Headed to London

I’m a bit nervous and very excited , so please forgive my redundancy.

I’m leaving for London to see my sweet pea Friday night.  I’m bringing:
- My offer letters (I have two as I did ttp and then it went perm in a week instead of 3).  I don’t want to say I started in the beginning of July and not have the pay checks to back it up. 
- A letter from my boss stating that I have the time off and the date I’m expected back on
- My company doesn’t mail pay checks, so I printed out a list of all my checks since I started working here, back 4.5 months
- A copy of my lease which ends in June 2011
- A copy of itinerary with my return flight information

I think that this should be enough.  It’s just for a week!  I could also include my bf’s flight info for Dec/Jan or our train tickets to visit my parents over Christmas. 

Does anyone think that I’ll have a problem?  I’m a USC, btw.

The other thing I'd suggest is proof of funds while you're there...bank statements, cash on hand, what-have-you. Otherwise it looks good.

I thought about that as well.  I’m just slightly worried about showing that though.  I spent 6 months unemployed in NYC and racked up considerable cc debt because of it.  Each month I let myself get really close to $0 to get it all paid off.  It’s working, I’ve got it down to half.  I’m not making the same size of payment this month so that I can play a bit.  So if I brought that it would just be the most resent deposit from work (minus a bit from this week, I was paid on Monday).  Saying that, I actually make a really descent amount and what will be in there will be way more than one could spend in a week.  I think I have about £120 in cash left over from my last trip. 

If you just make the minimum payment on the CC (assuming it's due before you leave), and then do your normal extra payment afterward, the balance should be fine.

I thought about that as well.  I’m just slightly worried about showing that though.  I spent 6 months unemployed in NYC and racked up considerable cc debt because of it.  Each month I let myself get really close to $0 to get it all paid off.  It’s working, I’ve got it down to half.  I’m not making the same size of payment this month so that I can play a bit.  So if I brought that it would just be the most resent deposit from work (minus a bit from this week, I was paid on Monday).  Saying that, I actually make a really descent amount and what will be in there will be way more than one could spend in a week.  I think I have about £120 in cash left over from my last trip. 

If you can't show that you have enough money to support yourself for your trip, you may not be let into the UK, so you really should bring a bank statement, plus your £120 cash, with you in case they ask you for your proof of funds. However, as you're only coming for a week, it shouldn't be a big issue anyway as you're unlikely to need much money for such a short trip. If necessary, you could always ask your boyfriend to write a letter saying that he is willing to help you out financially if you don't have enough to last the week.

Thanks!  I just printed out my current balance.  It's three days early (and before I have to pay the cable, electricy and phone bills), but I hope that would be ok.  I would only make about a $200 difference anyways.  The cc's aren't due until the begining of December and, of course rent and sl's then, but that comes out of my next pay check. So between what's in my back account and what I have in cash, it will be about $2300.  I've never even spent that much in a month in the UK as a tourist, so I'm assuming that should be good?

So between what's in my back account and what I have in cash, it will be about $2300.  I've never even spent that much in a month in the UK as a tourist, so I'm assuming that should be good?

Yeah, that looks good - immigration just want to make sure that you won't try to look for work in the UK if you run out of money, so if they ask, as long as you can show that you have money in your account to use if necessary, you should be fine. The money thing is more of an issue for people coming for longer trips (i.e. a couple of months), because they would need to show they had enough to last for the entire length of their trip. As you're just here for a week, they may not even ask you for any of your documents at all, but it's always best to be prepared just in case .

I'm definitly one of those over prepared types.  Now if only I get get the bf not not yell at the IO if they call him. 

Just for anyone who was curious, I brought the documents I listed above.  I offered them all to the IO, who was very friendly, and she just asked to see my return ticket and the letter from my boss.  I asked her if that would be enough in the future, and she told me to bring it all, but that because I had offered it all up front she felt that I wasn’t going to be an overstayer.

Oddly, I had more questions (but no problems) from the US IO who wanted to check my passport (it’s almost full) in detail when I said that I had just been gone a week. 

Thanks everyone for your help!