Post
by Administrator » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:49 pm
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I am responding to your PM, and decided the information (what little I have) should be public for anyone to reference:
I honestly don't know what to do in a situation like this.
The problem is that there is now a conflict between the UK government and the U.S. embassy. Without his passport, he cannot exit the country properly.
If I was in his position, I would go to the UK authority and tell them exactly what is happening, and bring as much information as possible ... especially contact information for people at the U.S. embassy.
Honestly, reading through the information you gave me, I have a difficult time imagining how he managed to get to the evening of his last legal day in the UK without having a better plan in place.
I had a similar difficulty once under slightly different circumstances. I went to the immigration department office, told them my exact difficulty, and asked them to please allow me an additional 72 hours to remain legally in the country until I could arrange to leave.
They were kind enough to give me that permission .. I still have it stamped in my passport. However, they were not required to do so.
I asked very VERY nicely and diplomatically if they would please help me and not black mark me for overstaying.
So, in this case, the request would have to be slightly different.
Your friend needs to ask for enough time to stay in the UK to get his passport back from the U.S. embassy, and he should probably request an additional 72 hours after that to be getting all his affairs in order to leave promptly.
Under such conditions, it is possible that immigration will take some pity on a good faith effort on your friends part to be honest.
Possible.
Right now he's in a situation where he needs luck, and his absolutely best diplomatic skills.
The only thing in his favor right now is that he wants to and is trying to get out of the UK as fast as possible.
Ask for help to do so.
And ask, with great politeness, if they could please grant him an extra couple of days while the hold-up on his passport gets resolved. Suggest very strongly that they verify the truthfulness of the situation with the U.S. embassy.
That can go a long way.
In my situation, I had actually overstayed by three days and had turned up at immigration to submit an application for a residency visa. My overstay was the result of bad advice from immigration officials who I had consulted with.
VERY fortunately, the two people involved in that advice were 1) in the office at the time and 2) honest enough to admit there had been some mix-up.
I DID NOT accuse them of anything .. just suggested there had been a bit of a translation problem. That allowed everyone to save face.
A very important point.
First they told me, at 5:00 p.m., that I had until midnight to leave the country.
I asked them, since I was already an overstayer, if I would be detained by the border control authority. They had to make a phone call, and it turned out that, yes, it was very likely that I would be arrested, detained & processed.
So I asked if they could give me permission to leave to avoid that mess.
They felt this was reasonable, at which point I asked if maybe I could have until Monday at midnight instead of Friday at midnight as my deadline.
Since they had my full residency application in hand and it was (mostly) in order, they judged that it was better to let me leave properly and then come back ... so they agreed.
Maybe there is some information in there that can be of assistance. While there are serious differences, there are some similarities.
Your friend has a very legitimate job offer and is in-process to leave legally and with the blessings of the U.S.
MAYBE that factor is enough to give a plea for leniency a bit of a sympathetic ear.
Good Luck!
the Admin
