Advice Re: UKBA & "deletion" of a warning/UK visa

Hello, I am new here.  This board was very highly recommended by other expats.  I sincerely apologize in advance for my very long post but I hope the detail makes my dilemma easier to understand.

Some background.  I got married during October in the US last year (we are both US citizens and my husband is in London on a valid UK work visa).  But, I visited my then fiance in London for several weeks at a time in 2008 from February through October (I had retired once I became engaged since I assumed I would move to London asap but crazy wedding planning prevented this).  As the months passed during 2008, my increasing UK immigration stamps in my US passport are seriously piquing the attention of the UKBA and I would get the Spanish Inquisition almost every time I arrived in the UK, but I was never denied entry.

Then, of course, my last trip to the UK in early October before we get married (only a few weeks before the wedding), I win the lottery and get a surly UKBA immigration officer with the worst attitude ever.  I explain the same thing as I always did and she tells me that I need to get a UK spousal visa for my next return to the UK (she was judge and jury that for all intents and purposes I was "officially residing" in the UK even though I was not) and then stamps the crap out of my US passport, writing "Warning" all over it, and although I am allowed entry this time, I am not allowed to enter the UK without a UK visa the next time.  I further explained that I was planning to do so after I married but I could not obtain a UK spousal visa because the next time I was entering the UK was the day after my wedding for a connecting flight to our honeymoon destination (leaving Heathrow for a few hours and then returning).  There was no way in hell I was going to get any UK visa the day after my wedding, on a Sunday.  I wouldn't even get my marriage license for another couple of weeks!  I stated all this and she just chortled at me and sneered, "You'll just have to sort it out then, won't you??"  Then she put this unusual stamp (unlike all the other UK immigration officer stamps in my passport) in addition to her "Warnings" in my passport.

So, I get a UK multi-purpose visit visa to resolve the interim issue (non-spousal because I am not married yet).  I arrive the day after our wedding without incident.  This multi-purpose visa was valid for a whole year but because of the UKBA officer's Warning stamps in my passport, I am directed to get a spousal visa asap or I will not be allowed entry in the future.

Of course, I get my UK spousal (work permit dependant) visa the next time I'm back in the US.  I wait for a full month for this visa from the British Consulate in NYC.  It finally arrives.  With the wrong starting date (a year into the future, commencing December 2009).

So, the next time I fly home to the US, I get another new UK visa after another month with the correct starting date.  So, since October 2008, I have 3 UK visas plus "WARNINGS" and an unusual UK immigration officer stamp in my passport.

I get the false hope that I will no longer get hassled when entering the UK.  Not. So. Fast.  I still get detained.  The focus of their inquiries is whether I have ever been denied entry at the UK border.  I tell them that I have never been denied entry into the UK and the rest of the whole saga and then they detain me and I assume they are looking up my file as I sit there and wait.  (Sidebar: Why is it always like 85 degrees at Heathrow??  It never gets warm here, ever, that you're without a jacket or coat, so why welcome with the sweatbox treatment?)  When we returned to London earlier this week, I was told by the UKBA officer that I need to get the Home Office of UKBA to delete the warning(s) in my passport which occurred in early October 2008 in order to avoid being detained by UKBA every time I enter London.

Has anyone done this "deletion" procedure with the "Home Office?"

Sorry for this tome of a post, I get so frustrated by this situation where I was not at fault at all.  I prepared all of the paperwork twice, gone through 2 biometrics and paid the ridiculous amounts of $$$ for these visa applications, attorney and courier fees, and all the while being separated from my newlywed husband for more than 2 months total waiting for my UK visas in the US.  The UKBA and British Consulate screwed up my passport and especially my visas but I'm the one that gets detained on an average of 30-45 minutes every single time I enter the UK.

I should also add that hopefully we're only here until January 2010 when my husband's work assignment ends.  I also return home in the US for a week or so once a month or every 2 months.  I do not work in the UK.

Thanks if you read all this.  I appreciate it and thank you in advance for any advice you may have for me.

Errr...I have no idea. But I did read every word of it, and felt compelled to wish you luck (and welcome you to the forum). Some very knowledgeable people hang out here, so cross your fingers...

This is way out of my range of experience, and since I have no expertise...I suggest that in the morning or later tonight the experts may be around.

I just wanted to welcome you and as Stoatula said I'm really sorry to hear you've had such a rough time.

Best of luck to you...all else fails you could renew your passport and pay £165 to have your visa transferred...but there's gotta be a better way of doing it.

Unfortunately, I don't think just getting a new passport would solve the problem.  She's in the computer system and her immigration history will be linked to the new passport.  I expect there's some sort of process to follow to get unfair bad stuff erased, but like Weby and Stoatula, I haven't a clue what it might be.  But welcome, hellokitty, and don't get discouraged, I'm sure someone who can help will come along before too long.   

I'm afraid I also know nothing, but I will say that I know how you feel regarding them being very interested in your reason for being there the more stamps you get! I have 6 right now, and they ask more and more questions each time I go to visit my boyfriend, and I always breathe a sigh of relief when they just let me pass!

