Traveling from the US to the UK and back again

[The4Sands 67]

Hi all, I had a quick scan of this section and UK section of VJ and didn’t see anything that looked like it answered my question, but happy to be corrected. 
 

I am a USC, not living in the US but who was living in the UK for the last 10 years. When I moved I was at the very end of the process of applying for British citizenship when COVID hit and slowed everything down and then my mom got much sicker and we needed to come to the US as quickly as possible so I dropped everything and came out here and my husband followed when his IR-1 was approved.
 

All that’s left in my British citizenship journey is to take my oath ceremony and my local UK county  council has just contacted me to say that if I don’t take the ceremony soon, I will lose this opportunity at citizenship. Ceremonies are now virtual but I have to physically be in the UK to “attend.” 

 

So, I know if I fly into the UK from the US I have to have a negative COVID test within 72 hours and I have to quarantine for 10 days. But what if I don’t need to stay in the country? Could I fly in, get a COVID test, quarantine long enough to take my online ceremony and get a negative result and then leave again? Also, do I have to have to have a negative test to go back to the US? Would it be feasible for the one test to count for both? 
 

My head is spinning and all my googling is coming up with conflicting or outdated info. Any help would be much appreciated. 

[JFH 12,189]

You need to quarantine upon arrival in the UK. So you would need to factor that amount of time into the trip prior to the appointment. Even if you only need to be in the country for a few days that doesn’t remove the quarantine requirement.

 

The US requires the COVID test to have been taken within the 3 days prior to your flight. 
 

Is the county council offering oath ceremonies at the moment? The UK doesn’t even have the schools and shops open right now so I find it odd that councils would be conducting oath ceremonies when people can’t even have weddings and funerals at the moment. 

 

[Wuozopo 4,285]

24 minutes ago, The4Sands said:

Ceremonies are now virtual but I have to physically be in the UK to “attend.” 

Couldn’t you attend a virtual oath ceremony while in quarantine?

[The4Sands 67]

Thanks @Wuozopo and @JFH for your quick replies. 
 

Yes, I could absolutely “attend” while I’m quarantining. The emailed me today to say they are still doing ceremonies, but they are virtual for the time being. I just can’t really afford to spend 10-12 days in the UK, for a variety of reasons. I appreciate that I may have to do that because immigration is never easy or straightforward and sacrifices are almost always required. I guess I was just hoping because the quarantine restrictions are to prevent you from spreading COVID in the UK it might be okay if I flew into the UK, took the COVID test, quarantined for, say 4-5 days (in which time I attended my virtually oath ceremony) and then when I got a negative test result, use that same test to leave the UK again. 
 

I know that’s naively optimistic and it’s probably never going to go to plan, but I can’t even figure out if it’s even allowed, let alone if it would actually work. 

[JFH 12,189]

So if you can stay in the hotel room the entire time you can shorten your trip. You only need to do the full quarantine if you intend to go out and about afterwards. I am surprised they are doing virtual oaths but you have to be present in the UK. How would they know? I guess they check IP addressed or something. Do you need to go somewhere to sign something? Or collect a certificate? You will need some sort of paperwork to get a passport and so on. 
 

You can get a rapid test at Heathrow. Because you have to quarantine you wouldn’t be able to go out and get one at a pharmacy or something. 

[MushyPea 8]

Hey

My job is to call international arrivals re: isolation so happy to advise. You do not need to be in the UK for the full 10 days. You could do as you’ve mentioned (4/5 days) then leave again. 
To get in to the UK you will need proof of negative test and to book a mandatory test package for when you arrive (this gives you a test to take on day 2 and day 8 of quarantine). The test results from your day 2 test should be with you within 48 hours which you could then use as proof for the USA entry. 
Please note your isolation must start immediately, but the day after you arrive in the UK is classed as ‘day 1’. So here’s an example: Monday take test in USA, Wednesday fly into UK armed with negative test, Friday take day 2 COVID test as per UK law, Sunday receive negative result and fly back the same or the next day.

It’s tight and relies on fitting in your virtual ceremony and receiving your results on time- but it’s not impossible. 

my biggest tip would be sorting your test package in advance so it’s waiting at your address all ready for you on arrival. 
 

Hope that helps

Edited February 25, 2021 by MushyPea

[The4Sands 67]

22 hours ago, MushyPea said:

Hey

My job is to call international arrivals re: isolation so happy to advise. You do not need to be in the UK for the full 10 days. You could do as you’ve mentioned (4/5 days) then leave again. 
To get in to the UK you will need proof of negative test and to book a mandatory test package for when you arrive (this gives you a test to take on day 2 and day 8 of quarantine). The test results from your day 2 test should be with you within 48 hours which you could then use as proof for the USA entry. 
Please note your isolation must start immediately, but the day after you arrive in the UK is classed as ‘day 1’. So here’s an example: Monday take test in USA, Wednesday fly into UK armed with negative test, Friday take day 2 COVID test as per UK law, Sunday receive negative result and fly back the same or the next day.

