Visiting UK with a denied entry stamp

[thomady 0]

Hey! I have a question, and I'm not sure where to post it.

I am an American citizen. In 2005 I accidentally overstayed a passport stamp (long story), and was denied entry to the UK coming from Italy. The following year I was advised to apply for a visitor's visa to visit, and did so very badly ( I was a newbie!), and was denied. I applied again for a visitor's visa in 2008 to meet my almost-fiance's family over Christmas. This time I was prepared with bank statements, leases, letters of employment, itineraries, etc. of both myself and my UK boyfriend. I was denied because they didn't believe me that my boyfriend was a real person, with no right to appeal.

Anyway, here we are in 2010 married almost a year, living in California. We had an approved fiance visa, wonderful wedding, and adjustment of status, and he is working legally with his greencard and social security number. I am sending in for my name change on my passport, so the new one should look much better. We have a wedding to attend in London in October, and my question is this:

Do I apply again for a visitor's visa?

or

Do we just bring all of our documentation of leases, car, dog, assets, employment with us just in case?

or

Is there paperwork specifically for spouses of UK citizens who are just visiting, with no intention to stay?

[naynay5885 0]

Hey! I have a question, and I'm not sure where to post it.

I am an American citizen. In 2005 I accidentally overstayed a passport stamp (long story), and was denied entry to the UK coming from Italy. The following year I was advised to apply for a visitor's visa to visit, and did so very badly ( I was a newbie!), and was denied. I applied again for a visitor's visa in 2008 to meet my almost-fiance's family over Christmas. This time I was prepared with bank statements, leases, letters of employment, itineraries, etc. of both myself and my UK boyfriend. I was denied because they didn't believe me that my boyfriend was a real person, with no right to appeal.

Anyway, here we are in 2010 married almost a year, living in California. We had an approved fiance visa, wonderful wedding, and adjustment of status, and he is working legally with his greencard and social security number. I am sending in for my name change on my passport, so the new one should look much better. We have a wedding to attend in London in October, and my question is this:

Do I apply again for a visitor's visa?

or

Do we just bring all of our documentation of leases, car, dog, assets, employment with us just in case?

or

Is there paperwork specifically for spouses of UK citizens who are just visiting, with no intention to stay?

Hi There!

Ive been traveling back and forth to the UK since I started dating my now fiance in 2007. I'm not 100% sure, BUT if you are a US citizen (married or not) we travel with the Visa Waiver Program, meaning, no advance paper work necessary, other than filling out the landing card when you arrive in London. I'm not sure how the previous denials may affect you, but as long as you are only in the country for a brief period of time and have a return ticket, I don't think you should have a hard time! I've been grilled a few times just because I've been to the UK so many times in the last few years, but as long as you have a good reason to be there, accommodation arranged, and a return ticket well within the Visa Waiver allowance (which for the UK I believe is 6 months...) you should be OK!

Good luck!

-Renee

[gwenneh 7]

That would be true if the OP didn't have a prior entry refusal and visa refusal to contend with. I think it's very likely she would be refused entry again unless she was granted prior entry clearance (a visitor's visa).

There is really, really good visa help in the visa section of uk-yankee.com -- I definitely suggest reposting over there, since there are some actual pros to help you. This isn't a straightforward situation due to those refusals.

Edited July 13, 2010 by gwenneh

[Justine+David 218]

Hi There!

Ive been traveling back and forth to the UK since I started dating my now fiance in 2007. I'm not 100% sure, BUT if you are a US citizen (married or not) we travel with the Visa Waiver Program, meaning, no advance paper work necessary, other than filling out the landing card when you arrive in London. I'm not sure how the previous denials may affect you, but as long as you are only in the country for a brief period of time and have a return ticket, I don't think you should have a hard time! I've been grilled a few times just because I've been to the UK so many times in the last few years, but as long as you have a good reason to be there, accommodation arranged, and a return ticket well within the Visa Waiver allowance (which for the UK I believe is 6 months...) you should be OK!

Good luck!

-Renee

There is no such thing as a Visa Waiver Program in the UK; that's a US specific name. It is true that US citizens are generally allowed in without a visa for six months when showing ties. However...having a denial in a passport and being denied a visitor visa to the UK is a VERY different situation from visiting the UK multiple times like you have done and your advice is not appropriate. I know you probably mean well, but this kind of advice could cost the OP a lot of $$ if he goes buys a flight ticket to the UK and is denied at entry and has to fly back.

OP, go over to uk-yankee.com and do a search and/or post the question there. This is a site for immigration to the US and while there may be some info on going to the UK border, you will get more comprehensive information there.

[thomady 0]

Thank you guys for the constructive advice! We used visajourney during our entire marriage process, so it was a familiar place to ask. I've posted at UK-Yankee. Hopefully I can untangle this mess! Thank you so much!