I really love long connections between flights, when you can see another city along the way. Visa-free transit in London is an excellent opportunity to visit the city without a visa, i.e. free of charge without all the visa bureaucracy. But from 1 December 2014, the UK is significantly tightening the rules for transit on visas (TWOV).

This news is especially relevant for EasyJet passengers, as this low-cost airline allows passengers who do not have a UK visa, but have a ticket for a flight from London within the next 24 hours from any of its airports, to board. The rule applies to all traditional airlines and is reflected in the timatics. But WizzAir does not allow passengers without a visa to board, without providing conditions for TWOV.

Many people are looking for cheap tickets from London to the Caribbean, Canary Islands and Madeira, etc., they are often found in many destinations in mailing lists and forums. Well, a pint of ale along the way in a London pub - why not?! Now in most cases this becomes meaningless.

From travel.ru:

The new transit scheme applies to citizens of all countries who require a UK visa. If previously anyone who flies to a third country and has tickets in hand confirming the next flight could apply for visa-free transit, now it is necessary to obtain a transit or tourist visa in advance. There are only a few exceptions.

1. Without a visa in the case of a 24-hour transit, it is allowed to leave the transit zone if the foreigner flies to Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the USA with a valid visa from that country. If a foreigner flies from these states, then no more than 6 months must have passed since the last entry into that territory (that is: if a person left to study in the USA a year ago and did not leave the States for a year, then when returning home through Britain he will not be able to use visa-free transit).

2. The right to visa-free transit will give a residence permit in the countries listed above, as well as in the states of the European Economic Area and Switzerland. At the same time, it is stipulated that the Canadian residence permit must be issued after 06/28/2002, and the USA - after 04/21/1998.

3. Holders of a valid category D visa (long-term visa allowing a stay of more than 90 days - including work, study, family reunion) issued by one of the countries of the European Economic Area or Switzerland will be able to count on 24-hour visa-free transit.

4. A transit tourist will also be released from the airport if he flies to Ireland with a valid Irish biometric visa. For a return flight, no more than 3 months must have passed since your last entry and stay in Ireland with a valid biometric visa. For Russians, this point is not relevant: in our country, biometrics are not required when applying for an Irish visa; Thus, having a visa from this country does not give you the right to visa-free transit.

In addition, the trip of a foreigner applying for visa-free transit must meet several more criteria. All travel segments are by air only, with a confirmed onward ticket and departure time no later than 11:59 pm the day after arrival in the UK. The transit route must be justified: for example, there are no direct flights from the country of permanent residence to the country of destination, or flights through Britain are much cheaper or take less time (that is, a flight from Moscow to Paris via London is unlikely to look logical from the point of view of a border guard. Not This route looked logical before, but the decision was made by the border guard on the spot. Now this is simply excluded).

Original:

“Transit Without Visa Scheme
50A. A visa national must meet the requirements in paragraphs 50B and 50C when seeking leave to enter the UK in order to be granted leave to enter under the transit without visa scheme.

50B. The requirements to be met by a visa national seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom under the transit without visa scheme are that he:
(i) has arrived and will depart by air; and
(ii) is sincerely in transit to another country, meaning the purpose of his visit is to travel via the UK en route to another destination country, and he is taking a reasonable transit route; and
(iii) does not intend to access public funds, undertake employment or study in the UK; and
(iv) intends and is able to leave the UK before 23:59 hours on the day after the day when he arrived; and
(v) has a confirmed booking on a flight departing the UK before 23:59 hours on the day after the day when he arrived; and
(vi) is assured entry to his country of destination and any other countries he is transiting through on his way there.

50C. The visa national must also:
(i) be traveling to (or on part of a reasonable journey to) Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the USA and have a valid visa for that country; or
(ii) be traveling from (or on part of a reasonable journey from) Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the USA and it is less than 6 months since he last entered that country with a valid entry visa; or
(iii) hold a valid residence permit issued by either:
(a)Australia;
(b) Canada, issued after 28 June 2002;
(c) New Zealand;
(d) USA, issued after 21 April 1998 including: a valid USA I-551 Temporary Immigrant visa (a wet-ink stamp version will NOT be accepted by UK border control); a permanent residence card; an expired I-551 Permanent Residence card provided it is accompanied by a valid I-797 letter authorizing extension; a standalone US Immigration Form 155A/155B; or
(e) an EEA state or Switzerland; or
(iv) hold a valid uniform format category D visa for entry to a state in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland; or
(v) be traveling on to the Republic of Ireland and have a valid Irish biometric visa; or
(vi) be traveling from the Republic of Ireland and it is less than 3 months since the applicant was last given permission to land or be in the Republic by the Irish authorities with a valid Irish biometric visa.

