alcoa

Can anyone point me to any forum for finding information about US citizens visiting UK for a couple of weeks?

Wife and I are US passport holders with steady jobs in US. Planning a brief visit to London, but with a stop in Munich, Germany. We want to land/arrive in Munich on a weekend (I'll be attending a work meeting there for a week; we're planning on hopping on a flight to London so wife and baby can be with her family there, I'd catch return flight Monday to my Munich meeting and then after the work week, catch a flight back to London. After about a week of vacation in London (2 weeks for the wife) all of us return to Munich to catch our return flight back to US.

Would entering UK twice within 2 weeks cause any flags at the UK immigration? LOL. I understand we don't need a visa. What documents in general is recommended to be carried for US passport holders briefly visiting the UK?

lansbury

You'll be fine with just your passport. They might ask why you went to Munich and why you are back in London. I used to work alongside the immigration officers covering European arrivals and US passport holders going back and forth was a common occurrence.

MarylandNed

Not a problem at all. My daughters travelled around Europe last summer on US passports. They entered a few countries (including the UK) twice during their trip.

alcoa

Thank you both! This puts us at ease.

RICH

I haven't thought about this before, but assuming the visa waiver works the same for US to EU as it does for UK to US, I would think you get a 90 day, visa free, visit. Once you are in EU you can travel as freely as if crossing state lines in US.

As to whether your meetings in Munich are "work" that's another topic

alcoa

Except in my case I'll be leaving Germany (EU) and arriving in UK (non-EU state?), and I'll need to go thru Heathrow immigration and get my passport stamped for arrival, unlike freely crossing state lines in US?

Also, I know I'll get an arrival stamp at Munich when I first land there; will they also stamp a departure when I leave for the UK a few hours later, seeing that I will be boarding a flight to UK (out of EU)?

Probably wiser to say 'Business meeting' rather than work related meeting?

RICH

UK is a member of the EU. Perhaps you are confused because they don't use the "euro" currency?

alcoa

You're right, but I also thought for travel purposes they did NOT have an open border with the rest of the EU/Schengen countries. They'd let me in due to my US passport, and not because I was already in another Schengen country.

I may be missing something basic here..lol

RICH

No more help from me. What's a Schengen?

henryh

This is correct. You still won't have any problems.

alcoa

Thanks. Can anyone confirm on the arrival/departure stamping. I know they'll put an arrival stamp in Munich when I first land there; will they also stamp a departure when I leave for the UK a few hours later, seeing that I will be boarding a flight to UK i.e. a non-Schengen country? (Flight to UK is on a separate ticket so I'll be collecting and re-checking luggage at Munich).

Just trying to understand what to expect at all the airports.

Marocco

My USC brother in law visited us in Europe back in February for two weeks. During this time he entered the UK twice without any problems.

MarylandNed

The UK is in the EU...but not in the EMU (European Monetary Union or "Euro Zone").

materialcontroller

Several EU countries, as well as some EFTA countries, operate an open border common travel area (known as Schengen). So if you are admitted to one Schengen country you are effectively admitted to them all as there are no longer any formal immigration checks carried out on travellers between Schengen states.

The UK and Eire maintain their own seperate common travel area and are not part of Schengen. Therefore the OP will experience immigration checks on the journeys to/from Munich and London.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area

Your passport will be stamped on entry into both Germany and the UK. It might be stamped by the German authorities on exit from Germany to the UK (unsure about Munich airport but practices vary a lot across the EU regarding immigration checks on departing passengers). I doubt very much whether it will be stamped when you leave the UK to travel back to Munich as the UK doesn't have any routine outbound immigration checks.

rpjs

I've always found this diagram quite useful for understanding the various European institutions and which countries are within which: