I'm from the USA, and have a UK tier 4 student visa already issued to me. They made an error on the date that it becomes 'valid', however I received the passport back only a week before flying, and don't have time to go through channels to change it.
I don't need a visa to enter the UK as a tourist (non-visa national, American citizens don't need separate visa to be tourist), so I was hoping I could visit as a tourist for the 7 days before my 30-day vignette in my passport becomes officially valid, then leave for a day and re-enter so that immigration can stamp my visa and officially 'activate it'.
Has anyone got any advice, or experience with this? It isn't my fault at all, I never meant to "sneak around" my visa. I have a full student visa, it's just that my 30-day sticker starts 7 days after it was meant to. I did my application correctly. There's just no time to fix it before I leave in 7 days.
EDIT: NO, this isn't a duplicate or the same as the question indicated, in any way. I ALREADY have the student visa, applied for it from my home country, all that deal. I have the visa. I simply want to know if anyone has any ideas or input regarding my ability to go into the UK as a tourist before the visa becomes valid, or if they'll say that since I currently have a student visa issued to me, despite it not being valid for another 7 days, I cannot enter as a tourist, depsite not needing a visa since USA citizens don't need tourist visas.