Leave to enter under the transit without visa scheme
50D. A person seeking to leave to enter the United Kingdom on arrival under the transit without visa scheme may be admitted for a period ending no later than
23:59 hours on the day after the day on which he arrived, with a prohibition on employment, study and recourse to public funds, provided the Immigration Officer is satisfied that the requirements of paragraphs 50B and 50C are met."

Any traveler should be aware that a visa issued by the UK Consulate does not guarantee entry into the country. The final decision on whether to allow or deny entry to a particular foreigner is made by a border guard at the time the foreigner passes through passport control.

The requirements for foreigners (we are talking about non-EU citizens) entering the United Kingdom, both with and without a visa, are absolutely identical.

Primary requirements:

• having a passport valid throughout your stay in the UK;
• availability of a valid visa, if required;
• completed migration card (landing card).

To confirm the purpose of the visit you may need:

• hotel reservation;
• invitation from relatives or friends;
• letter from an educational institution (if the purpose of the visit is training, internship, participation in a scientific seminar);
• letter or employment contract from the employer;
• invitation to participate in scientific, cultural or sports events;
• tickets to a third country (if the purpose of the visit is transit).

As proof of financial solvency and intentions to leave the UK:

• return air ticket or ticket to a third country;
• availability, traveler's checks or bank cards.

How to fill out a Landing Card?

Migration cards are issued on the plane/ferry/bus or can be collected directly from the arrivals hall in front of the passport control counters. The card is filled out in English:

1. Family name - surname
2. First name(s) - first name/names (no need to write middle name)
3. Sex - gender
4. Date of birth - date of birth
5. Town and country of birth - country and city of birth
6. Nationality - nationality
7. Occupation - profession
8. Contact address in the UK (in full) - contact address in the UK in full
9. Passport No - passport number
10. Place of issue - place of issue
11. Length of stay in the UK - length of stay in the UK
12. Port of last departure - place of last departure (airport/port/city of departure to the UK)
13. Arrival flight/ train numer/ship name - flight/train number/ship name
14. Signature - signature

Particular attention should be paid to paragraphs 7, 8 and 11. In paragraph 7, the profession must be clearly indicated. For example, “teacher”, “doctor”, etc. If something like “chief”, “director”, “administrator” is indicated, the border guard officer may require additional information, so it is worth initially writing, for example, “store director”.

Point 8 - indicate the name of the hotel and its address. In the case of staying with relatives/friends, as well as when booking accommodation through couchsurfing or arbnb sites, indicate the name of the private person with whom the foreigner will live and the exact address. Important! If, when applying for a visa, you stated in the application form that you would be staying in a hotel, the landing card must indicate the hotel, and not a private person, otherwise this will raise doubts among the border guard about the purpose of the visit. This, in turn, may result in refusal of entry into the UK.

Clause 11 - the duration of stay indicated on the card must coincide with the date of return flight. The border guard does not need to know that you plan to change your ticket and perhaps stay another day or two, or a week, or even a month. You need to write on the card what you have at the time of entry.

Fingerprints

Fingerprints are taken at the vast majority of points of entry into the UK. The system automatically compares them with the fingerprints that the foreigner submitted when applying for a visa. The system also provides basic information about this foreigner, obtained during the application for a visa, as well as about his previous entries into the country (if any).

Interview with a border guard

The migration card along with the passport is presented to the border guard. The next stage will be an interview.

Mandatory questions that foreigners are asked are the following:

• Purpose of the trip?
• How long are you planning to stay in the UK?
• Where will you stay during your stay?

There are likely to be several more questions asked, for example:

• Where are you flying from?
• What do you plan to do (see) during your visit?
• Do you have friends or relatives in the UK?
• What do you do in Russia and when do you plan to return to work?

