With ILR you can be refused entry + question re wrong date

[bototo]

A friend who's had ILR for a few months (obtained via the long stay 14 year route) left the UK for the first time recently and retuned last week though Heathrow.

He has never been involved in any criminal activity, fraudulent documents, terrorism etc.

He was stopped at Heathrow for questioning. The immigration officer at first refused to let him in because he claimed there was a deportation order on my friend dating back to 1998.

My friend eventually called his lawyer from his mobile and was told that there was no mention in his FoI access file about any deportation. He then returned to the immigration officer to challenge him and ask for proof of the deportation order. The officer rechecked, couldn't prove it and eventually let my friend into the country.

Wanted to point out here that you can be refused entry even if you have ILR.

On another note - the immigration officer stamped his passport with the wrong date of entry. It's backdated by several months. Assume that this is a mistake but is it any cause for worry?

[Mr Rusty]

Wanted to point out here that you can be refused entry even if you have ILR.

On another note - the immigration officer stamped his passport with the wrong date of entry. It's backdated by several months. Assume that this is a mistake but is it any cause for worry?

It's almost unheard of for someone genuinely having ILR to be refused entry. Occasionally, where it is clear to the IO that someone is only visiting the UK for a brief period every 2 years, they may get a visit stamp and be told that they should get the appropriate visa next time they come, but I never heard of anyone actually being refused.

What possibly happened with your friend is that his name and date of birth are very similar to someone who was previously served with a deportation order, so that he registered as a 'hit' on the computer system on the desk - but if his identity and passport were verified and matched up with the UKBA computer record of his recent grant of ILR, it shouldn't have needed phone calls to legal reps to sort it out. Even if he had been the subject of a DO which the Home Office had failed to enforce, they must have taken it into account when they granted him ILR.

What was his date of entry, and what was the date put in his passport? If the latter was incorrect, I would be inclined to ask for it to be amended, because you never know when it might be important. In the first instance he should contact the Border Control office that dealt with him, and ask to speak to the Duty Chief Immigration Officer. Apart from anything else, it might be important for them to know that there may have been a series of incorrectly dated endorsements on that day. Stamping with the incorrect date is taken quite seriously.

[bototo]

What possibly happened with your friend is that his name and date of birth are very similar to someone who was previously served with a deportation order

I can't speak for his date of birth but there's almost zero chance there's anyone in the world with his unique combination of unusual names.

He had been in the UK continuously since 1992 and got ILR on long stay and this was his first trip abroad. He went for two weeks. The arrival stamp is dated 10 months before his departure from the UK (not that he has a departure stamp but he has a stamp showing when he arrived in India).

His ID and passport were verified. The officer asked him specific questions that could have only arisen on reading documents in his file. So they did check.

Even if he had been the subject of a DO which the Home Office had failed to enforce, they must have taken it into account when they granted him ILR.

That's one of the points of this thread. According to the UKBA officer (and subsequent research I've done) when you're coming in on ILR they CAN turn you back at the airport if you ever had a DO issued against you. That surprised me and was not something I was aware of. But, no, my friend didn't have a DO. He came in legally and had exceptional leave for the entire period till he claimed ILR on long stay. His wife and children have British passports.

Since my post above my friend called the Duty Officer at Heathrow who took some details from him on the phone, put him on hold, went and did some checking on the computer and came back to say he wasn't able to confirm that my friend did indeed come in on that day!

Boy, what a bunch of incompetents! They didn't clock him leaving the country and didn't stamp his passport or make a note that he left Heathrow. They don't seem to have made any entry when he returned either. Are these the people protecting the borders of the UK?

My friend has now been given the task of getting boarding cards, duty free receipts, photocopies of departure stamps at India etc to show that he did enter on that day!

[Mr Rusty]

[quote="bototo"][quote] According to the UKBA officer (and subsequent research I've done) when you're coming in on ILR they CAN turn you back at the airport if you ever had a DO issued against you.

quote]

This is Section 5 of the Immigration Act 1971:

"5. Procedure for, and further provisions as to, deportation.— (1) Where a person is under section 3(5) or (6) above liable to deportation, then subject to the following provisions of this Act the Secretary of State may make a deportation order against him, that is to say an order requiring him to leave and prohibiting him from entering the United Kingdom; and a deportation order against a person shall invalidate any leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom given him before the order is made or while it is in force."

So, a person can't have Indefinite, or any form of Leave to Remain whilst there is a DO in force against him/her. People can and do apply to have a DO revoked after a certain number of years.

Perhaps you could give us the benefit of your research and quote the legislation which empowers an IO to refuse entry to a returning resident with valid ILR because in the dim and distant past there was a now-defunct DO against him. In the circumstances you originally described it's inconceivable that UKBA would have granted ILR while there was any extant DO which they wanted to enforce.

[republique]

A friend who's had ILR for a few months (obtained via the long stay 14 year route) left the UK for the first time recently and retuned last week though Heathrow.

He has never been involved in any criminal activity, fraudulent documents, terrorism etc.

He was stopped at Heathrow for questioning. The immigration officer at first refused to let him in because he claimed there was a deportation order on my friend dating back to 1998.

My friend eventually called his lawyer from his mobile and was told that there was no mention in his FoI access file about any deportation. He then returned to the immigration officer to challenge him and ask for proof of the deportation order. The officer rechecked, couldn't prove it and eventually let my friend into the country.

