ILR checking when entering UK

[Dawie]

Just for interests sake I thought I would share my experience of entering the UK last night for the first time since receiving my ILR in January 2006 from the Croydon home office.

I left the UK this Friday (17/02/2006) for a 2 day weekend holiday in Amsterdam with my girlfriend. Returned last night (19/02/2006) to Heathrow Terminal 1 and presented myself to the immigration officer at passport control and handed over my landing card and passport:

IO: Where have you come from?
Me: Amsterdam

IO flips through my passport and finds the ILR residence permit.

IO: How long have you lived in the UK?
Me: Just over 4 years.
IO: How did you qualify for ILR?
Me: Work permit

IO flips through my passport again, searching for my original work permit stamp.

IO: Aah, here's the work permit stamp.

IO flips back to the ILR residence permit and stamps an entry stamp next to it.

Thought I would share this because it's interesting that the IO was interested in how long I've been living in the UK and was particularly interested in finding the original work permit stamp (I'm not a visa national) in my passport upon which the ILR was granted.

Anyone have any idea why they were so interested? The only reason I can think of is possibly looking for fraudelant ILR residence permits and making sure your story of how you got ILR checks out.

But surely this should all be on their system when they scan your passport?

[ppron747]

I get the impression that IOs have been told to "engage" more with people, even when the evidence in the passport might theoretically make it unnecessary.

I'm a UK-born British citizen, and for many years went through immigration desks with no more than a nod and a smile (occasionally!) but in the last couple of years, I've been asked questions such as "Where have you flown from?" "Do you live in South Africa?" (my passport was issued there) "Was this a business trip?" The answers to none of which could possibly affect my absolute right to enter UK. There's nothing remotely odd about my passport, incidentally, and I do actually look like my photo...

[lemess]

Dawie,

I think these questions are now pretty standard for an ILR holder.

Before I naturalised and when I had ILR, I got pretty much the same sort of questions you did every time I entered - mostly "Are you still resident here", "How long have you been away" and "How did you get ILR".
Interestingly it started happening more after 9/11. I had ILR for 8 years before I naturalised and between 98 and 2001 I rarely got any questions.

I must admit no immigration officer has so much as said a word to me after I naturalised and have been able to enter the country without ever being asked a question.

[Chess]

Dawie,

I must admit no immigration officer has so much as said a word to me after I naturalised and have been able to enter the country without ever being asked a question.

I mean where would they start unless you are coming back fro Guatanome Bay

[Dawie]

What pisses me off though is that after 4 years of working like a slave on a work permit and finally getting ILR, the least they could do is welcome me back without the 21 questions. I got asked more questions than when I entered the UK on my work permit!

I also struggle to understand the purpose of that useless landing card that I have to fill in every damn time. At the very least permanent residents shouldn't have to fill it in!

[lemess]

.

I mean where would they start unless you are coming back fro Guatanome Bay

Well ppron seems to have attracted a fair bit of unnecessary questioning !!

Personally I think questioning british citizens without cause is just a waste of time and likely to irritate passengers as there is no way they can be refused entry. The only reason I can think of is if the passport is a suspected forgery or something.

Even if a UK citizen were returning from guantanomo with a "I LuV Bin Laden " T-shirt, they can't refuse entry. I suspect any suspected terror or crime links would be a matter for the police not the immigration service

[lemess]

I also struggle to understand the purpose of that useless landing card that I have to fill in every damn time. At the very least permanent residents shouldn't have to fill it in!

I believe the info on the card goes into the INDECS system that tracks your entire immigration history. I also think it's this system that allows naturalisation decisions to be turned around so quickly of late ( relative to other countries) as they can cross reference your entire residence profile at a touch of a button.

On balance would I take the pain associated with the useless ( sic) landing card in return for a naturalisation app to passport turnaround of 20 days ?

Everytime

[Dawie]

I believe the info on the card goes into the INDECS system that tracks your entire immigration history.

I agree, but this information can quite easily be gathered when they scan the machine-readable part of your passport! Hence my use of the word "useless", they're just replicating information that's already there.

And, by the way, it's not much use for tracking when they have absolutely no record of when you left the UK in the first place! (I'm refering to the lack of embarkation controls).

[neilroy]

Interestingly i just came back from holiday as well with my wife and 6 month old son. Myself and my wife are both ILR holder since last year and my son is born brit! So he hold a red passport. At the LHR airport, i was told to go through the UK passport holder line. I was not asked a single question by IO just smiled,stamped my passport and off we go!

[John]

Even if a UK citizen were returning from guantanomo with a "I LuV Bin Laden " T-shirt, they can't refuse entry.

Maybe that is right at the moment but when the glorification of terrorism law comes in that Citizen will probably get arrested!

But then the same applies to anyone asking for a "penny for the Guy", given that Guy Fawkes is clearly within that draft law's definition of terrorist!

No wonder the opposition parties are trying so hard to defeat that provision in the Bill.


PS Before sending this I put it through a spellchecker. For the word "guantanomo" it suggests that it might be replaced by "cantankerous"! Oh the joys of spell checkers!

[lemess]

I believe the info on the card goes into the INDECS system that tracks your entire immigration history.

I agree, but this information can quite easily be gathered when they scan the machine-readable part of your passport! Hence my use of the word "useless", they're just replicating information that's already there.

And, by the way, it's not much use for tracking when they have absolutely no record of when you left the UK in the first place! (I'm refering to the lack of embarkation controls).