How to behave at passport control

The general rules are:

• You need to behave correctly and calmly. Excessive emotions, gestures, and fuss during an interview arouse suspicion among border guards. From the point of view of formal logic, a person whose documents are in order and has no intention of breaking the law should not be nervous.
• Answers to any questions should be as short and unambiguous as possible so that the border guard cannot interpret them in his own way. There is no need to overload your answers with details and details, otherwise the border guard will definitely want to ask many additional clarifying questions, which will increase the time spent crossing the border several times.
• there is no need to take the initiative: if the border guard does not ask to see a return ticket and other documents, there is no need to do this. As a rule, if you are able to answer questions adequately, the border guard will not need anything other than your passport.
• A correctly filled out landing card will save the tourist from additional questions. In this case, the information on the card must coincide with your oral answers.
• the purpose of the visit must correspond to the purpose indicated when applying for the visa. In other words, if initially the basis for issuing a visa was a tourist trip with a stop at a hotel, then when crossing the border you need to say the same thing. Important! A trip to relatives and tourism (rest and hotel stay) are different purposes of the visit!

How to answer questions

Questions about the purpose of the visit and place of residence during a visit to the UK

If, when applying for a visa, you indicated the purpose of the visit as “tourism” in the application form, and a hotel as the address and host, the correct answer is: “during the trip I will live in a hotel.”

What to do if the questionnaire indicated a hotel in London, but plans changed and the tourist decided to go, for example, to Liverpool, or one hotel was replaced by another?

From the point of view of immigration rules, there is no violation of this; when going through passport control, you need to indicate the address of the hotel where the tourist will actually live. If there are several hotels, the one with the most days booked is indicated.

Also, instead of a hotel, you can provide a reservation from the arbnb website (in this case, the answer should be “I booked the accommodation on the arbnb website”, and not “I will live with a private person”).

If the purpose of the visit is to visit friends or relatives, you need to provide their first and last names, degree of relationship or nature of the relationship (friends, for example) and address.

Additionally, if we are talking about friends, border guards may ask how long you have known each other, who they work for, how long they have been living in the UK and on what basis (if we are talking about persons who do not have British citizenship).

If a tourist has a British transit visa in his passport, there can only be one answer to the question about the purpose of the visit - “transit”.

As a rule, if your stay in the UK during transit does not exceed 48 hours, this will not raise suspicion. However, even in this case, there may be additional questions about why this particular route was chosen or why there is such a time gap between flights. The correct answers in this case are as follows (in accordance with the real situation): “flights to the country I need fly once/twice a week”, or “the air carrier offers only this flight option to the final destination”, or “there are several types of transport on my route (for example, a train and a plane, a ferry and a plane) and they can only be connected in this way."

Incorrect answers, which can, at a minimum, alert the border guard, and often lead to denial of entry:

• “The purpose of our visit is tourism, we will stay with relatives (friends)”
• “First we will live in a hotel, then with relatives.”
• “When we applied for the visa, we thought that we would be in a hotel, but then we decided to live with friends.”

These answers directly indicate that the purpose of the visit does not coincide with what is indicated on the visa. This may be regarded as providing deliberately false information when applying for a visa.

The logic of the border guard in this case is as follows: “If a person wants to visit relatives or friends in the UK, what is the point of applying for a visa for the purpose of visiting “tourism”? If the person is staying with relatives/friends, then he has provided a fictitious hotel reservation to the consulate. The conclusion suggests itself - this foreigner may have the intention of remaining in the UK illegally."

In the case of transit, the incorrect answer is:“I want to see the country” or “I want to meet with relatives/solve business issues/pass exams, etc.” (the purpose of the visit does not correspond to the type of visa issued).

Questions about length of stay and number of entries

Border Force officers are often suspicious if they travel to the UK too frequently (for example, if there is a month or less between trips and the visa is issued for leisure travel). In this case, border guards are interested in how the tourist combines travel and work. The answer to such a question may be the following: “I am given a long vacation, but I cannot take it in full and am forced to split it up” or “one trip falls on holidays, the other during vacation.”

If you have a return ticket but intend to stay in the UK for a longer period, you do not need to inform the border officer.

Otherwise, you will have to explain why you did not change your ticket to a later date in advance and why you even bought a ticket that does not coincide with the actual departure date.

