General visitor question

If I choose to stay a full 6 months in the UK on a general visitors visa, how much money would customs expect that i have to support myself for that amount of time?.. Or do they even ask given I'm from the states? I've only stayed for a couple weeks at a time in the past and they've never asked before, but obviously 6 months is significantly longer. Just wondering if I need to show bank statements and/or cash on hand. Thanks.

Depends on your circumstances while in the UK - if you were a tourist staying in a hotel, they would expect you to have several thousand dollars in your bank account to support yourself for the entire trip.

If you're staying with friends/a partner you won't need as much.

If you don't have much money in your own account, you can supply your partner/friend's bank statements and payslips, plus a letter from them to prove they can support you on their salary for the whole 6 months.

You will also need to show strong ties to the US to prove you MUST return to live there within 6 months - for example, a job to return to (contract and letter from your employer giving you time off and stating what date you will return to work), a home you are maintaining in the US while in the UK (valid lease/rental agreement, or prove of homeownership), plus any other reasons for which you must return (appointments, commitments, family to take care of etc.)

Hmmm Ok makes sense. I've also noticed that any time I've gone before, no matter what I said for my duration of stay wether it be 1 week, 2 weeks, or 3 weeks, they stamp my passport for 6 months. So let's say I told them I was only staying for 14 days but later decided I wanted to stay the full 6 months. Could I do that? Or is that frowned upon...

You need to be honest with the IO when asked about the duration of your trip.  If you say that you're only staying 14 days but know you'll be staying longer, that's definitely a no.  Deception is treated seriously, and could result in being banned from the UK for 10 years.

If you genuinely were planning on staying 14 days and decided in the middle of your trip to stay longer, that would be fine.  But it would have to be a genuine change of plans that came on suddenly; not something you knew ahead you were going to do.

The IO usually does stamp you in for the entire 6 months, but could stamp you in for less than that at his or her discretion.  I believe there's been discussion that IOs will be stamping people in for the exact dates on their plane tickets in the future, so there won't be an avenue to suddenly stay in the UK 6 months when you told the IO you were only visiting for a few weeks.

Hmmm Ok makes sense. I've also noticed that any time I've gone before, no matter what I said for my duration of stay wether it be 1 week, 2 weeks, or 3 weeks, they stamp my passport for 6 months. So let's say I told them I was only staying for 14 days but later decided I wanted to stay the full 6 months. Could I do that? Or is that frowned upon...

In theory it can be possible to do that, but it would have to be a genuine, last-minute change of mind once you were in the UK and it can be risky.

If you entered the UK saying that you were only going to stay for 2 weeks, but you actually intended on changing your ticket as soon as you were let in, that is considered deception and if you were caught in the lie, you could be refused entry and banned from entering the UK for 10 years.

However, if you genuinely intended to stay for 2 weeks, but then something came up just before you were due to leave and you had to extend your trip unexpectedly, that isn’t so much of an issue.

BUT, the visitor visa rules are changing in the next few weeks and they will be becoming much stricter with visitor visas.

As you’ve noticed, you have previously been stamped in for 6 months even if only staying for a couple of weeks – as this is the standard visitor visa stamp. However, from March 2015, the Immigration Officers will have the power to stamp you in for only the length of your trip – so if you come for 2 weeks, you may only be stamped in for 2 weeks and will have to leave within that time.

Also, I believe they may start looking more closely at previous visits and if they see you didn’t leave when you said you would when you entered, that could count against you in the future.