Originally Posted by
Christopher
I am not sure, however, of the need to travel with the main visa holder. Certainly that is not the case once everyone has arrived (i.e. the spouse can travel abroad and return to the UK without the need for the main visa holder being present with him or her on the trip). This may be true as well for the first entry – I don't know – but if it is there might be need for proof to be shown that the main visa holder will be travelling to the UK forthwith. Certainly the subsidiary visa holders can enter for the first time after the holder of the main visa (which is a very different thing, of course).
I think that in relation to first entry, the spouse must either accompany the principal visa holder or travel after the principal visa holder has already been admitted to the UK. This is because of paragraph 194(i) of the Immigration Rules, which requires that "the applicant is married to or a civil partner of a person with limited leave to enter in the United Kingdom under paragraphs 128-193". As the principal visa holder will not have leave to enter until they arrive in the UK and are admitted, it follows that the spouse cannot travel to the UK before the principal visa holder if they wish to be admitted in this category.