I'm going to visit him for three months in June, my longest visit by far (previous longest visit was 3 weeks) and I'm really hoping I have no issues.  I still have an active leave to enter stamp from March for six months that SHOULD cover me til September...but I'm worried if I need to bring anything extra this time besides a note from work stating I am still employed and maybe a bank statement.

That is scary though! And frustrating when they made mistakes and you have to pay for it! I hope it all goes smoothly for you, I'm sure someone will be able to help you out!!

If someone at a border point told me that "...the Home Office of UKBA..." needed to sort something out, I would laugh in his face.  

If a border point is not operating in a business-ready condition and is unnecessarily delaying legitimate visitors, that's grounds for a complaint.  We pay them good money and provide them with good technology to sort things out when and where sorting out is needed.  

Furthermore, they don't need any other government authority to do anything.  They *ARE* UKBA.  That's why we consolidated IND, BIA, IS, UkVisas into a single agency so that *bleep*-ups didn't prolong themselves.  Have they forgotten this?  

Based upon what you have written, I suspect you have not opted for a complaint.  Probably just as well because it needs to be done in a 'British' way to be really effective.  Next time you arrive in the UK, have Vicky (or similar) in the arrivals area...

Thank you so much to all of you for welcoming me to the board and for the positive vibes.  I appreciate it so much!

Garry--I have not filed a complaint...yet.  I am not sure what you mean by the "British" way, other than what I have personally experienced so far with the UKBA and the NYC British Consulate (e.g., not checking for accuracy, passing the buck, going mad with "power" and reaching into your pockets).  But, your post is an eye-opener about how the border system is supposed to work.  I'll definitely keep this in mind, thank you!

Thanks again everyone!  UK-Yankee rocks!

You can't actually send your passport to UKBA to get your record expunged...if you tried, you'd be looking at being without your passport for months anyway.  What you can do is write a letter complaint and ask them to alter the details in their computer system, and next time you come in ask the IO to do the same.  Once you have come in a few times then you will be hassled less.

Vicky

I'm no expert, but I was refused entry once. After I got my spousal visa I still got questioned a few times. Then one time I come through and IO says 'can you please hold on for a moment?' which given my history, really worried me!
He came back and said 'there ya go. I've removed the issues (don't remember the exact term) so you should not have any problems any more.'

So my advice would be the next time you come through to be nice and smiley and very polite and ask the IO if they could possibly remove it.

Wow, what a story!  Good luck with this, I am 100% confident that if you follow Vicky's advice you'll get this sorted.

And cupcake's advice.  That is *exactly* what I advise my clients to do.

Vicky

I hope you do not advise ALL your clients to do this...

Cupcake's case is different because she changed immigration status from a visitor to a spouse, so there was a different set of circumstances governing her computer file.  This would not be directly applicable to hellokitty because hellokitty has never received settlement.

In the eyes of an IO, people with settlement visas are in a different (i.e., reduced) category of risk than visitors because they have already been admitted for residence, so the chances of overstaying are irrelevant to them.

But cupcake's story is useful because it shows that if an IO takes the notion to sort something out, they can do it right there.

All my clients who have had previous issues gaining entry as visitors, wither in the form of being given 'warnings' or being bounced, are advised, once they get their spousal visas, to do as cupcake has suggested.

Hellokitty is getting a work permit dependent visa...I see no reason why she can't do the same.

Vicky

Flew in from NY on 18/7/08 w/ new Fiance visa: Detained
Flew in from Tanzania on 22/11/08 w/ Fiance visa & fiance: Detained
Flew in from NY on 04/Feb/09 w/ Spousal visa & spouse: Detained

All because of the warning I received in June 2008 as a visitor. Every time I was detained I was told it was because a flag was coming up on the system, then after they check up on me and come back, I am informed that it is because of that little warning.

The impression I was given was that the removal of this warning is some sort of bureaucratic process that requires a 'request' to be made by the ECO to a superior officer. The latest ECO told me that he would put in a request for the record to be cleared, and that hopefully it would be. His lady colleague standing next to him waiting to replace him chimed in 'that's IF the request for removal is approved, and it could take up to 8 months to process.' WTF??

Anyway, this was in February, and several months prior, flying in from a trip to Tanzania in November, we were told by the ECO then that the record would be cleared by the next time I would fly in. That, obviously, was not the case.

My husband kicked off at the ECO a bit the last time, ie 'I'm British, she's my wife, you people are all incompetent and we shouldn't be made to wait every time we fly', had the ECO apologizing to him, but who knows? I could (and probably will) be detained again when I fly in from visiting my family in May, only this time I'm a bit worried because he won't be with me.....

Diana

You shouldn't still be flagged.  That's just stupid.  And the thing about the '8 months' is crazy.  They have the power to put a note on the system that you are not a problem person and that you have a valid visa, so the next person who sees it can just waive you through.


Vicky