Visa check at LHR for HBO pax

[The real Swiss Tony]

I know heading to places where you need a visa (US & China being my experience) you need to swing by the visa check desk if HBO, but what about places like South Africa on a UK passport. Do I need to do this or can I proceed straight to the security check?

And what about on the return from Jo’burg? If I have the BP can I just go straight to the lounge?

Thanks

[John]

If BA issues your BP you can go straight to security. Any issues can be resolved at the gate

[WaynedP]

No need for anything preflight if you’re a full British citizen on a British passport.

Just receive SA Home Affairs stamp on joining the UK passports queue upon landing in SA. You may need to do a biometrics capture procedure if it’s your first visit to SA (just digital scan of fingerprints and face recognition photos as I recall, not much of an imposition and only done once, not redone on repeat visits).

When departing SA, once you’re through security, there’s another bank of Home Affairs desks where they’ll stamp your passport again to prove you haven’t overstayed and you’ll be fine after that.

[The real Swiss Tony]

John wrote:

If BA issues your BP you can go straight to security. Any issues can be resolved at the gate

I’m just aware that in the past if you didn’t go to the visa desk for US flights, the BP wouldn’t work to get you into the security screening area. So has that changed?