Possible to enter UK on 2nd US passport while visa being processed?

I’m an American marrying a Brit; our wedding will be in the US this April and I’ll be applying for a spouse visa.  We’ve considered several different options in terms of how/when to marry and apply for my visa so as to avoid having to spend agonizing weeks apart from each other after the wedding.  One of the ideas we’ve been considering is for me to apply for a second US passport so as to enter the UK on that passport while we’re waiting for my visa to be processed and then having my parents post it out once the visa is issued and I’d just re-enter the UK via France on the passport with the visa. I’m curious if anyone knows if this would work or if it’s a horribly flawed idea?   

I think someone else with more information will be along soon...but...from my own experience the passport office punches holes and stamps your old passport invalid.

So I think this idea wouldn't work. sorry

yeah, you can only have one active passport as far as I know.  An application for another one invalidates the earlier one.

Even if the passport were valid, I suspect you'd have some real explaining to do to the UK immigration types at the border as you would either have to be pretty obvious that you were trying to get around the system somehow, or you would totally lie, which could get you into some real trouble as well.

Personally, I wouldn't touch that one with a ten foot pole.  A few weeks apart can be tough, but there are a lot worse things in this world.

Cadenza, I was thinking the same thing.

Caitlyn - if you don't want to be away from your husband after you marry, then I believe you will need to marry in the UK on a fiance visa.  How did you think you'd get a 2nd US passport anyway?

It is legal to have a a second valid US passport if it is specifically authorized by the Secretary of State.  It looks like they are granted typically to people that are constantly travelling and need to have a visa issued in one passport while they are travelling on the other.  Take a look here: newcomer link: http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_new/acs/passports/second.html [nonactive] or newcomer link: http://www.abriggs.com/passports/second_passport.php [nonactive] .  I'm not sure if they would in fact grant a second passport under my circumstances, but I'm wondering if it is possible.  The other issue is if it would be problematic when entering the UK (the last thing I want to do is to jeopardize my chances of being granted a visa!).  Maybe I'm geting a bit too, shall we say, creative with this, but I did have to wonder...I appreciate your feedback!

Cadenza, I was thinking the same thing.

Caitlyn - if you don't want to be away from your husband after you marry, then I believe you will need to marry in the UK on a fiance visa.  How did you think you'd get a 2nd US passport anyway?

I agree. It sounds like you're trying to enter on visa waiver when your intent is to settle and you're doing so knowingly.

I am not up on the latest rules, but isn't deliberate deception of this kind make a person subject to a ban?

Can your husband stay with you in the US as a visitor until the visa is processed, and then can you both return to the UK together?

Or, as has been suggested, you can come to the UK on a fiance visa. 

I agree that what you are suggesting sounds like it might be considered deception.

Anyway, considering that, from what I have heard, waiting times for getting a visa to move to the US are longer than waiting times for getting a visa to move to the UK, I don't think "wanting to spend time with my husband" would count as a legitimate reason for issuing a second US passport.

To be honest, you shouldn't need to be apart for more than a few days to maybe 2 or 3 weeks - is it really worth the hassle of trying to get a second passport and risking getting into trouble (and possibly face a 10-year ban from the UK) for the sake of a few days?

As sweetpeach has suggested, if your husband if able to stay in the US with you as a visitor for a few days after the wedding, you may not need to be apart at all, or if he can only stay for a short time, that will at least reduce the amount of time you will be apart.

If you can time things right and there are aren't too many visa processing delays, you could have your visa within a week or two of getting married - you can even apply for the visa before you marry and book your biometrics appointment so that you can send off the documentation very quickly after the wedding. And one other way to speed up the process is to pay to have your application delivered by hand via an expedited courier - then your application will go to the front of the line and may even be issued within a couple of days of you sending it off.

I agree with everyone else.  Even if it is possible to get a second US passport, when you enter the UK using it, you are going to have to answer the IO's questions honestly.  Your honest answers might get you bounced, at the very least, and can't be worth being separated from your husband for what, in the scheme of things, is just the blink of an eye...

I also think that if you were honestly just coming to visit on that second passport and were then going back to the US to get your passport with your visa in it...well, if you could convince an IO of that, it might work, but I'd be very surprised.  A friend of mine tried that a few years back.  She only had one passport, was coming into the country for a couple of weeks to look at houses with her husband, and then heading back to wrap things up in the US and get her visa.  Didn't happen that way as the IO had no real reason to believe her when she was actually entering the country with her new husband.

I think this would be nuts.  Too much chance of being bounced, and too much chance of having the visa refused for claiming to be in the US when you are not.

Vicky

It's also a bit unfair to those of us who've paid the extra hundreds of dollars for an additional fiance visa.

Okay, a resounding no.  I had no intention of being deceptive, I simply wondered if it would be legally feasible or not if it were done honestly, but it's obviously an idea based on naive assumptions, so we'll just go ahead and scratch it off the list.  Thanks for again for your feedback and for setting me straight. 

Travelling on a 2nd Valid US Passport to the US is ok, but the risk is that the UK is thinking you are trying to be sneaky.  Technically you aren't supposed to cross the UK border when you status in the UK is pending a decision, such as when applying and it could put your application in jeapordy, especially if you end up coming into the UK as a visitor when you are applying for settlement.

I recently had a duel national client (Aus and NZ).  He applied for a visa in NZ then travelled to Aus to see his ill mother.  We waited for the application to be approved, and when he called them he was told that they were putting the application on hold until he came back to NZ, as it could only be issued when he was in the country of application.

Vicky