It’s tight and relies on fitting in your virtual ceremony and receiving your results on time- but it’s not impossible. 

my biggest tip would be sorting your test package in advance so it’s waiting at your address all ready for you on arrival. 
 

Hope that helps

That is so incredibly helpful @MushyPea. Thank you so much!!! I think you’re right that the timing will be a bit complicated, but I think I can figure it out. That’s a good tip about booking the test package in advance! I will maybe plan to stay a little longer than 3 days, just to be on the safe side but anything is better than the original 10+ days I was thinking. 
 

Thanks again!!!

[Wuozopo 4,285]

@The4Sands

 

Wonder if a VPN giving you a UK IP address would work? Heh Heh 😏 

[aaron2020 11,651]

35 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

@The4Sands

 

Wonder if a VPN giving you a UK IP address would work? Heh Heh 😏 

Great idea.  Use a VPN and commit fraud to get UK citizenship.  Wonderful advice.  What could go wrong?

[Wuozopo 4,285]

3 hours ago, aaron2020 said:

Great idea.  Use a VPN and commit fraud to get UK citizenship.  Wonderful advice.  What could go wrong?

It wasn’t advice. Just a little chuckle. 

[xyz12345 260]

Do you need a British passport to leave the UK?

[The4Sands 67]

14 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

It wasn’t advice. Just a little chuckle. 

I did take it as a joke. No worries that I’ll try it. Though a friend did ask me if I could do it from the British Virgin Islands as that would be much more fun of a trip!

 

2 minutes ago, xyz12345 said:

Do you need a British passport to leave the UK?

No, I don’t need the British passport to leave as I have an American one. I’m pretty sure the only way they’ll let me back in to America is with an American passport. Or is that part of the travel ban done? But in general, I understand that if you hold dual citizenship it’s best to enter each country on that country’s passport, although I’m happy to be corrected. 
 

I have a new question. When I booked my flight, all the travel websites said I would need “a medical certificate and proof of a negative COVID test,” but the guidance on gov.uk literally just says this:

I thought I would need to pay for some fancy travel medical COVID test or to do the PCR at the airport before I fly out (both of which are expensive). But this makes it sound like I can just go local testing facility 72 hours before my flight and show them the email/text results I normally get. Any ideas?

[Wuozopo 4,285]

3 hours ago, The4Sands said:

But this makes it sound like I can just go local testing facility 72 hours before my flight and show them the email/text results I normally get. Any ideas?

That’s how I understand it. Some places provide results via email or pharmacy portal so you have a digital record to show.  Or you may print it out. 
 

I think the reason people in the UK forum are using the Heathrow site is because the lockdown doesn’t allow for so much going about to shops and such. They found it more convenient to take care of it at the airport. 

[Bug&Bug 143]

I did my test in Heatrow because of convenience, same price, and because they give you the results super quick. As in 2h instead of 72h.

 

I do think they have a bit of backlog in LAMP tests because its the one used to reduce the quarantine but still, ive heard to many horror stories of friends almost missing their flights because the local test places took 3 days to give them the results.

 

[The4Sands 67]

Well, just to update you all, I made it safely to the UK. In the end I took several, local COVID tests in my state and both airlines and UK immigration we’re happy with the email results that I received. 
 

Entering the UK is not a quick process these days. I had to show my negative test results, my passenger locator form, my proof of having booked the UK COVID testing package and my residence permit multiple times, which was fine. But at every stage there were other people who not prepared to do this and that slowed everything right down. My queue at Immigration at the UK border probably only had 100 people in it, but it took two and half hours to get through (which is nothing compared to “all other passports” queue which had about 300 people in it and was hardly moving at all).

 

Thanks to the advice given here, I booked my COVID testing package well in advance and it was waiting at my quarantine location when I arrived. I’ve taken it and posted it back and in the meantime am enjoying a quiet quarantine. I’ve done a little research and am going to try and book a LAMP test at Heathrow early on the day I depart. I might have to hang around the airport for a long time, but better that than increasing the chance of missing my flight back to the US, I guess. I don’t think the results from test I just took will still be valid to use to go back to the States. 
 

It’s a bit weird how locked down it is here compared to my state, but I absolutely understand why they’ve done it. And really am just grateful I’m able to be here at all. Anyways, thanks for all your suggestions and advice, it was all really helpful!!!