Do we need a UK visa in this situation?

[mommy111]

This summer I’m traveling to France for work and was able to use frequent flier miles to buy tickets for the kids. A friends daughter, a college student, is coming with us to ‘babysit’ or sightsee with the kids. I was hoping to then go from France to spend a few days in the UK. Our babysitter is a US permanent resident but does not have a US passport. If she was traveling to the UK directly, she would need a UK visa. However she has a Schengen visa (France) and I’m wondering if she would still need a UK visa when traveling from France to the UK. I tried calling the help line to find out but they were pretty useless. This is in late June
TIa for any advice:help

[DualvansMommy]

The green card means she can work and live in the U.S legally, you need to look up her country of origin where she has her passport issued.

The website or embassy (Not the U.S embassy!) should tell you or the sitter the requirements for travel from France to England with her passport. Having that said, most passports generally don’t require a visa within Europe travel for a trip. It only comes into play if she wants to work there legally or live.


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[georgiegirl]

She needs all visas she would need if she didn’t have a US green card. Years ago, DH was trapped in Charles de Gaulle airport for two days because he didn’t have a French visa but he had a green card. (This was before the EU). He tried to tell the passport control people that he had a US green card, and they said (in a French accent), “but this is. It the United States.”


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[mommy111]

She has a French visa already, the question is whether she the needs one to travel to the UK from France.....so if she were traveling to any other EU country, she wouldn’t......but I don’t know about the UK

[georgiegirl]

She has a French visa already, the question is whether she the needs one to travel to the UK from France.....so if she were traveling to any other EU country, she wouldn’t......but I don’t know about the UK

Whatever the entry requirements are for her country into the UK, that’s what she needs. Doesn’t matter if she has a French visa. UK is not France. Doesn’t matter if she’s traveling from France.

Funny story: a friend’s college-aged daughter has dual citizenship (US and UK) and she was traveling to the UK for a school trip, so she decided to just bring her UK passport since she was citizen and thought it would be easier. But she didn’t realize she would need her US passport to come back! Her dad received a frantic call at a weird hour and he had to rummage through her apartment to find her passport and sent it to her in London so she could get back home.


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[123LuckyMom]

PP’s are right. If her passport from her country of origin allows her to travel to the UK, she’ll be fine. It doesn’t matter what country she’s coming from or what other visas or permits she has. That’s what you need to check on.

ETA: You said she would ordinarily need a visa from the UK if she were traveling there. If that’s the case, she’ll likely need one now. If her visa is specific to France, it won’t work for theUK, but if it’s a visa that permits travel throughout the EU, I think it will still be valid in the U.K. since Brexit hasn’t happened yet. I’m no expert, though, so I’d call the U.K. embassy and double check!


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[theriviera]

Agree with all the PP. Also, she should not mention babysitting or helping out at all to the Immigration officer! She will be sent away. She should just say she is there for visiting. Anything that seems like work is a red flag and requires a different visa.

[DualvansMommy]

Whatever the entry requirements are for her country into the UK, that’s what she needs. Doesn’t matter if she has a French visa. UK is not France. Doesn’t matter if she’s traveling from France.

Agree with all the PP. Also, she should not mention babysitting or helping out at all to the Immigration officer! She will be sent away. She should just say she is there for visiting. Anything that seems like work is a red flag and requires a different visa.

Doesn’t matter if she already has existing visa for France because that is just for France. You or your sitter really need to look up the embassy of her country origin. Also, end of June isn’t that much time depending on country of origin too.

And big big yes to the babysitting gig. Just have her tag along as another member of your family on vacation. Don’t mention work at all.


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[mommy111]

Sounds like she might need the visa then
The French visa is not just for France, it’s a Schengen visa so it works in the entire eu, just not sure that the UK is part of that

[nfceagles]

I’m pretty sure the UK is NOT part of the Schengen Zone even though it is still in the EU. I think she needs to find out what is needed for her to enter the UK based on what country her passport is from.


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