Travelling to UK for job interview - what to tell customs

Hello,

I am travelling to London for a job interview. I am a professional and have been invited by an employer there. I know that U.S. citizens do not need a visa for this, but I am a bit concerned about what to tell customs officials when I arrive. I've been told that telling customs officials that you are attending a job interview is a good way of getting detained and it seems like it would be so much easier to say I am going for tourism. Does anyone have experience telling customs you were attending a job interview (or know somebody who has)?

ALWAYS be honest.  There is nothing wrong or illegal about coming here to interview.  Just have a return flight booked home and explain that if you are successful you will apply for the proper visa from the US.  Easy.

If you tell them you are coming for tourism and they realise that is not the case, you could face a ten year ban from the UK.  Why lie when what you are doing (interviewing) is legal and allowed?

Good luck with the interview.   

No, just tell the truth - you should never try to hide your true intentions from them. If you say tourism and then they ask you more questions, and they discover you are coming for a job interview instead, they can determine you are using deception to enter the UK (which can lead to a 10-year ban!).

There is nothing wrong with attending interviews in the UK as a visitor as long as you don't actually start working before you get a work visa. I have a friend who did this exact same thing (she attended 3 job interviews in a week and then flew back to the US) and she had no issues at all.

So, as long as you have proof of a return ticket, the job interview letter to show you've been invited, and evidence that you have a life to go back to in the US, there's no reason why you should have any issues.

Just to clarify though - it's immigration, not customs that you tell this to. The two are often confused, but customs has nothing to do with visas or immigration - customs is about import duties and tax, and so they only care about what items you are bringing into the country in your luggage. They need to make sure that you are not bringing in more than your allowed limits (i.e. of cash, alcohol, cigarettes, food etc.) and that you have declared anything you need to and have paid any relevant customs/import fees. If you aren't bringing anything you need to declare, you will likely just walk through the Green 'Nothing to Declare' line and probably won't even see a customs officer.

Thanks for the advice, that seems sensible but I have never interviewed for a position overseas and assumed that anything work-related could cause problems. The prospective employer is a major university (and I am employed by a university in the U.S.) so everything is above board as a public university would obviously not hire me without a visa. I actually only have e-mails (rather than a formal letter) but the e-mails clearly indicate a formal invitation so I assume they will suffice.

It's natural to feel nervous.  Your emails will be fine.  Best of luck, I hope it works out!