Uk Arrival With Settlement Visa

[philrtw]

Due to bring the wife & Son back to UK on a 2 year settlement visa in the next few weeks, just wondering whether she can go though the UK/EU channel at immigration along with me & our Son ? (both British passports). This was ok for the last 2 tourist visa's she had before.

[The Philosopher]

Due to bring the wife & Son back to UK on a 2 year settlement visa in the next few weeks, just wondering whether she can go though the UK/EU channel at immigration along with me & our Son ? (both British passports). This was ok for the last 2 tourist visa's she had before.

No as she is not a British or EU passport holder it is quite simple really. But you can go through the other side with her which is what you should do anyway as her sponsor

Edited January 7, 2009 by The Philosopher

[Mossfinn]

just wondering whether she can go though the UK/EU channel at immigration along with me & our Son ? (both British passports).

I have never had a problem in the past doing this.

Moss

[DC1066]

The first time my wife came to England, we both went through the same channel - the UK/EU one - but asked one of the customs people if this would be ok first and they said it would be fine.

Ever since, we've gone through the separate channels but tend to find they move through at a similar pace.

[7by7]

We, too, have both used the UK/EEA channel before my wife got her British citizenship, although for her first entry we used the other one. On doing so the first time I was told by the IO on duty that it was at the discretion of the individual IO. He said that if it was a first entry then the answer would probably be 'No' but for a subsequent entry it would probably be ok.

So, it's up to you. You can try and may succeed, but be prepared to be sent to the back of the other queue.

[philrtw]

Thanks for the replies, think we will go though the non UK/EEA channel this time, just to be sure. As you say can both take just as long. We used that the first visitor visa she had, & where then advised we could go together through the UK/EEA next time.

[guru]

Go through the UK channel.

The first trip on settlement visa, we asked the staff on line duty and he told us to go through the UK channel. We have done it everytime with no problem or remarks at all.

Immigration don't want to split up families on entry and the non-UK line can be massive and slow.

What happened to us, as it is was first entry on settlement, was when we approached the IO for passport checks she sent us to the medical office where the lady checked postcode/address in her computer and stamped the TB certificate. All very quick. You come out and don't need to queue again and IO checks TB certificate and stamps/checks passports. You dont need to show Tb cert again on subsequent entries.

I also use the Thai passport line when entering Bangkok with the wife.

Edited January 8, 2009 by guru

[mariner29]

Head for the shortest Que

[sumrit]

Due to bring the wife & Son back to UK on a 2 year settlement visa in the next few weeks, just wondering whether she can go though the UK/EU channel at immigration along with me & our Son ? (both British passports). This was ok for the last 2 tourist visa's she had before.

No as she is not a British or EU passport holder it is quite simple really. But you can go through the other side with her which is what you should do anyway as her sponsor

Not true. You can both go through either channel as long as you are together, regardless of whether she holds a UK/EU passport or not.