Overseas travel on spouse visa

Hi everyone,

I joined my husband on a spousal visa last August. I'm an American, we'd like to visit the US and explore Europe for stays of less than a fortnight.
I understand that on my visa we are not blocked from visiting other countries together on holiday, but how does this actually work in practice? Do we go on separate queues when going through the border? Also I'm assuming visa waiver will do (unless there's something new I need to sign up for, for Europe?)

Apologies in advance if this has been asked a million times before, I couldn't seem to find it!

When travelling together, you should always go through immigration control together.  You can ask the person who is directing the lines which to enter or just pick one.

Most European countries do not require Americans to have a visa in advance.

Thank you! That's exactly what I thought the answers would be, thankfully.

Yeah, your visa only relates to the UK, so it has no effect on travel in Europe. You just enter European countries as a regular American tourist.

The only difference will be that if you are travelling with your husband, you can normally go through immigration together.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

(Replying on this thread rather than make a new one for a similar query):

I'm British, my husband is American here on a spouse visa (4.5 months in!). I have a query relating to the Common Travel Area specifically flying between the UK mainland and Dublin Ireland. We visited Dublin briefly last October and thought we could both go through the UK/EEA line together at passport control. At the desk my husband was told he had to go in the Rest of the world line, cue a 45 minute wait for him!

We had thought as he has UK residency with BRP that we'd be OK on the UK "side", and when he got to his passport control officer the guy was surprised he'd been sent through that line with said residency permit.

So, in order to prevent another delay next time we fly over later this year, can anyone please advise what the rules are in our situation? I've had a dig around re the CTA rules and Ireland and can't find anything that covers it.

Finally a related question, when we fly back to the UK from further afield, is it correct that he still needs to fill out a landing card to be processed through passport control? Heathrow were most adamant he needed one despite having the BRP when we came back from Eastern Europe last month, we hadn't realised he needed one.

Thanks

Yes, he must always fill out a landing card when landing back in the UK because he has a visa (his BRP is his visa). If you are not a UK or EU citizen, you must fill out a landing card every single time.

When you travel to Ireland again, you should still try to go through the same line together. It sounds like it was just a case of the immigration officer on that day not knowing the normal procedure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the clarification, much appreciated!

We came to the same conclusion re Irish immigration on the day, we'll just ask next time before joining a queue