Bad experience re-entering UK with new ID card (FLR) - anybody else?

Hi everyone!

(Not sure if I should post this in the Visa section or Travel section - please feel free to move if necessary!)

I am a US citizen married to a UK citizen with FLR(M).  I have one of the new ID cards as my visa rather than the sticker in my passport.  My husband and I recently returned from a two week long trip back to the US to visit my family.  We live in Northern Ireland and flew into Belfast International Airport from the US.  After being reprimanded for going through the UK/EU line with my husband (I thought this was allowed/OK to do - guess I was wrong!), I was then asked where my visa was.  I politely told the immigration officer that the ID card was my visa and replaced the visa in my passport.  He refused to believe this, saying what I had was simply an ID card, not a visa.  He asked me "if the Home Office knew about this"  I said, "Of course they do, they issued the card!"  I suppose I should have been carrying the letter from UKBA that I received when I got all of my documents back - explaining I would be issued an ID card rather than the passport vignette... After a bit more back and forth and numerous questions I finally managed to convince him that the ID card was in fact my further leave to remain visa.  Not fun after traveling for 17 hours....

I guess I just expected the immigration officers to be up-to-date with this stuff - wishful thinking?!  Perhaps I wouldn't have had this problem if we had entered the UK at an airport like Heathrow that has a busier international terminal.  Should I just expect this treatment every time until the ID-card-as-visa becomes more common?

Has anyone else had any strange experiences with the new ID/visa card?

-Stacey

Ugh. No. I just got mine. I haven't used it for anything more than to dance around the livingroom going, "I'm legal! I'm legal!"

I won't be leaving the country until probably October. Let's hope they have it sorted by then.

How thoroughly unpleasant!

I don't have the ID card - am one step ahead of the HO, thankfully (= I'm on ILR) - but the last time I came into the UK with my UK partner (I'm on an unmarried partner visa) I had no problems going through the UK/EU line with him.  And I'm sure that other people on this board have done the same sort of thing.  What I'd suggest, not that it will necessarily help if you get a dud IO, is to ask the person who hangs out at the front of the immigration area whether you can go through with your husband - at the very least, if you get hassled, you can say 'but that person said I could' and maybe the two of THEM can squabble about it.

Might want to travel with not only the letter but a raft of printouts, helpfully highlighted.  Not that you should have to, of course!  Sheesh.  And yet ID cards are supposed to help keep Britain safer....  *wanders off muttering*

There should be no lines at all at a British port of entry such as an airport.  They do have queues however.   

Spouses travelling together should join the EU queue.  UKBA policy is that only the most exceptional of cases require that a family be separated whilst clearing immigration controls. 

There's a advisory about it here someplace.     I never know where tho'...

Spouses travelling together should join the EU queue.  UKBA policy is that only the most exceptional of cases require that a family be separated whilst clearing immigration controls. 

There's a advisory about it here someplace.     I never know where tho'...

We've been told "Why didn't you go through the EU passport queue?" when my wife and I queued up for the Non-EU desks on a previous trip and got told "No, you have to go in the Non-EU queue" by stewards when travelling on the most recent trip. UKBA don't make it clear if you can or can't and the security guards/stewards (who didn't look like UKBA staff) don't really have a clue.

Years ago at Heathrow there used to be a "Residence permit holders" line which had next to no line at all but did go through the Non-EU passport holder desks, this was fairly good since everything was nice and clear and there was never really a wait. The current setup means extra waiting depending on whether or not the staff think you can join whatever line. Is it actually written down anywhere apart from in an advisory?

David.

and got told "No, you have to go in the Non-EU queue" by stewards when travelling on the most recent trip. UKBA don't make it clear if you can or can't and the security guards/stewards (who didn't look like UKBA staff) don't really have a clue.

Yep. I got this at Stansted last week. Wasn't allowed in the EU line. Sent my husband on his way so he could collect the luggage. On both sides of the Atlantic I've found that it's really up to the the person at the front of the queue. And unfortunately it's not really a situation where pointing out what the rules should be gets you anywhere.

Wow. Such a wide variation in experiences. I'm a USC w/out any kind of visa. I've traveled to the UK to visit my in-laws quite a few times. I've always gone through the UK/EU queue with him and never had a problem. Maybe it depends on the airport? We've always flown into either Glasgow or Edinburgh.