Post
by FireballXL5 » Mon May 19, 2014 11:09 am
I think you are being hugely optimistic.
First of all, going in for a PEO appointment is no guarantee that they will actually give you a same day service. We applied in mid-April at Croydon and are still waiting now having been told that our application needed mysterious 'further enquiries'. We thought our application was straight forward and the case worker even said we had provided more than enough documents. But nevertheless, we are now in a situation where we are starting to worry that we won't get it in time to go on a booked trip in August (a full 3 and a half months after we applied for the 'same day' service).
However, even if you're lucky and they do deign to approve you on the same day, whether you can go will depend on the citizenship of your spouse. Evidence from this forum suggests that if they are from a country that doesn't require a visit visa to the UK (e.g. USA), they will be allowed onto the plane and you will have to take the letter with you and explain it to the border official who will look you up on a database and take you off for questioning (which can take hours). However, if you are from a country that requires a visa to visit the UK (e.g. India, Russia etc) the airline might not even let you onto the plane (they will not be convinced by a letter - they often get confused by genuine visas). However, this may not apply if your spouse visa still looks valid (it is no longer valid as it's superceded by ILR, but as long as the PEO doesn't stamp 'void' or something on it, it may be enough to get you onto the plane).
In short, best case scenario is a royal pain in the backside with hours of questioning by suspicious officials on arrival in the UK. Worst case scenario they keep your passport at the PEO and you physically can't go for months.
Worth the risk? I don't think so.
