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At the border

3K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  Joppa 
So I've just received my spousal settlement visa from the UKBA, all good news.

What happens upon my entry to the UK? Does my wife (UK Citizen) need to be with me and pass through the Non-EU passport control checkpoint with me? Or can she head to the UK citizen lines at passport control?

Any specific paperwork I should have with me and accessible, even though I've already been issued the visa? Basically trying to have my first entry on the settlement visa be as simple as possible!
Hi, and congrats on your visa!

I should think that, for this instance at least, you and your wife would BOTH want to take advantage of the Non-EU passport lane and the (potentially) shorter lines that often accompany that class of passenger.

I was over in late April (on a non-stop flight from Vancouver) and while my flight was quite full, I found that the Non-EU line was waaaay shorter than for passengers from the UK or EU (i.e. most of the passengers on the flight were returning UK citizens/EU residents). I think that there were MAYBE ten people ahead of me in the queue (I was seated at the back of the plane and had to wait for everyone ahead of me to disembark) and I was through customs faster than my fiancé (who was waiting for me outside of the baggage reclaim area) and I thought it would take.

Even when I arrived on December 27, 2011 the Non-EU line was slightly shorter than the UK/EU lines and I got through customs fairly quickly.

I would imagine that if MrsJoe went in the UK queue and you went through the Non-EU queue, whomever cleared customs first would not be allowed to stand around and wait post-customs for the other to come through and would be herded along to the baggage reclaim area to wait. If there were any problems clearing customs for either of you, it would then be difficult to get word to the other person to apprise them of the situation.

For sentimental reasons as well (if you and MrsJoe are into that sort of thing), it would be meaningful for the both of you to do YOUR first post-spousal visa entry into the UK together in the Non-EU line (I don't know which line you will qualify for in subsequent trips).
 
When we entered the UK for our civil partnership, my (Indonesian) partner joined the non-EEA queue, while I (UK citizen) joined the EEA one, as we had done numerous times previously.

His queue was much shorter and he therefore reached the counter before me. Upon seeing his marriage/CP visa, the UKBA officer asked where I was: my partner pointed me out and the officer signalled to me to come over. She explained that as a couple, we should always queue up together when at the UK border, and that we could join either queue. We have done this on every trip to the UK and in various EU countries since.

teuchter
Thanks for saying that, Teuchter... I was wondering about whether or not I could join the UK line in the future when Ed (my UK fiancé) and I travel or would we be relegated to the Non-EU line because I am a Canadian. It's important to us to have this information, as Ed is blind and would be dependent on my status to get through the whole customs process and knowing that we will have a choice of lines will make it that much easier for us to back into the UK (i.e. we will choose the shortest line possible).
 
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