Tourist Visa question.

First off I want to thank everyone who post to this site, there is a lot of great information here, and everyone seems to go out of there way to help others get to where they want to be.

So, after reading a ton of posts I am still a little unsure of what may lie ahead of me.
My girlfriend is going to Grad School in Scotland, and just got her student visa. I am planning on taking a leave of work for 6 months, and going with her in September so she has some support while there.  I plan on not working during that time, and just going for a vacation, and the chance to also travel the UK and Europe. No work, no volunteering, really just a nice long holiday.

I believe I have enough funds for the 6 months (if anyone knows the amount needed for clearness, that would be great), a letter from job stating my leave of work, and my return date to full time status, Bank Stubs, Work Pay stubs, a valid passport. And a return flight back to the states in 6 months.

I guess the question I have is, after reading all the posts, am I in danger of being turned away, do to wanting to be in the UK for the full 6 months? All honesty, I plan to leave at the 6-month mark, maybe a little before.  I called the UK visa hotline, looked at about 100 web sites all stating that no visa is required for up to 6 months.  So anyone with any thought about this would be great.   Would it be better to say I am only traveling 2 months but stay and remain under the 6-month visit limit?

Also, if I plan on traveling outside of the UK lets say I fly to Ireland or Spain for a couple of weeks, would I have problem coming back to UK?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.
Jay

Whatever you do, I wouldn't lie and say that I was going to be in the UK for two months, only to have them ask for your return ticket and see that you plan on staying for 6.  And they might ask to see your return ticket.  They could deny you entry for being deceptive. 

6 months IS a long time, but so long as you have a letter from your job and enough funds, I'm sure you should be ok.  They may ask you questions though, and just be honest.   I'm sorry, I don't know how much money you would need, I'm not sure if there is a definative amount...?  Maybe someone else could help you with that. 

I actually DID have problems entering back into Ireland (my ex was working there) after I traveled back from Christmas in Finland (where he was from).  It was really suspicious to this Irish immigration official, and he asked to see my return tickets, at that point he stamped my passport stating that I had to leave Ireland on the exact date on my ticket.  I didn't see what the problem was since I could have stayed there longer - but I learned that IO's don't mess around.   I'm not sure if the UK is different.  I'm sure it can be dependant on who you get as well.  I'm sure you wouldn't have a problem in theory so long as you carry around your letter from your job.  I didn't have any of that so I'm sure that's what my problem was.

You can apply through the embassy for tourist clearance before you fly.  This can relieve you of any of the concern of being turned away.  You send them your evidence of ties to the States, and they will grant you entrance clearance without the worry of being turned away by the ECO upon your arrival.  This link talks about what you need and how you maybe able to apply for a visitor's visa.

http://www.britainusa.com/visas/articles_show_nt1.asp?i=65006&L1=41000&a=41122

I hope that helps!  Good luck!

You shuldn't need to apply for a visa in advance if you have never been stopped before.  I can't see why there would be any problems - tell the truth, say you want to travel for 6 months, have bank statements and your return flight, and there should be no problem.

Victoria

Thank you all for your replies.  I agree about telling the truth, about this visit, well since it it true, and I hope that I will have all the paper work to back me up.

A month till I leave, I really can not wait. so happy to get a break from living in the states.

thanks,
again

Interestingly, in the past month, both the Independent Monitor and the BBC gave indicative figures on the question "how much is enough?". 

For a visitor, they more or less agree on a minimum of £30 per day,  and somewhat less if the visitor is staying with acquaintances.   That's slightly less than £1,000 per month as a minimum.  Such guidelines are highly informal and not official in any way.  But part of my advocacy agenda is to get UKvisas to put some shape on these numbers so that they can be applied consistently and fairly.  But for the moment, consider £30/day as a minimum.

That figure would be travelling money and not necessarily one's life savings - using one's life savings to finance a trip as a visitor will set off an IO's alarm bells just as fast as anything else.

Also having that amount of money doesn't necessarily mean the IO will agree that it is enough.  But having dealt with a goodly number of them when I was taking on casework, I can assure that they are fairly reasonable if you can demonstrate having done some homework and being able to cite your sources.

So applying that rule of thumb, a six month visit would need an estimated £5,400 in readies in order to have a reasonably good chance of clearing the financial hurdle - less is needed if you can show accomodation available to you for the entire time. 

Having done so, you would still need to clear the intentionality hurdle, but that wasn't your question...