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Topic: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer  (Read 12852 times)

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It's the travel season, and there's always lots of bfs and gfs heading back-and-forth across the pond with romance on their minds, and the same question:  "What happens if I get questioned or detained in immigration?". 

If you travel in and out of the UK and do it repeatedly, sooner or later you will activate the built-in radar of an Immigration Officer, and you will need to answer some questions.  And if you are on your 2nd or 3rd trip to the UK as a visitor with nothing else to explain your visit except that you are "seeing some friends", it makes sense that the Immigration Officer's curiosity would be aroused.  And on your 3rd or 4th trip over a short period of time - like 2 years or so, there's a 99% chance you will be caught out.  If that happens, there are several outcomes:  you might be released into the UK for 24 hours; you might be released into the UK for a specific period of time, like 2 months; or you might get sent back.

The entry refusal rate at our airports runs fairly consistent.  1 person out of every 2,300 arrivals will get detained and sent back.  Caribbean people hold the #1 slot for entry refusals at port.  There's a tie for 2nd place with Americans, Canadians, South Africans, and so on all running neck and neck.  Other nationalities run a distant 3rd place.  Of course, visa-nationals, from Pakistan or the Philippines for example, are not generally refused entry at port because they already have entry clearances.

Yes, it's stressful and yes, there's lots of advice on the internet about how to cope with it.  So that's not the point of this article.  If you are having stress about being refused entry, if you are travelling short of funds, or if your travel history begins to look conspicuous, there's a sure-fire way of coping with it.  You can get an entry clearance.  It's a type of visa where they ask all the nitty-gritty questions before you travel, and get that part out of the way.  If they don't like what's going on or they suspect your intentions, you can learn about it straight-away.  American visitors don't need one, but lots get them because of stress.

Here's a rough extract from the Home Office's site:  "...People ... who do not need a visa but would like peace of mind can seek entry clearance before travelling. This takes the form of a certificate placed in their passport. This is not a requirement and does not guarantee entry into the UK, but it may make passage through immigration control easier. Application for entry clearance is made to the British Embassy or High Commission... A fee is charged for entry clearance..."

And here's a quote about the same thing, but from a different point of view: "...The rate of refusal of leave to enter at the port to visitors from some non-visa national countries ... is higher than for visitors from other countries.  It can therefore be advisable for nationals of those countries to obtain entry clearance, and the rules permit though they do not strictly require it (para 23A).  Even before the Immigration Order 2000 SI 2000/1161, entry clearance would ease the traveler's passage through immigration control and help to avoid wasted airfares and the distress of refusal at the port..."  (source: "Immigration and Asylum Law", Gina Clayton, LLM, Oxford University Press, 2004).

Once again, it's optional.  But if you are having stress about the Immigration Officer, if you are travelling with minimal funds, if you have no way to explain what you are doing in the UK, or if your travel history starts to look conspicuous, then the entry clearance is an option to check out!


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Re: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2005, 11:59:17 PM »
Having just read this, I don't really understand the point of this article. You HAVE a reason if you have a bf/gf in the UK. To me, that is a valid reason to come often. I have in the past 8months come to the UK 4 times. I came in thru Heathrow once and Manchester 3x's. The most grief I got was the first time at heathrow and the other 3 times from the airline immigration ppl in the checkin line for return trips.

I have not been detained, only questioned and informed of the fiance visa. I would like to know how many others feel this statistic is valid?
Sometimes I feel like an alien in my own country


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Re: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2005, 06:41:34 AM »
As one who was coming through to visit my boyfriend and was refused entry...I'd say the statistics are pretty valid.

Having a girlfriend or boyfriend in the UK is a valid reason to visit.  It is also a "valid reason" (to some) to attempt to stay without going through the legalities.... :-\\\\
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Re: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2005, 07:47:57 AM »
Having just read this, I don't really understand the point of this article. You HAVE a reason if you have a bf/gf in the UK. To me, that is a valid reason to come often.
I have not been detained, only questioned and informed of the fiance visa. I would like to know how many others feel this statistic is valid?

TO YOU that might be valid, but perhaps not to the entry officer!
Back in the 80's i used to come and go every 6 or 9 months... I managed to keep that up for 5 years, but eventually was detained, questioned for hours, had my bags searched, diaries and letters read, phone calls were made to people in my diary, and i was sent back to the US the next again day because the IO was not satisfied that my reason for coming to the UK was purely as a visitor. 


Re: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2005, 06:11:26 PM »
It's good this thread got re-opened, I thought it had been lost. 

As an afterthought, if you do get detained, about the LAST thing you want to do is to insist on contacting the American Embassy.  They are worthless, and it just makes everything take longer.  Once they get there, the only thing the American Embassy can do is get you sent back to the USA - which is what is happening in the first instance, right?   Plus if you are young, you'll probably receive a lecture  that you don't need from the American consular officer.  So forget them.  Actually, they are less than worthless because they get in the way.  On the other hand, if you are in detention for longer than a few hours, an immigration adviser, or somebody else from the advocacy side, will eventually come around and see what your case is about. 

Of course this is just an opinion and if you feel it's productive to contact the embassy, you can get access to a publically funded telephone by telling the detention clerk.


