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So, I’m in a long distance relationship with a guy from England, we’ve been together for a little over a year now. He visited me here in the States for 2 weeks in April 2018, and I visited him for 2 weeks in Oct-Nov of 2018. My goal is to go back and visit him in a few months after saving up some money, however, I’m hoping to stay for a bit longer than 2 weeks, say for more like a month.

But I’m honestly not sure if my boss will grant me a month off to go visit him so I am dabbling with the idea of quitting my job to go be able to see him and just take it as an opportunity to look for a better job once I return home. Obviously I understand that not having a job as a tie back home is frowned upon so I guess I’m just hoping you guys can give me some advice on what some of my options may be in regards to being able to see him without causing a whole lot of scrutiny at the border.

I’ve read about some people advising on lying a bit on my reason for being there and whatnot and I have absolutely no interest in lying. Do you all think it would raise too many questions for me to go visit him for a month with adequate funds but no job? He is employed and would help with some of the financial burdens as well and we are debating on a week-long trip in London if I do get the chance to stay for a whole month, would having proof of accommodation there help me any or no?

I’m sorry if I seem stupid for my questions; I just know I miss him terribly and I’m ready to visit him again, but I want to do things right. Thank you guys for any and all input in advance!

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    While I don't think it's a duplicate of your question, the answer here might have some information that's useful to you.
    – ProgrammingLlama
    Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 6:08
  • What is your citizenship?
    – Nate Eldredge
    Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 6:10
  • @Alison Is it really worth quitting your job just to be able to spend 2 weeks longer in the UK?
    – Traveller
    Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 7:39
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    @Alison the problem is that deciding how long should be done before rather than after. For example saying you'll go for 2 weeks and being given a 3 month visa does not mean you should then stay for 3 months (might be obvious to you already but worth mentioning).
    – Philbo
    Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 8:35
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    @Alison While I sympathise with you as I’ve been in a long distance relationship myself for 7+ years, I strongly agree with Philbo’s comment. There are lots of questions on TSE from would-be visitors, with visas and visa-free nationals, who have been denied entry eg travel.stackexchange.com/questions/51734/…. Actions now can have repercussions eg travel.stackexchange.com/questions/131957/… Think medium to longer term, not short-term
    – Traveller
    Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 9:28

2 Answers 2

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Your question is impossible to answer with certainty. The official advice for visa-free entry is that you can stay in the UK for up to 6 months (if you are allowed entry and if the Immigration Officer doesn’t decide to curtail this). However, you should bring the same documents you’d need to apply for a visa, to show to officers at the UK border https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa/y/usa/tourism The latter includes proof of your ties to the US. If your job is currently your only strong tie (no dependent family, no property, no savings to speak of etc) you may have difficulty convincing Immigration, if questioned, that you are a genuine visitor https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/673351/Visit-guidance-v7.0EXT.PDF#page15 given that your answers would be along the lines of ‘I recently gave up my job to be able to spend more time in the UK with my boyfriend’.

Having proof of accommodation for a week in London won’t necessarily improve your chances. What you should have if you decide to try this is a letter of invitation from your boyfriend stating the reason he’s inviting you, on what basis (eg accommodation only) and for how long. Having a return ticket that matches the end of visit date in the invitation would be essential.

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  • Good advice all, thank you! Yes, I also have no intention of going over there without knowing how long I’ll be staying or without a return ticket, I know better than that, haha. I will have some savings by the time I’d fly over there as well.
    – Alison
    Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 16:33
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I realise your question was a year ago and therefore probably this answer is too late. We had someone in our office in a similar situation (we are in the UK and her boyfriend was in New Zealand). She was able to arrange to have a year of unpaid-leave/sabbatical while keeping her job open for her return. This meant that she did still have a job, even though she was away for a year.

Whether this is possible depends on your company, how long you've been there, what position you hold and how keen they are to keep you, but it might be an option to explore.

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