Confidentiality of queries

Hello,

I am aware this site states that information will not be passed onto third parties, and users who are visa applicants no doubt appreciate advise given here, especially as it is a stressful and expensive time. But can any moderators / experts here tell me whether information / queries by users can be passed onto the UKBA? Especially as I'm certain some moderators have close links with the UKBA. For instance, can our email addresses be accessed by moderators, respected gurus, etc?

I'm not talking about any illegal immigration queries that may crop up on these forums. But no doubt there are genuine queries where a very minor detail may affect an application for someone who has spent years saving for a visa and would be a hardworking individual for a company, whose minor-detail-query, if shared, could then create unnecessary issues and the country / company could lose potential valuable skills. While illegal immigrants may continue to enter unnoticed.

Any info appreciated before I lost my own query.

Cheers.

Only Moderators and the Board Administrator have access to members' emails, and these are never passed on to a third party, including the HO or other Government departments.
Moderators always advise members not to post their email address, telephone number and personal details on the open forum.

And for the record, none of the moderators have 'close links to the UKBA'. What would make you think that??

We are private individuals, giving our time and advice for free, with almost all of us having come through an immigration journey.

We have an obligation to protect members privacy and personal data.

lorch wrote:Hello,

I am aware this site states that information will not be passed onto third parties, and users who are visa applicants no doubt appreciate advise given here, especially as it is a stressful and expensive time. But can any moderators / experts here tell me whether information / queries by users can be passed onto the UKBA? Especially as I'm certain some moderators have close links with the UKBA. For instance, can our email addresses be accessed by moderators, respected gurus, etc?

...

Any info appreciated before I lost my own query.

Cheers.

Just for the record the board is owned and hosted by SIA Workpermit.com Riga, Latvia.
Moderators are unpaid volunteers with (to best of my knowledge) no connection with SIA.

How can you be "certain" of anything?
You don't know who anyone here really is. And we don't know who you are.

This is a public internet discussion board so act accordingly at all times (and within Board T&Cs).
Observe all the usual safety and privacy precautions as a mature and digitally-aware citizen of the new millennium.
But there is no Stasi here and this is not a police state.

And there is no 'UKBA' anymore, it was abolished in 2013.

Cheers for the clarification. The reason I felt certain that experts on these forums might have links is because of an older post I came across by an expert who mentioned he / she worked for immigration, and who is still an active member of these forums. They are currently listed as a guru. Under 'Board Preferences' it appears 'users' can contact you via email, but it doesn't specify who these users might be.

lorch wrote:Cheers for the clarification. The reason I felt certain that experts on these forums might have links is because of an older post I came across by an expert who mentioned he / she worked for immigration, and who is still an active member of these forums. They are currently listed as a guru. Under 'Board Preferences' it appears 'users' can contact you via email, but it doesn't specify who these users might be.

Don't know about that, maybe before my time. In any case a guru is not a Moderator (and Moderators are not the Administrator).

'Users' in that context of board preferences means your fellow random, anonymous members;
eg Joe/Jose/Josephine Public and John/Juan Doe & etc.