Leaving in a couple weeks, nervous.

Hey,

Goodluck at the airport. Ill be in the UK next month and am also struggling with what to say to immigration. Of course don't want to lie to them, but i have no idea how long I want to stay there. I know when I went through Glasgow, all they asked me was are you here for business or pleasure. I told them pleasure and they stamped my passport with a 6 month to leave visa and said enjoy your stay. It was that simple. So it might be like that for you, though if your flying through london, I hear they are strict.

Have fun with your friend in the uk!

I know I mentioned this in the other thread, but just to say again that the new landing cards (which I first noticed in April--not sure when they made their appearance) now have a question asking how long you are staying in the UK. So you will have to put in writing how long you are staying, and hand that over to the immigration officer.

When you went in april and told them how long you wanted to stay, did they only stamp you for that period of time?

I have ILR, so I'm not sure what the procedure is for those arriving as visitors. Even those with visas have to fill out the landing card, which is slightly strange for this particular question--I just ended up writing 'indefinitely.'

In any case, I think that it will be the same situation as it was before when you were simply asked how long you were going to stay in the interview. If they don't think it's a problem, they will just give you the standard stamp. If they believe they have a reason to, they will give you a shorter leave of entry. I don't believe they are only giving you the amount of time you ask for, and haven't seen anything on this board to indicate that.

I just wanted to put it out there so that people won't be surprised when they see it.

I had the new landing cards back in October 2008, I think. 

I had the new landing cards back in October 2008, I think. 

I had the new card in October 2008, because I remember I had to write on mine something like 63 days or however long the original two months would have been.

Yeah.  I put something like 3 years, or along those lines and then just write (work permit) to the side.  Which hasn't been an issue. 

I'm pretty sure I write 'indefinite'.  Of course, they normally don't bother to look at it before they start asking questions.  I've lost track of the number of times I've gone through a variant of:

IO: 'What's the purpose of your visit?'
Me: 'I live here.'
IO: *actually looks at landing card and/or visa*

However, this is not of much use to the visitors, so I will just say good luck to everyone and make sure to be honest and polite. 

thanks all.

i will do just that, be honest and polite. I am not going through immigration at London airport, however, so that might be good.

alright, so im gone by the end of the week.

my sponsor had mailed me the letter first class and it has not yet gotten here....its been about 10days.

im goint to just get an emailed version just incase it doesnt arrive on time. Ill just have to explain this to the IO.

everything else is good to go.....i even got a couple hundred pounds from someone who visits there.

well, i have one more day to get that letter in the mail.....if i dont im just going to have to use the emailed version. Ill tell the IO to call her to verify my story about mal not arriving on time.

or i might get it tomorrow wo knows....i highly doubt it tho.