Wanted to point out here that you can be refused entry even if you have ILR.

On another note - the immigration officer stamped his passport with the wrong date of entry. It's backdated by several months. Assume that this is a mistake but is it any cause for worry?

I find this to be a weird story.
Usually if you are supposed to be deported, they take you to a room and start processing you.
So based on your scenario, it sounds like the IO wasn't confident about something and told him to sit down, and your friend called his solicitor and then the IO got it staight and let him in.

[bototo]

So based on your scenario, it sounds like the IO wasn't confident about something and told him to sit down

That's right. Then the IO went away did some checking came back and asked him some more questions including "did you ever have a DO against you" to which he answered "No". The IO then said that it looks like he had a DO from 1998 and therefore he wasn't going to let him in. My friend then asked him to hold on for a few minutes while he called his lawyer.

Maybe he wasn't immediately taken to a room for deportation because the IO wasn't sure of his case.

It was an annoyance for my friend but why is this "weird"? Do you have some doubts on either the IO's right to refuse entry if there is a DO... or are you doubting the wrong date stamp? I could concede the former as I'm not a lawyer but the latter is very clear.

Actually, the first thing he heard the IO say when he handed him his passport and the Resident Permit (ILR) on a separate paper was "Oh no, not another one of these. Why do I always get these cases!"That's HomeOfficese for "Welcome to the UK" presumably.

Mr Rusty, I'll try to find the link.

[republique]

So based on your scenario, it sounds like the IO wasn't confident about something and told him to sit down

That's right. Then the IO went away did some checking came back and asked him some more questions including "did you ever have a DO against you" to which he answered "No". The IO then said that it looks like he had a DO from 1998 and therefore he wasn't going to let him in. My friend then asked him to hold on for a few minutes while he called his lawyer.

Maybe he wasn't immediately taken to a room for deportation because the IO wasn't sure of his case.

It was an annoyance for my friend but why is this "weird"? Do you have some doubts on either the IO's right to refuse entry if there is a DO... or are you doubting the wrong date stamp? I could concede the former as I'm not a lawyer but the latter is very clear.

Actually, the first thing he heard the IO say when he handed him his passport and the Resident Permit (ILR) on a separate paper was "Oh no, not another one of these. Why do I always get these cases!"That's HomeOfficese for "Welcome to the UK" presumably.


Mr Rusty, I'll try to find the link.

No its weird because you didn't provide all the details on the situation. Now its more clear.

[bototo]

Re link:

All I have at the moment is this. It's not what I originally saw and I can't seem to find that page now.

Quote from the link above:

Where a person is the subject of a extant deportation order, any leave previously given to them is invalidated. They do not have a right of appeal before removal and therefore should be served with form IS 82A.

There is no mention here that the granting of the ILR needs to predate the DO. I read that to mean that if there is an open DO - even one missed at the time of granting ILR - then the person shouldn't be allowed in.

This is all academic, of course, and not related to my friend's position.

[bototo]

If the latter was incorrect, I would be inclined to ask for it to be amended, because you never know when it might be important. In the first instance he should contact the Border Control office that dealt with him, and ask to speak to the Duty Chief Immigration Officer. Apart from anything else, it might be important for them to know that there may have been a series of incorrectly dated endorsements on that day. Stamping with the incorrect date is taken quite seriously.

Update:

My friend posted boarding cards, duty-free receipts, electronic ticket and other documentation to prove he arrived on the date that he did.

The CIO at Terminal 3 finally admitted that they had put the wrong stamp in his passport and asked him to come in to see them and they'd correct the stamp. The letter said to call the number provided to arrange a mutually convenient time.

My friend spent 6 hours on the phone over three days (and calling at different times). In every case he got a message saying that he was next in the line and his call would be answered shortly. That message kept repeating for hours. (Likely they don't answer that number!) When he made some enquiries and tried a different number he got someone who said that he didn't need to make an appointment - to just come in with the letter and his passport!

So he went down there at 2 PM on a weekday. The UKBA counter @ T3 was not manned ... is never manned. He had to call them and was put on hold again with the same message. When he got annoyed and created a fuss at the main reception desk - they managed to get through to UKBA. UKBA told him to wait and that they'd send someone down to the counter. Several hours later, someone finally took his passport went away for a few minutes and then came back with the correction in place.

His arrival date was corrected. It should have said December 2008. The new date stamped was for December 2009.

What a bunch of idiots! How do incompetent fools like this get any job let alone a sensitive one controlling the borders?

[tom_hungston]

yes thats right about idiots. I came back from one week holiday from Las Vegas and the donkey lady on the counter asked me for my passports so I gave her both of my passports (one currnet and one epxired but it had my visa stamped on it so had to carry it all the time with me.)

she only checked my current passport and started being silly and started asking me if I carry work permit documents with me, etc. I said I bloody went on 1 week holiday and I never needed to carry that with me. and she said don't be typical. annyway so I said whats the problem. and other officer joined her and said to me that she can't see my visa stamp so I said I gave her both of my passport, and it woudl help if she look at the second passport.

then she apologize, buy why be stupid in first place...? do your work properly. ay

[bototo]

Read this BBC story today: Unintended consequences

But read the last part carefully. This married woman wouldn't be on a plane back to Canada today if the UKBA didn't lose her photos. She'd have been able to get married in time and before the new rules applied.