As a rule, this option can lead to a refusal of entry - from the point of view of the border guard, this is what an attempt to stay in the country may look like.

Questions regarding the travel plan and profession of the tourist

Most often, questions about a foreigner’s plans during their stay in the UK are asked to those who are entering the country not for the first time or who are traveling at the invitation of a private person. In this case, you need to list the main cities/attractions/events, etc. that you plan to visit.

Also, the answer may sound something like this - “I’m going to visit my sister (friend, children, parents), we haven’t decided on exact plans yet, most likely we’ll go for a walk, do some shopping. If we’re in the mood, we’ll go on an excursion/to a museum/zoo and etc." This answer is logical specifically for those who are going to visit relatives.

Incorrect answers:

• “I will help with housework”, “take care of children/elderly relatives”, “help a friend with chores”. All this can be regarded as an attempt to work illegally.
• "I plan to study English." In this case, it is necessary to focus the attention of the border guard on the fact that the duration of the training is less than 30 days, and training is not the main purpose of the visit.

Questions about a foreigner's work in the country of residence are most often asked if the person frequently visits the UK. Border guards are interested in:

• How can a foreigner combine frequent travel with a full-time job?
• Isn't frequent travel actually considered work?
• Does the foreigner have sufficient funds for such frequent trips?

In this case, you need to clearly explain where and by whom the tourist works, describe the specifics of the work schedule: shift method, work from home, piece work, seasonal work, work that requires a large number of days off (for example, a teacher or teacher).

Important! If a tourist works as a freelancer, he does not have to tell the border service officer the following: “I work always and everywhere, and while traveling too.” This response may be misunderstood and presented as an attempt to work illegally in the UK without the appropriate visa.

How to behave if you are asked to undergo additional verification

A decision on additional checks of a foreigner wishing to enter the UK is made if a border officer has doubts about the person. One of the reasons for such a check may be the inability of the tourist, due to complete ignorance of the language, to answer the questions of the border service officer.

An additional check is carried out in a separate room and is an extended interview with a foreigner. During it, documents confirming the purpose of the visit are examined (hotel reservations, return tickets, etc.), the availability of financial resources necessary for staying in the country is checked (cash, traveler's checks, bank cards - the balance is not checked, an account statement is not required) . Personal belongings and luggage may also be searched.

During all procedures, you must remain calm, behave correctly, and under no circumstances shout, threaten or attack border guards.

Based on the results of such an interview, a final verdict is made - to let the foreigner into the country or not. If no violations of entry rules are found, a positive decision is made.

What a foreigner who has been summoned for additional inspection can demand:

• invite a translator - this must be done by all those who do not know English at all, or speak the language at school level, or are very worried;
• contact the embassy - this must be done when the check lasts a long time, or any charges are brought against the foreigner for violating UK law;
• contact relatives, friends, business partners, organizations whose invitation the foreigner is traveling with;
• Call a doctor if your health suddenly deteriorates during the interview.

Why you may be refused entry to the UK

The most common reasons for refusal of entry:

• discrepancy between the real purpose of the visit and the purpose indicated on the visa. (For example, a foreigner with a visitor visa is actually going to work);
• during previous trips, the foreigner violated the laws of the country and a decision was made on a temporary or permanent ban on entry into the UK;
• the visa has expired or has been cancelled;
• the foreigner is suspected of having connections with criminal or terrorist organizations.

If entry is refused, the foreigner receives official confirmation stating the reason for the refusal, as well as information about the possibility of appealing the decision, and the time frame for deporting the foreigner from the UK. As a rule, a foreigner must leave the UK on the next flight to the country of which he is a citizen.

In addition, the passport control system, including the interview process, additional checks and deportation, is shown in the documentary film "UK Border Force".

If you still have questions, ask them on the Travel.ru Forum. We will help you understand all the nuances.

Katriona Kopylova

Cruises from St. Petersburg from PAC Group: prices, dates, routes

This year marks the 10th anniversary of PAC GROUP cruise routes from St. Petersburg on board MSC CRUISES - the leader among foreign companies in this segment. Having studied the preferences of the audience, the cruise department of the tour operator for the 2016 season presents a wide range of routes along the fjords of Norway, the Baltic and around Europe with departure from the Northern capital. Leading area manager in her master class, she systematized data on bestsellers and highlighted the main arguments for travel agents - why it is worth offering these routes to tourists.

