Hello ,
I’m new here and have a couple of questions. I’m British , still have my British passport . My husband is American . We’ve been married 18 years and I’ve lived in the US for all that time . Now I want to go back home , my parents are aging and I also have my first grandchild . My questions are ‘what is the vignette I’ve seen mentioned on here ‘ and secondly why do some people collect their passports and some are sent in the mail ? Sorry if they’re silly questions but it all seems rather confusing ! Thanks in advance ,

not a moderator or expert so could be wrong
vignette is the visa
Passports - some people apply at premium centers so their passports are sent back to the premium center for them to pick up once the decision is made.
We don’t live near a premium center so we had to send hubbies passport and docs on to the NY scanning hub they will then mail them back to you once a decision is made ( you have to include prepaid postage when you initially send the docs)

Thank you so much , you were very helpful .

Hi I believe vignette is the time in which you are allowed to enter the UK or must enter before date. Normally one month from the start of your visa. If you don’t enter before then it creates problems.

Thank you for your reply . So it means a special trip if house sale, packing etc is not complete ? But then travel between the UK and USA is unlimited ? Apologies for more questions, I’m just trying to foresee what to try and organize etc . Or am I worrying about nothing ?

We sold our house before applying for my husbands spousal visa was that planned no...it was only on the market 2 days and went under contract.
We are now staying at a friends condo that he does not use.
We also had a dog which was coming with us, so we sent him to England 14 days after my husbands application and before we closed on the house and he is now at my mother’s whom we will live with when we arrive home. The dogs move also had to be coordinated as time lines for vaccinations etc had to be met.
I have found selling a home shipping a dog working and applying for a spousal visa quite stressful, however we are now in a good place.
We are paying the final bills left from our home purging more stuff while waiting for the decision on his visa.
I think it’s a personal decision on how people want to sequence the events however nothing is ever guaranteed and things may not go as we planned.
As sandiego indicated you can dictate when you want to return.
Good luck 🍀

Thank you , I understand now .

wow, good that your house sold so quickly, but yes it’s very stressful, and we haven’t even started yet ! It will be so worth it though . I expect we will be living with my parents for a while too. . Good luck to you also , keep us posted !