US Girlfriend 'visitor' help!!!

[webbo90]

Hi guys,

Need some advice. I understand US vistors to the UK can stay up to 6 months. If they leave just before this 6 months expires and then return to the UK will they automatically be given another 6 months to visit the country??? Little confused with this policy so any help will be greatly appreciated. She is planning on staying with me january 2009 and not working until august 2009 when her student visa will kick in and allow her to stay in the UK.

any help and advice will be greatly appreciated as we are trying lots of ways for us to live in the same country!!

thank you x

[Wanderer]

Hi guys,

Need some advice. I understand US vistors to the UK can stay up to 6 months. If they leave just before this 6 months expires and then return to the UK will they automatically be given another 6 months to visit the country??? Little confused with this policy so any help will be greatly appreciated. She is planning on staying with me january 2009 and not working until august 2009 when her student visa will kick in and allow her to stay in the UK.

any help and advice will be greatly appreciated as we are trying lots of ways for us to live in the same country!!

thank you x

The rule is six months in every twelve. She might get away with it - she might not and the last thing u want in this climate is a black mark.

[webbo90]

ok thanks for the response, so if she were to stay 4 months, return to the us for say a month, she would then be able to come back and stay for the remaining 2 months of her allowance of 6?

thanks!

[Spark]

Possibly, but they would want to know why and she might have to have proof of adequate funds.

[vinny]

She is planning on staying with me january 2009 and not working until august 2009 when her student visa will kick in and allow her to stay in the UK.

You should apply in good time for your entry clearance so that you are not delayed in getting into the UK. However, you cannot have your clearance post-dated by more than three months. It can get very busy in visa sections, especially over the summer when lots of students are applying.

Also, her student visa may not automatically just "kick in", if she is already in the UK as a visitor, prior to its effective date. She may have to exit and re-enter the UK to activate it.

[Mr Rusty]

ok thanks for the response, so if she were to stay 4 months, return to the us for say a month, she would then be able to come back and stay for the remaining 2 months of her allowance of 6?

thanks!

It doesn't work like that. Non-visa nationals (such as US citizens) who enter as visitors are normally given 6-month stamp, even if they're only here in a tour group for a couple of days. When someone leaves, that's the end of the visit, and there's no remaining "allowance". If they seek entry again, it's a new visit, potentially for 6 months.
Immigration Officers are well aware of the ploy of leaving just before expiry of the visit and coming back soon afterwards to apply for a further stay, and are likely to refuse entry if it's apparent that the passenger is living here.
I don't quite follow the comment about a student visa "kicking in" in August next year. I assume that this person intends to apply for a student visa next summer, which he/she will presumably do in the US. Collecting a refusal of entry stamp between now and then will not help this process.

[Christophe]

I think the thing is that each case is assessed on its own merits, but you can't live in the UK as a visitor. If the immigration officer considers that this is what you are doing (or trying to do), he or she may well deny entry or impose restrictions. Personally, I wouldn't think it was worth flying close to the wind, since a refusal would be, at very best, a big nuisance.

[webbo90]

So how do you prove you are not actually living here and just visiting?! why issue the visa for 6 months if you are not allowed to stay with a friend as long as you dont work!

Seems a little risky still, I am just looking at all possibilities to allow us to be together as soon as we can.

[Wanderer]

So how do you prove you are not actually living here and just visiting?! why issue the visa for 6 months if you are not allowed to stay with a friend as long as you dont work!

Seems a little risky still, I am just looking at all possibilities to allow us to be together as soon as we can.

Because mostly folks don't 'visit' for six months. Some do of course, but to do it twice in sucession is taking the piss and the reality is that person is not 'visiting' but 'living' - different type of visa....

Six months is the standard UK min visa, I always feel taking it to limit is gonna flag u up somewhere in the UK immigration system, indeed my (visa-national) gf got a slapped wrist for the second one after using three months of the first one - they know more then u think they know....

Not worth the risk mate, a black mark now is not what u want...

[webbo90]

so she arrived in the UK on visitor visa used 3 months of it and then came back again afterward and got another visa?

thanks for your help mate, I think it may be wiser if she comes for 2 months say, then goes back to the US for 2 months and then comes back again for 3 months rather than maxing it out for 6 months and then attemtping to come back.

[Wanderer]

so she arrived in the UK on visitor visa used 3 months of it and then came back again afterward and got another visa?

thanks for your help mate, I think it may be wiser if she comes for 2 months say, then goes back to the US for 2 months and then comes back again for 3 months rather than maxing it out for 6 months and then attemtping to come back.

Six month visa - stayed three months, next visa was nearly a year later.....

[Nowty]

In the summer of 2006 my girlfriend went to Paris for a weekend after staying in the UK with me for only 2 months in the UK. When she returned after the weekend in Paris she got the third degree from the IO. The IO only let her back into the UK because she showed him her return ticket showing she was only re-entering the UK for one more week. And when she mentioned to the IO she was planning on returning to the UK to visit me in another 4 months time, the IO nearly exploded.

That certainly destroyed my belief that we could be together indefinately using the visitor rule. She is now living with me with a student visa and she is now only 1 month away from the magic 2 year mark, but getting that far is another long and torturous tale.

The problem is if she visits a lot before her student visa even starts, it raises suspicion that the main reason for her student visa is to live in the UK with her boyfriend, rather than doing the academic course. It is perfectly ok to live with your partner whilst you are doing an academic course but that must be a secondary reason, not the main one.