No barriers or flights

To begin with, let’s briefly talk about the advantages of cruises from St. Petersburg as a form of recreation. First of all: landing in a Russian port. This eliminates air travel: you can get to the Northern capital either by train or by car. Logistics in the city are also well thought out: for the convenience of passengers, PAC GROUP organizes free group transfers from the center of St. Petersburg to the port and back.

An important issue for many Russians is the absence of language barriers. All our St. Petersburg cruises take place in the format of Russian-speaking groups. If desired, tourists have the opportunity to extend their trip and spend several days - before or after the cruise - in St. Petersburg.

One of the advantages of all the cruises presented below from St. Petersburg is that children under 18 years old when staying with two adults go on cruises for free! While on other MSC Cruises routes, only children under 13 years old can go on a cruise free of charge when staying with two adults.

What, to whom and at what price

Now let's talk in more detail about what each of our bestsellers is, and which categories of tourists should recommend this or that route.

Duration	15 days
Liner	MSC Musica
Arrival dates in 2016	26.05, 09.06, 23.06, 07.07, 04.08, 18.08
Cities	St. Petersburg - Kiel / Lubeck - Copenhagen - Hellesylt / Geiranger - Flam - Stavanger - Kiel / Hamburg - Copenhagen - Stockholm - Tallinn - St. Petersburg
Price	From 1399 €

Reasons for popularity: an opportunity to view one of the most beautiful natural wonders on the planet: the fjords of Norway. The format of the offered excursions allows you to see them in all their glory: both from the water, passing by boat through their narrowest parts, and from the tops of the glaciers. Tourists will also get acquainted with the culture of northern European countries and appreciate the capabilities of the comfortable MSC Musica liner.

24-hour support on board is provided by PAC GROUP attendants, who help tourists in resolving all issues, and in addition, conduct fascinating thematic lectures about the sailing region.

Duration	9 days
Liner	MSC Musica and MSC Opera
Arrival dates in 2016	01.09
Cities	St. Petersburg - Kiel - one night in a hotel in Hamburg - Warnemünde - Gdynia - Klaipeda - Riga - Tallinn - St. Petersburg
Price	From 599 € (price includes: cruise, transfers, accommodation in Hamburg, excursions in Lubeck and Hamburg)

Reasons for popularity: new product of the season, original program at an attractive price. A rare combined route on two ships to the cities of Northern Europe and the Baltic states. Tourists will have an excursion program - in Hamburg and Lübeck + overnight at a hotel in Hamburg. The first half of September, as a rule, brings good weather, and the velvet season on a cruise ship is traditionally in demand.

Duration	9 days
Liner	MSC Splendida and MSC Musica
Arrival dates in 2016	01.09
Cities	St. Petersburg - Kiel - one night in a hotel in Hamburg - Le Havre / Paris - Southampton / London - Zeebrugge / Brussels - Amsterdam
Price	From 749 € (price includes: cruise, excursions in Hamburg and Lubeck, transfer to the airport, flight from Amsterdam)

Reasons for popularity: another new product of the season, a bestseller from PAC GROUP. Combined program on two liners of different classes: Fantasia and Musica. A rich cruise program with visits to iconic European cities. An excursion program is also provided here - in Hamburg and Lubeck + overnight in a hotel in Hamburg. An important detail: despite the fact that the route includes a call at the port of Southampton, tourists do not require a UK visa. For this route, we offer a package program “Cruise + air” with departure from Amsterdam.

Duration	9 days
Liner	MSC Musica
Arrival dates in 2016	30.06
Cities	2 nights in a hotel in Billund - Kiel - Copenhagen - Stockholm - Tallinn - St. Petersburg
Price	From 1249 €

Reasons for popularity: cruise for children and their parents, bestseller from PAC GROUP. The excursion program is aimed primarily at young travelers - Tivoli Park, the Astrid Lindgren Museum and much more, including the famous Legoland amusement park in Billund, where two overnight stays are provided.

