Residence Card re-entry?

Hello,

I am planning on visiting my family back home in America sometime this winter on my own while my wife looks after the baby.

I have a Residence Card in my passport because my wife is an EEA national exercising treaty rights in the U.K.

Can I re-enter the U.K. on it? Will I need to carry our marriage certificate and a copy of my wife's Irish passport? Does it get stamped or do they just look at it and wave me through?

Has anyone tried traveling back alone with a Residence Card before?

Thank you.

Is the residence card still before it's 'valid to' date?

Vicky

Yes. It's valid for another 4 years.

So would it be okay?

So would it be okay?

JM, Vicky is in court today, so she may not reply.  I would assume so, but Vicky would be the one to know for certain.

In Vicky's absence, I hope you'll permit me to say that it's ok.

Yes you can travel on your own with just the residence card in your passport.

I travelled to the US (and elsewhere) and back to the UK many times by myself with absolutely no problems. I don't carry any other documentation.

The IOs used to stamp my passport but the last time I went through immigration they said it was no longer necessary and just checked it and waved me through.

Indeedy!

Vicky (Back from court)

That's great. Thank you everyone.

Can I use the E.U. queue (the express queue as I call it hehe) or does my wife need to be with me for that?

That's great. Thank you everyone.

Can I use the E.U. queue (the express queue as I call it hehe) or does my wife need to be with me for that?

Depends... I have tried a few times to sneak over to the EU queue.  The IO don't generally have an issue with it, but those "greeters" can get right snippy if they see a flash of a blue passport with a landing card in it. (you still have to fill out one of those)

Technically it is a gray area.  T4 at Heathrow used to have a "Residence Queue" for those of us, but T5 doesn't seem to have it and Gatwick and the other airports don't seem to have it.

Oh, darn, I liked that 'residents' queue.

These days I try to get myself the hell off the plane and into the non-EU line before the rest of the passengers catch up - in Scottish airports this sometimes gets you moving faster than the EU residents.