Remember that a large number of countries do not have a machine readable passport. India certainly doesn't.
I wouldn't expect the IND to have separate processes for dealing with the (relatively few) countries that have machine readable passports. The card itself doesn't take more than 30 seconds to fill anyway so personally I never found it too much of a hassle. Obviously it's a slight relief not to have to bother with it anymore.

[Smit]

Just to add my 0.01p, British Citizens have the right of abode and are not subject to any immigration control. Questions may only be asked to verify the authenticity of the passport itself, not to ask what business a person had out of the UK or whether as in ppron's case, whether he is a resident of SA or not. What will they ask next, how did someone become eligible to British Citizenship?

This is why in my opinion the immigration system is chaotic in this country, they are making legal migration harder and harder while apparently turning a blind eye or having no effective control over illegal immigration.

[lemess]

Maybe that is right at the moment but when the glorification of terrorism law comes in that Citizen will probably get arrested!

He may be arrested and tried but he still can't be refused entry into the UK as a citizen

[mhunjn]

I have never been asked any awkward quetions at port of entry in UK. Mostly it's a case of a casual query about the holiday etc. I am sure they are more than trained to spot the defaulters with the response they get from their questions.

[basis]

During the entire migration history to the UK - first entry on a WP (EC or whetever it is looked much different - rather dull those days), subequent FLRs and many entries on the work permit status, finally ILR - so may travels on ILR and now with the UK passport itself - I have never found the IOs asking unnecessary questions. They were and are always polite and helpful. They do their job rather well and if you answer few quick questions doesn't harm anyone. and the questions have changed with the status -

e.g. WP - Do you still work here ? Which company / city / your role or field?

ILR - Do you still stay here? How did you get ILR ? How long you were away from the UK? Where are you coming from ?

UK - Just a smile

[rogerroger]

i got grilled once, but it was funny.

the picture on y passport is a bit old, and for some reason appears to be different than me. so the lady at the immigration counter asks me for further proof of identification. and i am looking for my license, then she sees all these cards coming out(tesco, sainsburys,...) and she goes never mind. i think it is just to make sure the person who is coming is the genuine.

i have heard this story of some one asked to identify a 10 p from a 20p or something like that.

but i dont like the random body check, i was made to do the dance in front of the screen. any body ele was made to do it?

[confused1]

I was old by my solicitor that, the Immigration Officers at the port of entry has no authority to stop you if you have an ILR. But, they can held you to check if your ILR is genuine or not. Once they've confirmed that your ILR is genuine, then they will let you go.

But, if you feel like you should not have been stopped in the first place, take a note of the name of the immigration officer/s, time, date and place.
Then you can take the matter further if you like.

[lemess]

I was old by my solicitor that, the Immigration Officers at the port of entry has no authority to stop you if you have an ILR. But, they can held you to check if your ILR is genuine or not. Once they've confirmed that your ILR is genuine, then they will let you go.

But, if you feel like you should not have been stopped in the first place, take a note of the name of the immigration officer/s, time, date and place.
Then you can take the matter further if you like.

That is wrong I'm afraid. the ILR is conditional. The immigration officer is perfectly entitled to ask questions to establish the following :

- Are you still resident in the UK ?
- Have you been away longer than 2 years ?
- Are you entering the UK as a returning resident ?

If they are not satisfied that you have been away for less than 2 years and are returning as a resident, they can - depending on discretion- either allow you in only as a visitor or indeed not allow you in at all.

Also immigration officers can be guided by the home secretary - as in the case of the omar al bakri character- and refused leave to enter on public interest grounds. I suspect that amounts to the ILR being withdrawn.

[rogerroger]

oh so if a person has been away for less than 2 years and is returning to restart his "counter" following which he will go back to say his home country. in that case the immigration officer can cancel your ilr?

[JAJ]

oh so if a person has been away for less than 2 years and is returning to restart his "counter" following which he will go back to say his home country. in that case the immigration officer can cancel your ilr?

As far as I'm aware YES - your ILR can be cancelled in this case if the immigration officer does not believe you are really *living* in the UK.


You cannot hold onto ILR just by visiting the UK every 2 years.

[rogerroger]

but you can try and convince the immigration officer that you do intend to stay on this time around, correct?

[lemess]

but you can try and convince the immigration officer that you do intend to stay on this time around, correct?

More accurately you need to convince them that you are a returning resident and not a visitor and that you have not been away for more than 2 years.

In practice most of the questions are perfunctory but the immigration officer does have the right to proble.

[rogerroger]

actually my dad's ILR was cancelled a few years ago, he was issued a visit visa and let into the UK.

can he get his ILR back, now that his son is a british citizen?

[lemess]

actually my dad's ILR was cancelled a few years ago, he was issued a visit visa and let into the UK.

can he get his ILR back, now that his son is a british citizen?

Don't see why not - provided he can convince the local HC in his country of residence that he intends to come here for settlement.

Your recent acquisition of British citizenship doesn't make that much difference as you were presumably 'settled' here before anyway. The rules don't make any distinction between 'settled' and 'citizen of the UK' as far as family based settlement is concerned.

Of course there is also the matter of why his original ILR was cancelled. I am asusming it was simply because he was no longer "settled" in the UK. if there was some other reason , of course, it may be more complicated to get it back.

As I said, whether he gets his ILR back depends upon his ability to convince them that he does indeed intend to settle here. Your presence obviously will help as it shows ties to the UK.

[John]

Technically, has the ILR been cancelled, or was he merely prevented from using it on that occasion?

I ask that because if the ILR is still in place but the person concerned has been outside the UK for more than two years, they would make an application on form VAF1 to be treated as a "returning resident".

However if the ILR is not still in place I am struggling to think under what category a visa application would be made?