Visiting husband in London before applying for spouse visa

Thank you all for your help!

We really appreciate it! I will keep you guys posted what happens

I just got back on Wednesday from visiting my fiance in Cambridge for 4 months! When I showed the man at the desk my return ticket and he saw I would be there for that long (even though it was well under the 6 month maximum) he definitely started to grill me with questions. I talked to him for about 5-7 minutes. And while you're standing at those desks at Heathrow with the long line of people behind you, that feels like a lifetime!! I came with a letter from my employer stating how much I make and that I had a job to return to when I got back to the US. Even though the man was asking a lot of questions, I never actually pulled the letter out and didn't need it in the end.

It was my 5th time visiting the UK on the tourist visa, so I can definitely see why I might have raised some flags. I told him that while I would be staying with my fiance at his house for the 4 months, we would also be traveling all around to visit his friends and family - just to make it sound like more of a "touristy" trip than actually living there.

I was really nervous the whole time, but I was telling the truth and after a few minutes the guy started to reach for the stamp and I knew I was good to go 

Good luck! 

Can you please tell me some of the questions they asked yo like you said when they grilled you with questions.

Can you please tell me some of the questions they asked yo like you said when they grilled you with questions.

I really doubt you'll get grilled for just a 1-week visit. That's a normal length of time for a tourist to visit for.

However, as kbales mentioned, they were coming for 4 months which will pretty much automatically raise red flags, because it May look like you're trying to use a visitor visa to live in the U.K., and usually results in a lot more questions. Because regular visitors with jobs and lives back home usually can only take maybe 2 weeks of leave for a vacation... not 4 months.

So, a 4-month visit will raise questions like:
- why are you visiting for so long?
- how are you able to take that much time off work?
- how will you support yourself for 4 months without working?
- you're coming to stay with your UK spouse for 4 months... that's a long time... how do I know you will leave at the end of your visit?

Whereas a 1-2 week visit won't usually cause those questions to be asked, because you're only trying to stay for a few days, not a few months.

So you're more likely to get something like:
- how long are you visiting for?
- who are you visiting?
Then maybe a follow-up question or two... and that will probably be it.


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Can you please tell me some of the questions they asked yo like you said when they grilled you with questions.

I had to listen to a ton of people's conversations with the border control while I was being detained, so here was the basic script for a short visit:

What is the purpose of your visit?
How long are you here?
Where are you going?
Why are you going there?
Where will you stay?
Will you stay with anyone?
What will you do there?

Everyone who was staying for a short time, like you, just got cursory questions. The officers want a quick, clear story that makes sense. (We're taking a vacation to X city and will see Y attractions, or I'm coming for my sister's wedding, or I'm a college student going backpacking, or whatever.)

On the other side, UKC going to the US I remember getting quite grilled.

I got asked:

What do you do for a living?
-I'm an engineer

An engineer in what?
Manufacturing

What industry?
Aerospace

Specifically which sector of aerospace?
Civilian and military

Which aircraft?
*said aircraft

What do you specifically do?
*said what I did

What did you specifically do yesterday at work? (literally an hour by hour what I did)
*said what I did

Pretty crazy!

Oh--also, if you don't have a job to go back to, just be honest.  One of the times I came in for over a month I didn't have a job to go back to, but they were perfectly happy with my (true) explanation that I was freelancing in the NY theatre scene and that a festival had just ended, leaving me with some money to travel. 

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your help and suggestions. I finally travelled and came to visit my husband in the UK.
They did ask me a bit detail about why I am not living with my husband. And also asked what is our future plans, what my husband did, when did we get married, where do I live and where does my husband live, and when we're we married.

I gave all the answers truthfully. And he just stamped my passport and let me go.

Thanks a lot!!!

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your help and suggestions. I finally travelled and came to visit my husband in the UK.
They did ask me a bit detail about why I am not living with my husband. And also asked what is our future plans, what my husband did, when did we get married, where do I live and where does my husband live, and when we're we married.

I gave all the answers truthfully. And he just stamped my passport and let me go.

Thanks a lot!!!

Good for you!    Enjoy your trip!

Hi All,

I am just filling out my online application. Just wanted to know that whether the 6 months leave to enter visa at the UK border on a US Passport count as a Visa?
I am finishing up on the online application, and was trying to figure out if this stamp would be counted as a new visa for the UK or not.
And if its a visa, then how would I describe it?

Thanks,
Nazzy

Hi All,

I am just filling out my online application. Just wanted to know that whether the 6 months leave to enter visa at the UK border on a US Passport count as a Visa?
I am finishing up on the online application, and was trying to figure out if this stamp would be counted as a new visa for the UK or not.
And if its a visa, then how would I describe it?

Thanks,
Nazzy

It's a visitor visa that was issued at the border.

For what it's worth, I did not include it as visas received from the UK.

Sure hope that wasn't a mistake.

For what it's worth, I did not include it as visas received from the UK.

Sure hope that wasn't a mistake.

No, I wouldn't count it as a proper visa.  I'd include it in the prior visits to the UK only.  Either way, it's not going to affect the outcome of the application.