member of an EU-citizen.

Did you get your DATV-info from >>this<< website?

Sorry for not having more specific answers, but I do have some more practical hints: The DATV-rules are, as any others, not 100% clear as they are. But when it comes to awareness at airports it gets even worse: It could happen that your papers are 100% correct, but you will be denied boarding anyway. (Of course you could claim for compensation is such cases, but your holidays will be ruined as well)

As you will have to apply for a Schengen-Visa anyway, why don´t you go via a Schengen-country,or directly from Eire to France, avoiding the UK? This option would be easier and more stress-free.

On the other hand I can personally report the following success:

Lebanese national, permanent residency in Canada, visit-visa for Ireland was issued in Canada, successfully transferred in Heathrow arriving from Ottawa on to Dublin. But the amount of scrutinising she went through apparently wasn´t funny.

Hope you´ll get more answers in here, however if I were you I´d just avoid the UK on the way to France...

...enjoy your trip

[ikoonman]

Hi

If you don't mind me shooting from the hip here. I am in a similiar situation, and I've emailed the visa link (as posted by OP) but haven't heard anything back.

We're also SA'n nationals, been here almost 9 years, have 2 Irish born children, and my wife and I both have WCATT (stamp 5).

We have family staying in the UK and now its a pain to go over (haven't gotten any visas yet)

Does this mean we can either get UK visa's for free, or travel to UK without visa requirements as we have Stamp 5 GNIB residence cards?

Any advice would be appreciated.