Duration	19 days
Liner	MSC Opera
Arrival dates in 2016	10.09
Cities	St. Petersburg - Helsinki - Stockholm - Copenhagen - Warnemunde / Berlin - Gothenburg - Amsterdam - Le Havre / Rouen - Ferrol / Santiago de Compostela - Lisbon - Cadiz - Gibraltar - Palma - Genoa
Price	From 1289 €

Reasons for popularity: first of all, the route itself: 11 countries and 14 cities in 19 days. This is our longest route from St. Petersburg. I can safely say that this is an option for real travelers who are ready to appreciate the diversity of European cities: from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean. This route is traditionally one of the most popular, so I recommend paying attention to it while there are still places available. The “Cruise + Air” package with a flight from Genoa will also be considered for this program.

Tell your tourists about cruises from St. Petersburg, about the whole wide range of different routes, and they will certainly become your regular customers. Learn more about the intricacies of sales and the specifics of a cruise product at the PAC GROUP webinar.

So, the first question with which any immigration undertaking begins is: “how to get there.” We have already agreed that you are a person who is not welcome anywhere, you have no agreements with employers, and you don’t know anyone there at all.

There are now no barriers to entry for EU citizens, so I will not describe the procedure for purchasing a ticket for them. For residents of Russia and nearby fraternal republics, this is a very big problem. There are probably at least two ways to go.

Option one: under the guise of a harmless tourist, sneak into the country and, in the most cynical way, work there illegally. Unfortunately, the British Embassy does not always believe that a young man is applying for a visa solely because of an unbearable desire to see Stonehenge.

Thus, you need to provide evidence that you are a wealthy and respectable person who is actually traveling to England to visit the British Museum. But if in fact you are going to earn money, then I’m afraid it will be difficult to prove this. As far as I know, in this case, intermediary firms can help, which will prepare the entire package of false documents, income certificates and recommendations from the workplace.

The second option assumes that you are a student. But even if this is not the case, an enterprising intermediary company will obtain a student card for you. Again, you cannot do without additional expenses, since in order to obtain a work permit, you need a letter from the employer, in which he undertakes to provide you with work and housing for the expected period. The company will do it all. He will probably take no less money than for the first option.

I wrote that there are at least two ways to get to Britain. There are, of course, others. Someone is trying to enroll in the Jehovah's Witnesses sect in order to enter the country after a while on a religious topic. Others find girlfriends there on the internet, who terrorize the British embassy in order to get a visa for their new Russian fiancé. The interesting thing is that sometimes it goes away. But more often than not, no.

There are also extreme options. For example, I personally know one person who, taking advantage of the darkness, tried to cross the English Channel in a rubber boat, tying it to a ferry. Moreover, they discovered it already in England, in Dover, when the ferry was turning around and the boat was carried out to the illuminated side. I won’t talk about the classic version, when a person is disguised in a pallet, wrapped in film, and transported through a tunnel in the back of a truck. The method is well known to customs officers; moreover, due to queues, the unfortunate traveler sometimes has to stay in a stuffy body, in a standing position, bound with film, for up to half a day. There have been deaths.

People have come up with a lot of equally exotic ways to get to the Promised Land, but I don’t recommend them to you because of their unreliability. The most original case of entering the country happened to one of my friends. Exhausted by the inability to travel in all legal and illegal ways (and he tried everything, except perhaps a rubber boat), the man took the path of least resistance.

Arriving at the airport in London, with his Latvian passport stamped with all sorts of deportation and entry ban stamps, he simply stood in the queue for British citizens and mingled with the cheerful crowd of natives arriving from their holiday. As you know, the British are not recorded in any way at the entrance; all they need to do is open their passport on the photo page. The customs officer doesn't even pick up the document.

Thus, this friend of mine made a brick face, showed his passport, and a few hours later he was already visiting me, with vodka, in Lincoln. The story took place ten years ago, and most likely, such a freebie will no longer work. By the way, that comrade was deported again two weeks later when the immigration service carried out inspections at some factories. Which, however, did not prevent the hero from returning after some time, in a less exotic way, but just as illegal. I don’t know what’s wrong with him now, but I’m sure that his karma finds new adventures for him.

There is another option - to “surrender”, right at the airport, to the first customs officer who comes across, that is, to ask for political asylum from Britain. Once upon a time it was a real opportunity to even get a residence permit, but now it practically doesn’t work. I will tell you a little more about “surrender” as the article progresses.

