Which line at the airport upon entering with spouse visa?

Hi all,

So I have a question, I'll be traveling with my hubby (brit citizen) when entering the UK with my spouse visa. Can we go in the same immigration line, meaning can I be with him even though he holds a UK passport?

Congrats on getting the visa .

You should go through passport control together, as a family.

You can probably use the UK/EU passport line but if you're not sure which one to use, just ask one of the people working at immigration.

When travelling alone without our spouse though, you'll need to go through the non-UK/EU passport line.


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I've always asked which line to go through.  Most of the time, DH and I could go in the UK/EU line together; a few times, we were directed to the everyone else line (and poor DH had to stand there with me for an hour while he watched his fellow citizens breeze through the UK/EU queue).  Once, I had someone who was super insistent that DH had to go in the UK/EU queue and I had to go through the everyone else queue.  And one time, I was travelling on my own and was directed to use the UK/EU queue just to speed up arrivals clearing immigration as the UK/EU queue was much shorter and moving fast.  I've always just done whatever the person overseeing the arrivals said to do to not cause a fuss; the actual IOs seemed to not care at all what queue I had been in.

Hi all,

So I have a question, I'll be traveling with my hubby (brit citizen) when entering the UK with my spouse visa. Can we go in the same immigration line, meaning can I be with him even though he holds a UK passport?

Non EU. He goes through with you ...it really doesn't matter with hubby he's aBritish citizen.. you will be guided by the staff there...not to worry. Happy for you


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If I'm with my husband, we always use the EU line (only in the UK though).  I don't bother asking anymore.   

If I'm with my husband, we always use the EU line (only in the UK though).  I don't bother asking anymore.   

That's what i'm going to do this first time at least!

Hopefully my BRP will be there on Monday.  Since we have to fly out again that night and not back til the 19th, if my BRP is not there on Monday, is it possible to make arrangements to pick up on Monday 21st?

The only reason I ask is because they say that you should pick up within 10 days of activating your visa. I'm presuming that it's 10 business days, which would make it the 18th or is it the 21st if we enter on 7 Nov? The letter stated that my BRP would be available from 25 Oct but some members' BRPs were not available from the date stated on their letter.

I tried to call the post office to confirm ahead of time but they said they couldn't give that sort of info out over the phone due to privacy issues.

Hopefully my BRP will be there on Monday.  Since we have to fly out again that night and not back til the 19th, if my BRP is not there on Monday, is it possible to make arrangements to pick up on Monday 21st?

The only reason I ask is because they say that you should pick up within 10 days of activating your visa. I'm presuming that it's 10 business days, which would make it the 18th or is it the 21st if we enter on 7 Nov? The letter stated that my BRP would be available from 25 Oct but some members' BRPs were not available from the date stated on their letter.

It's 10 calendar days total from the date you enter the UK.

So if you fly into the UK on Monday 7th November, you have until Wednesday 17th to pick it up.

However, I'm just reading through the guidance on BRPs (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/533854/BRP_OA_information_leaflet_-_July_2016.pdf) and it actually says this:

Post Office collection
If you selected Post Office collection you must collect your biometric residence permit from the Post Office branch detailed in your decision letter. You must do this either before your 30 day vignette expires or within 10 days of arrival in the UK, whichever is later.

So, actually, it sounds like if your 30 days expires more than 10 days after you've entered, you have until then to pick it up.

Phu, the post office won't tell you if the BRP is there?  That's terrible.  We were going to call because we only have four days to fly to the UK from CA to pick up my BRP and head back to get our affairs in order.  We are leaving two young kids with my mother-in-law and cannot take longer.  This is so stressful.  My husband and I were going to call tomorrow and then book our flights.  Not sure what to do now.