stupid mistake

Well firstly, my fiance got his visa so yay!!

In our letters of intention, we put that he planned to come into England on around the 15th August. We mostly said this to make it clear that I would have housing arranged before he got here (I move into our new home on the first of August). So we got the visa, booked his flights for the nearest weekend, so he would arrive in england on the 12th.
And then we looked closer at the visa and noticed it doesn't start until the 15th. Oh bugger.

It didn't even occur to us to think this, seeing as everything we read said to remember it's valid from the day it's issued, and we didn't specifically ask for it to be delayed. I'm guessing you're all going to tell me it's hard luck and he has to change his flights for after the 15th, but before we pay for another set of flights I thought I'd check here. Is there any way around this? Will he be able to enter earlier than the start date on his visa?

thanks

Yep I think you already know the answer....

When I applied for my visa the people at the British embassy very specifically asked me what my ticket date was and when I wanted the visa to start and told me 'because you can't enter before the date that it starts - you know that, right?'

yeh I thought that might be the case. We should have thought about it really but seeing as we were never asked right out... oh well thanks for the reply

Do you think we could get the date changed by the embassy, or would they only do that if we had special circumstances?

Don't know about getting it changed - I'm guessing it would cost you and they would want a good reason.  But someone else (Vicky/Garry) probably will know the answer.  So annoying for you guys!

Er....

wish I could help....

change your flights is the best advice I can give, sorry.



Vicky

Don't know about getting it changed - I'm guessing it would cost you and they would want a good reason.  But someone else (Vicky/Garry) probably will know the answer.  So annoying for you guys!

The rules governing this are laid out in Paras 31 and 31A.  A consulate can use Para 31, but not 31A because the Immigration Service owns the perogative inside the UK.  The last I heard, there was an internal instruction out of Liverpool telling IO's not to use 31A without consulting a CIO, which means they will be reluctant to do it.  So I wouldn't advise showing up unless your leave is already in force.   That leaves you with returning to the consulate and hoping that somebody knows how to do Para 31.  Back to you, Vicky...