Heathrow Terminal 3 Arrivals

[samuiseagull]

Hi Folks.

Just having got off a flight from Bangers last night just thought i'd advise of the huge queues for passengers coming into Heathrow Terminal 3 at the "ALL OTHER PASSPORTS" section. Must have been in the hundreds and moving very slowly.

If your waiting for your friends/family etc in the future and they are not travelling on a UK/EU Passport then they MAY take a while getting through.

I know Terminal 3 is crazy at the best of times but this was something that surprised me by the shear volume of people coming in.

BE PATIENT

[apetley]

My Thai wife is always allowed though the UK channel, on her Thai passport, with me when we go back to the UK which speeds things up.

Also, when she has travelled on her own to the UK she has also been allowed through the UK channel because she has ILR.

Always best to ask one of the immigration officers at the beginning of the queue beforehand though.

[Eff1n2ret]

The memsahib and I are registered on the IRIS system, so that on arrival at major UK airports we can bypass the queues and go through a gate which opens after you've looked into a screen which checks your eyes against their database.

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/managingb...niregisteriris/

Have been nearly last off the plane and first into the baggage hall. You can register for it when leaving the UK; at Terminal 3 the office is to the right of the departures control where you have to show your passport after going through security. It takes about 5 minutes each.

Eventually it may be overtaken by the introduction of "E-Borders", but should take a little of the grief out of transiting places like Terminal 3 for a year or two. You still have to wait for your baggage, though

[theoldgit]

Always best to ask one of the immigration officers at the beginning of the queue beforehand though.

Actually the person at the end of the queue isn't a UKBA official they are employed by BAA and probably haven't got a clue what you are asking.

That said it's not UKBA policy to split up families so travelling together is normally ok though I'm not sure about people with ILR, though your wife's experience seems to show that the IO has shown some common sense.

[tw25rw]

i can use either the EU or non-EU and occasionally use the non-EU one because the queue is so short.. But if a flight from Nigeria or India has just come in, forget it..

[MrsExpat2B]

Mr Expat2B and I were there last night at around 8pm having returned from our holiday in Spain and we were shocked to see how busy it was (think Air India flight had previously landed), even the EU passport queues looked bad. I went through T3 first time four years ago roughly about the same time and as I remembered it took me only 30 minutes from landing to the arrival area.

Luckily though IRIS was working so we didn't need to queue, only to spend another 20 minutes+ waiting for our bags