An important question is how to behave at an English airport and at customs. An uninitiated person may have the illusion that when he received a tourist visa, all his difficulties in entering the country are over. You can relax, talk to the customs officer in Russian, the way Viktor Sukhorukov’s hero behaved in the film Brother-2. In reality, unfortunately, this is not the case. If you cannot make a good impression on the customs officer and prove with your appearance that you are in fact only in Britain for a week, he has a real right not to let you in.

And if there is even the slightest suggestion that you are going to work illegally, then you will go home much earlier than expected. In my memory, so many people who had a tourist visa were not allowed in that it’s simply amazing. They all tended to make the same mistakes. The most typical one is that they did not correspond to the image that was written in their papers. Here you need to be simpler, and if your documents say that you are the director of the company, do not be too lazy to shave, wear a tie and give your face an intelligent expression, if such a trick can be pulled off with him.

If the papers they prepared for you say that you are a promising young boxer who has come to meet Lewis personally, try to look the part. But don’t go too far, this doesn’t mean you have to wear a tracksuit and an ominous grin like a gopnik. In general, I noticed that the average appearance of young European people works well for customs officers: highlighted hair, fashionable sunglasses (in season) and stylish clothes. Unfortunately, many people are unable to remove the haunted expression from their faces, and then the journey ends before it even begins. In any case, act confident, but don't talk. Answer the question as briefly as possible. In general, behave as if you did not even imagine that you, such a respectable and respected person, might not be allowed into some England.

A couple more things. You must have a return ticket in a week, maximum two, which you must first present to the customs officer. The ticket, of course, will be lost since you plan to stay, but such is life. Second. Under no circumstances should you include in your luggage any items that could tarnish your image of a deeply intelligent person going to wander the streets of London. I don’t understand what kind of idiot you have to be to put rubber boots or winter clothes in your bag if you have a tourist visa in hand, if it happens in sunny July. You will then buy all the equipment for work. Also - no products. Any herring, onion and the like have a very bad effect on customs officers. It's not that these things are prohibited from being imported, but they simply confirm that instead of enjoying London cafes and restaurants, a person will save at all costs, trying to stretch his cash supply.

By the way, about money. When asked by a customs officer what you are going to live on this week in the British capital, present a bank card with a proud Visa badge (even if there is nothing on it) and show three hundred pounds in cash. This usually has a pacifying effect on the customs officer, and he, looking suspiciously at you and your passport for the last time, puts the coveted stamp. I don’t even mention the fact that you must speak and understand at least a little English. Although I know of cases when people who did not even know how to say hello successfully passed through. And in general, perhaps someone is reading the article now and is surprised at the horrors described - he has never had any problems at the entrance. Of course, a lot depends on the karma and mood of the customs officer at that moment, but still, forewarned means forearmed.

That's all I can tell you about how to get to England. Tomorrow expect a story about the work and the difficulties associated with it.

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21 Aug

To the UK without a visa? Is that possible? Need to go to the United Kingdom 🇬🇧, but don’t want to waste time getting a visa? Is it possible to enter the UK without a visa? There are 2 ways to legally enter a country without a visa!! ️ Yes, you can get into a country that issues visas with great difficulty from the “back door” 🙂 Find out how:

To the UK without a visa - Cruise

✔️ First way– go on a cruise⛴️, the route of which includes a British city you are interested in! Regular visa rules do not apply to cruise ships; they are subject to rules from a special maritime convention. Thus, you can enter the UK without a visa! The cruise must not begin or end in the UK and the cruise ship (and you) must not be in port for more than 24 hours.

To the UK without a visa - Transit visa

✔️ Second way– obtain a transit visa. This is a great way to get to the UK without a visa. The fact is that UK legislation allows tourists to stay in the country without a visa for up to 48 hours while connecting flights at any airport. But for this the following conditions must be met:
1. You are flying🛫 through the UK in transit to/from the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand.
2. You have a valid visa for the country you are going to/from.
3. Your next flight leaves before 23.59 the next day.
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If all the conditions are met, then after a short conversation with the visa officer, your passport will have a stamp with a transit visa and you can enjoy walking around the country! It turns out that you can get to the United Kingdom without a visa! Please note that transit is only possible through airports, so any other transport (train, ferry) is not suitable for a visa-free visit to the UK.

When buying an air ticket, pay attention to

Have an interesting and varied holiday!