The Home Office has added Nauru to the list of nationalities that must hold a UK transit visa when transiting airside through a UK airport. The Immigration (Passenger Transit Visa) (Amendment) (No. 4) Order 2025 was made on 4 December, laid before Parliament on 9 December, and comes into force on 10 December 2025; it was signed by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Mike Tapp.
Under the Immigration (Passenger Transit Visa) Order 2014, nationals of countries listed in Schedule 1 require a transit visa to pass through the UK without entering. The new Order inserts “Nauru” into that schedule; in practice this is the airside Direct Airside Transit Visa (DATV) requirement.
A transitional clause applies. Nauruan nationals who had already booked travel before the Order took effect on 10 December 2025 and arrive in the UK on or before 20 January 2026 may complete that journey without a transit visa. After that date, the visa requirement applies in full.
The change concerns airside transit only-passing through a UK airport without entering the UK. Travellers who need to go through border control (for example to change airports or reclaim baggage) will usually require a Visitor in Transit visa rather than a DATV; the Visitor in Transit visa costs £70 and the DATV currently costs £39.
Standard exemptions to the DATV requirement continue to apply, including where a traveller holds specific UK documents (such as an ETA, certain Home Office documents, or an existing visitor visa). Travellers should confirm eligibility against the official criteria before flying.
Airlines and other carriers should update check‑in rules and authority‑to‑carry systems so that Nauruan nationals are treated as subject to the DATV. Carriers that carry passengers without required permission may face civil penalties under the Authority to Carry Scheme 2023 and can also be liable for charges under section 40 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 if a person requiring a visa travels without one.
The instrument extends to the whole of the United Kingdom and is presented as a targeted amendment to the 2014 regime. The Explanatory Note states that no full impact assessment was produced as no, or no significant, impact on the private or voluntary sector is foreseen.
This is the fourth amendment to the 2014 Order in 2025. Earlier changes this year added Trinidad and Tobago to Schedule 1 and, separately, substituted “Palestine” for “Palestinian Territories” in that schedule.