Joined
·
5,222 Posts
Hi, and congrats on your visa!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!
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).