Please help - Is Edinburgh or Glasgow safe for an overstayer

Hi,
I have been reading through this forum for the past few days.

My relative has overstayed her visa for almost a year and is planning to leave by this month end. She has booked her tickets from Heathrew..but someone told us that there are passport checks at Heathrew.

She is ready to change her flights as well..as she is really scared of the immigration. She has not misused any of the facilites here..neither did she work here. She had a few problems in the family and so, she didnt go back to her family for sometime..and stayed with us.

Can someone tell us if Edinburgh or Glasgow has any passport checks?
We are really scared...from these forums I understand that they will serve a removal notice...

But, we would really dont want to enter into that situation. Can someone tell us which is the best airport to exit the country?

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

From what I understand - BIA is still not stringent on measures put in place for for checking statuses of people leaving UK at the airport. For those who prefer to escape after an overstay still can do that (unless their passport is blacklisted) without getting noticed in the BIA radar. Immediate priority is to tackle the overstayers in-country, not to catch those leaving at the airport. There is more hassle and hefty admin and legal formalities involved in serving a removal notice for someone who is already leaving the country at the airport.

So your friend is most likely to have a safe exit however, things could change in a years time.

Many thanks for your immediate reply. One of my friend who left Heathrew Terminal 3 this weekend told us that there are passport checks at the airport. So, it looks like they are not random..now.
So, can any one of you please tell me if they have introduced such checks at all the airports or is it ok if we travel from Edinburgh or Glasgow ?

hi, can someone please reply on this?? she has to travel in a few days time..and we are looking for a safer airport.
so, any suggestions would be very very helpful.

They are not doing random checks, they are checking everyone passport. I travelled to UAE few weeks back and it was a surprised to see the exit checks as last time when I travelled there was only entry checks.

shara1 wrote:Hi,
I have been reading through this forum for the past few days.

My relative has overstayed her visa for almost a year and is planning to leave by this month end. She has booked her tickets from Heathrew..but someone told us that there are passport checks at Heathrew.

She is ready to change her flights as well..as she is really scared of the immigration. She has not misused any of the facilites here..neither did she work here. She had a few problems in the family and so, she didnt go back to her family for sometime..and stayed with us.

Can someone tell us if Edinburgh or Glasgow has any passport checks?
We are really scared...from these forums I understand that they will serve a removal notice...

But, we would really dont want to enter into that situation. Can someone tell us which is the best airport to exit the country?

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Well, I can tell you of my experience at EDH Airport for the past 5 months: All the time I have flown out of the airport (note that there is no separation between Int'l and domestic passengers), I have not had anyone check my passport (Non-EU) for any reason. This is just my experience (guess because I look business-like ). Last time I used that airport was last Month (ending).

Thanks very much...that was a very helpful post..

I have never experienced this passport check as I usually pass through gatwick, at what point do they do the checking?

In all the time that I've lived in the UK (1998-2001 & 2003-now) and travelled through all of London's airports, my passport's never been checked leaving the country. This is leaving at all times of the day and from Stansted, City, Heathrow, Luton and Gatwick.

So I don't know what to add...

Thanks for all your replies. Looks like they have introduced this passport check at Terminal 3 (Heathrew) now. But, not sure if they have such checks in Terminal 4...can anyone please confirm?

The person who went to UAE - did u go from Terminal 3??

It would be very helpful...as we are planning to change her ticket...if we know for sure that there are checks at Terminal 4.

Well, I can tell you my experience from Glasgow, travelled a couple of times in last year or so and have always got passport inspected by immigration people just after clearing security. Travelled through Leeds-Bradford and passport was not checked although the desk was manned by immigration personal.

With the current infrastructure in place, I dont think it is possible to check for overstayers by visual inspection of all foriegn passport holders at the airport.
BIA deploys random squads, and it is their duty to check passports at random, not everyones ..indian_uk may have encountered one of them.

Also note, airline or passenger handling staff at the airport has a duty to check passports of travellers during check-in, and also at the boarding gates. They do not check for overstay, they only check whether the traveller will be admitted at the destination port with his passport& visa. All international airlines has to comply with this new regulation of keeping and providing passenger information to the Authority if required.

From BIA/HO point of view, they are only benefitting if an overstayer leaves UK, becuase it lessens the uphill tasks of smoking out all overstayers.
With all other modern facilities coming in place, they go with the assumption, rather, now a days its relatively easy to find out an overstayer during the time he/she applies for a new UK visa to enter.

indian_uk wrote:They are not doing random checks, they are checking everyone passport. I travelled to UAE few weeks back and it was a surprised to see the exit checks as last time when I travelled there was only entry checks.

