passport control

mark, I'd suggest that all of you use the queue for "non EU Residents", since it appears from your Profile that you're no longer living there. However, I suspect they would probably tolerate all of you going through either queue, as you're together.

There's no way to predict how long it will take to clear Passport control, as this will depend on a number of factors - how many flights are arriving at the same time, how many Inspectors they have on duty, what time of day it is, etc.

Usually once you get to the window, it normally takes less than a minute to get through (provided there are no "irregularities"), after each of you answer the required questions (that's been my experience at Gatwick).

Good luck and happy travels!

You are going to have to use the EU citizens queue and your wife and children will have to use the 'non EU' queue.

The length of time it takes to clear passport control is impossible to predict. Statisyically it's quicker at T4 than T3 but it only takes a handful of suspect passports in any queue to create really long waiting queues.

It may depend on the time of day you arrive. Twice in the last two years I've arrived at LHR at about 7:30am and waited in the non-EU line for over an hour to get thru passport control. There appeared to be no line for EU people.

It depends what the signs say. In some countries, one counter is for everybody, in others there are separate counters for EU and other countries.
Just follow the signs, or ask the person at the counter if you can go together. They might allow you being a family.

Al is correct - the lines have nothing to do with your country of residency, only the country that issued that passport you are traveling on (and if you have a passport from a country, you must enter on that passport even if you are a dual citizen).

Heathrow generally has three lines - one for EU citizens, one for non-EU citizens with long term residence permits (student visas, spouse visas etc.) and one for non-EU citizens. You will need to go to the EU citizen line and your wife & child to the non-EU line. Perhaps you can collect the luggage whilst waiting for your wife and child.

I think if you were living in the UK, and thus your wife had a permit to stay as a spouse of a citizen, she could go in line with you. But, because she has no status in the UK currently, she needs to go in the non-EU line.

Kate

I remember the lines at Heathrow when they were separated as British Citizens, Citizens of Commonwealth countries, and Citizens of Non-Commmonwealth countries.

On my first trip over, I sat next to a young lady from Australia who had changed planes in the States for her trip from Sydney to LHR. As we walked toward the immigration line at Heathrow, I told her I had to go to a different line that she did. She turned and asked: "Why, the U.S. is still part of the commonwealth, isn't it?

Try to explain the American Revolution in about 30 seconds.

Frank, some people are just terminally ignorant and no explanations will suffice.

thanks everyone for the info, that should be a great help

When I was living with my parents in Lagos, Nigeria (oooh, about 47 years ago!), my mother purchased a child's dictionary for me.....The definition of "USA" was "a former British colony"!

wow norma - thats pretty harsh considering most americans & Canadians think Sydney is Australia's capital, and that kangaroos jump down the street and that we all act like crocodile dundee or steve irwin...