What to expect at the airport

I hadn't seen this topic brought up yet so I thought I'd put it out there.


The last two times I flew to the UK to visit my wife, the first of them I flew into Heathrow, and the Border Agency held me there for 5 hours, asking questions, probably looking up my history, and the second time I flew into Gatwick, and again, the Border Agency kept me there for about an hour and a half.

Now I have my spouse visa, and I'll be flying over to the UK with it at the end of August. After those last two experiences, I'd like to know what I can expect to happen when I get the airport with my visa in hand. Is that all I'll need, or will I need other documents with me? Would there be an interview or anything?

Glad you asked this. I'm wondering too!

You shouldn't get that amount of hassle this time because you're there to officially do exactly what they suspected you of intending to sneakily do before (namely settle in the UK with your wife!).  You've already jumped through the hoops applyin g for and being approved for the visa.  I'd imagine you would get briefly detained because your name is probably flagged from the previous times but that should be resolved quite quickly when they see your visa.

My only surprise was getting pulled aside for a health interview with their health official.  We got a laugh out of it though as they left us there for this all important interview and she came out and said "are you well and healthy and all?" We answered yes, and she said, okay and sent me on my way.  Wow, the public health was really protected by that one!