Re: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2005, 08:25:49 PM »
I made the mistake of contacting the US Embassy when i was detained & refused entry (not my idea... my friend suggested it), and they pretty much just told me to get tae f*ck.


Re: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2005, 08:45:11 PM »
I made the mistake of contacting the US Embassy when i was detained & refused entry (not my idea... my friend suggested it), and they pretty much just told me to get tae f*ck.

That's a much more succint way of putting it.   ;D  As I understand it, they now add their taxi fare to your removal tab, and can try to recover it.

When I was getting my field experience for Level 1 and pounding the bricks at Gatwick, there was a 40ish American woman in detention - a screwed up work permit - who got up on her high horse and demanded to see the Ambassador.   ::)  I didn't talk to her because I didn't need work permits experience but when I went back into the office to get some tea, all the IOs were having a jolly good giggle about it.  ;D  And the problem is that they were spot on because it actually was funny.   ;D

Anyway, the Americans didn't show up until the next day, and essentially scolded her and sent her back to detention - and was she ever STEAMED.  So the upshot end-result was that she lost a day for absolutely nothing, when she could have been back stateside sorting it all out...


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Re: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2005, 08:57:14 PM »
Ahh! Im going to visit my boyfriend in a few weeks thru bhx. I think Id collapse if they wouldn't let me thru. I wasn't even gonna take any money with me. Just my visa card. AHh! Stress!

Ash




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Re: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2005, 10:21:03 AM »
TO YOU that might be valid, but perhaps not to the entry officer!
Back in the 80's i used to come and go every 6 or 9 months... I managed to keep that up for 5 years, but eventually was detained, questioned for hours, had my bags searched, diaries and letters read, phone calls were made to people in my diary, and i was sent back to the US the next again day because the IO was not satisfied that my reason for coming to the UK was purely as a visitor. 

OK - I confused, if you enter the country WITH funds and WITH somewhere to stay and Nothing in your bags to suggest you are anything but a vistitor WHY would immigration turn you away from the border.  If this is the general rule how do business people manage to do it who may be travelling to and from the US once or twice a month??

I'm not suggesting you are wrong just interested on the justifications for it.

Steve


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Re: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2005, 02:04:37 PM »
OK - I confused, if you enter the country WITH funds and WITH somewhere to stay and Nothing in your bags to suggest you are anything but a vistitor WHY would immigration turn you away from the border.  If this is the general rule how do business people manage to do it who may be travelling to and from the US once or twice a month??

I'm not suggesting you are wrong just interested on the justifications for it.

Steve

Because if they think you may overstay your visa for some reason then they're not going to let you in. So, someone coming over saying they're visiting a boyfriend or girlfriend may have trouble when the immigration officer wonders if they're coming over to get married or, perhaps, deciding they don't want to go back home because they don't want to be apart anymore. When I came in they just suspected Peter was my boyfriend and denied me entry because they didn't believe I was coming into the UK purely as a visitor and that I might overstay my visa (although they verbally told me something completely different).


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Re: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2005, 04:18:06 PM »
Did you have anything suspicious like loads of bags or anything? Or is this the time when you tried to stay for a really long time?

Ash




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Re: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer
« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2005, 04:25:39 PM »
Did you have anything suspicious like loads of bags or anything? Or is this the time when you tried to stay for a really long time?

Ash

Nothing suspicious at all. I had two checked bags but they got lost (I didn't get them back until I'd been home for a week....I'm telling you, this trip was a NIGHTMARE! lol). They just went through my carry-on luggage...I was careful not to pack anything that might make them suspicious. She was asking me why I needed a laptop if I wasn't working. I explained to her that I wanted my own computer for getting online and that I planned on taking tons of photos and I needed it to get the pictures off of my camera to make room for more. But yes, this was when I was trying to come in for 5 1/2 months which was just a bad idea... I wish I had known.


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Re: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2005, 05:11:49 PM »
Thats really is awful, but I just don't get it.  I can understand thier suspision if you don't have a job to return to in the US but if you have they in my opinon have no grounds to refuse you entry.  If you were coming for five months did you have enough money to support as such ? I mean lets face it, in general a short term traveller will have the following

1) Return Ticket.
2) A job to return to.
3) Money to support themselves.

If you have the thre things above and nothing to sugest that you are about to marry, I would certainly be very hostile to any attempt to refuse me entry - but hey thats just me ;)

Anyway thanks for your reply and I hope our immigration guys treat you better next time

Steve


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Re: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer
« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2005, 05:14:55 PM »
It's the immigration officer's call...and it's not always an easy call to make.  Plenty of people who have jobs waiting for them back home enter the UK with the intent to stay permanently.  The fact that your employer is expecting you back or that you have booked a return flight isn't enough evidence to prove that you're not here to stay.... :-\\\\


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Re: FAQ tip for girlfriends/boyfriends pond-hopping this summer
« Reply #14 on: July 01, 2005, 05:16:32 PM »
I had all of those things but she said SHE didn't think it wasn't enough money. She wanted me to prove that I could afford to pay for a place to stay for 5 1/2 months if Peter stopped supporting me. Even though, for $100 I could just get a flight home earlier. I had plenty of money, but obviously not enough to pay for a hotel for 5 1/2 months.

Anyway, that mess is over now that I'm married and here on my settlement visa! :)


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