Yes I travelled through terminal 3, and they did look at my VISA stamp as I have two passport one old and new, and I have to tell them that Visa stamp is in old passport.

Thanks very much vin123 and indian_uk.
Yes..I was told that passport check desks are in place in Terminal 3. But, I am not sure if there is such check at Terminal 4.

Also, I will be accompanying her as she is worried of travelling alone..
and I am a Permanent Resident here.

I sponsored her Visitor visa to UK. So, I am worried that if she is caught by the immigration officials at the airport, will I be prosecuted by any chance?

Is there any chance that my immigration status might get affected because I was supporting an overstayer?

Please could you confirm this vin123?

Thanks a lot.

I don’t know who told you about this 'passport check desks', I know there are some desks between hand baggage security scanner and the shoe scanner area in terminal 3 and but I did not see anyone deployed there !. As I said earlier, they are most likely to be random as they simply do not have the capacity or resource to check for each and every foreign passport for an overstayer - it is a time consuming process and the traffic is simply just too much there, and whoever gave you that info - most likely to be untrue in my view.

Re: overstayer sponsorship, no you won’t be held accountable or prosecuted unless the overstayer engaged himself in some sort of criminal activity and you provided him shelter or other type of assistance when he was overstaying. But bear in mind the BIA/HO do record everything in their files so your attempt to do another sponsorship is most likely to be turned down.

Hi VIN,

I have travelled two times in last few months from Heathrow (UAE and India) from terminal 3, and they have checked my passport both of the time, there was a queue before luggage and shoe scanner and this is my personal experience.

Is there anyone else who has travelled in last few months from terminal 3 can also share his experience?

Thanks very much vij123 and indian_uk.
Yes, even I was told by a close friend of mine who travelled to India via Terminal 3 last week that there was a counter after the security check and were checking passports.

But, one of my other friend who travelled to India on BA thro' Terminal 4 confirmed me that there is no such checks at Terminal 4. This was around 4 weeks back.

thats the reason am a bit concerned and wanted to make sure that there are no such checks at Terminal 4.

Can someone please confirm?

shara1 wrote:Thanks very much vij123 and indian_uk.
Yes, even I was told by a close friend of mine who travelled to India via Terminal 3 last week that there was a counter after the security check and were checking passports.

But, one of my other friend who travelled to India on BA thro' Terminal 4 confirmed me that there is no such checks at Terminal 4. This was around 4 weeks back.

thats the reason am a bit concerned and wanted to make sure that there are no such checks at Terminal 4.

Can someone please confirm?

If you have a printed out boarding pass, they airline personnel will look at your passport so don't confuse that as a passport check.

What kind of flights go through terminal 3?

I think all UAE flights go via Terminal 3.

I have used Terminal 4 with British Airways to UAE last week and there was no passport checks at all apart from the airline checkin and flight boarding gate.

However I am a frequent flyer and have used many UK airports including both Terminals 3 and 4. Passport checks are random but they have now immigration desks in Terminal 3 departure hall after the security check although these are sometimes un-manned and passengers just proceed to their departure gates. When the are manned however every passenger's passport is checked but not stamped.

I have used Terminal 4 twice in the last two months but did not notice the immigration desks.

It is just your luck at the time.

Thanks a lot alos. Your post is very helpful to me.
Thanks a lot again!

Hi everyone,
i am in a dilemma...i came here on a visitors visa but overstayed. My passport expired so I got a new one with a different name, age, everything so there is no trace of me ever being in the UK.

I am afraid of the airport checks at heathrow, if they were to ask me why my passport has no visa, what can i tell them that would suffice. Am getting a one way ticket and have never been fingerprinted.

Am travelling soon, so please anyone who knows of any info i'd be grateful. Also wld going thru BIA reduce the chances of being checked?

centinelle wrote:Hi everyone,
i am in a dilemma...i came here on a visitors visa but overstayed. My passport expired so I got a new one with a different name, age, everything so there is no trace of me ever being in the UK.

I am afraid of the airport checks at heathrow, if they were to ask me why my passport has no visa, what can i tell them that would suffice. Am getting a one way ticket and have never been fingerprinted.

Am travelling soon, so please anyone who knows of any info i'd be grateful. Also wld going thru BIA reduce the chances of being checked?

Jeez! That's FRAUD!

Sorry, Centinelle. I have to agree with Gollywood.

You have a fake passport, but you're more worried about the overstay??? Seems like there's either more to this story, or you have your priorities out of whack

Also wld going thru BIA reduce the chances of being checked?

Also do not understand this... Isn't BIA the Border Agency? How would going through them *reduce* your chances of being checked? Or have I just misunderstood your question?