Booking my flight for the MVV?

Is there any UK Border Agency rule that says you can't book your flight before obtaining your visa, or do they just advise against it? I can't find one if there is. Because I need to book my flight fairly soon as tickets prices seem to go up almost every day and I don't want to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for a ticket. My wedding is scheduled for July 6th and I can't apply until April 3rd. If I get the tickets before then will the Border Agency hold it against me? Would it be bad to include a copy of the booking receipt in the application package?

It says on the UKBA Visitors documentation guidance PDF that an email or copy of tickets is acceptable as detail of return travel bookings. If that's the case, I'm thinking I'll take a calculated risk and purchase the ticket soon, as I don't want to pay more later. What is acceptable to the Border Agency? Please let me know.

Thank you all for the advice and help

Hi

It is perfectly acceptable to buy tickets before getting your visa. As you say it can be evidence of intent to return.

UKBA recommends you not purchase travel until you receive your visa:

You may wish to submit the following documents to help show us your accommodation and travel arrangements in the UK and on which date you intend to leave the UK. We advise that you do not make any payments for accommodation, travel and so on until you have received your visa.

Hi

It is perfectly acceptable to buy tickets before getting your visa. As you say it can be evidence of intent to return.

Thank you for the clarification. After having fully read the guidance document I mentioned above, I always knew that they recommend not buying tickets, but didn't know if they ever counted it as a mark against someone if they did buy the tickets. So it sounds like they don't.

To me that would really make sense and would strengthen someone's case for the visa, rather than weaken it. Why would someone buy a ticket that costs thousands upon thousands of dollars, yet just stay in the UK? That they wouldn't see that as an intent to return is beyond strange to me, and has no basis in reality.

On a related note, since I never got this question answered elsewhere, when the application asks "What is the cost to you personally of your stay in the UK?", is it asking about just accommodation, food and ticket prices, or also the full cost of all wedding related expenses as well? I was a little unsure on that, as my wedding expenses are much much higher than my accommodation and travel expenses, but if I don't have to list them I'm not going to. What does everyone else do, or what is acceptable for that matter?

Thank you very much again to everyone.

Thank you for the clarification. After having fully read the guidance document I mentioned above, I always knew that they recommend not buying tickets, but didn't know if they ever counted it as a mark against someone if they did buy the tickets. So it sounds like they don't.

To me that would really make sense and would strengthen someone's case for the visa, rather than weaken it. Why would someone buy a ticket that costs thousands upon thousands of dollars, yet just stay in the UK? That they wouldn't see that as an intent to return is beyond strange to me, and has no basis in reality.

It doesn't count against you if you do book the tickets, but the reason they recommend you wait until you have the visa is so that you don't lose any money if the visa processing is delayed or your visa is refused and you cannot take the flight.

You don't really want to be in a situation where you have spent thousands of dollars on a ticket and then your visa is refused and you cannot get a refund... or if you don't get the visa in time for your flight and it costs loads of money to change or cancel the ticket.

By not booking the flight in advance, if you don't get the visa, then all you have lost is the cost of the visa and not the cost of the flights as well.

ksand,

Does it help at all as proof of ties to the US to show them the ticket receipt? Or is it irrelevant to them?

My apologies. I sent a private message to you and am not sure if you got it, so I sent it twice and am sorry if you have a duplicate.

Thanks a lot

I don't think it counts against you, but I don't know if it counts for you either.

I don't think I'll ever wrap my head around how a 2500 plane ticket from Chicago the UK for 4 days, then to Poland for a six day honeymoon, then back to the Chicago, doesn't count for you? Why would I shell out 2,500 dollars of my hard earned money just to stay in the UK. It doesn't make any sense at all and I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here.

If you didn't meet the financial requirements to live in the UK but had $2500 cash, I could easily see a reason why you would stay. (You = the general you, not you specifically.)

Alright, fair enough. But that still doesn't make sense at all. I have a clean immigration history and always leave when my ticket stubs, which are in my application, say I'm going to return. To think that I wouldn't return is totally off the wall to me.

Do you have any insight on the expenses question I posted above?