Passport re-call by UKBA after PR granted!!!

Well... after two weeks on being high on happiness and excitement (after getting my PR) yesterday I got a letter from UKBA stating that an error has been identified in some European cases vignettes! "Customers" born in March, June, July, August or September may not have their whole last digit printed as in 17 Jan/Jan 87.

And yes, the last digit of my D.O.B is cut/missing. They are asking me to return my "status document" to the attention of a specific person. They claim it will be amended and returned "as soon as possible".

My questions are:

1. Has this happened to anyone out there and what do they do, new sticker or they add something to the old vignette?

2. Can anyone tell me how long their "as soon as possible" lasts?

3. What if I don't bother (as in I need my passport and have booked holidays), will I get hassled at passport control?

4. Can anyone tell me how long their "as soon as possible" lasts?

5. Can I send them a bill of my Royal Mail expense (one day delivery)

6. Can anyone tell me how long their "as soon as possible" lasts?

7. No really, are they usually quicker in cases like these (I am hoping days but my gut tells me month(s))

The stress just does not end and just when I thought I wont have to deal with "them" any more this happens. Any advice?

These are good questions. Why don't you phone them and ask?

With regards to your forthcoming holiday, you could ask them to issue your revised PR on a free-standing document without you sending the passport back.

EUsmileWEallsmile wrote:These are good questions. Why don't you phone them and ask?

With regards to your forthcoming holiday, you could ask them to issue your revised PR on a free-standing document without you sending the passport back.

I would love to ask them but I have to wait until Monday (won't have a nice weekend) and even then I would have to take a day off work as I am not able to sit on the phone for long periods of time while working. In your opinion are they to be trusted when they say "as soon as possible"?

andrej wrote:

EUsmileWEallsmile wrote:These are good questions. Why don't you phone them and ask?

With regards to your forthcoming holiday, you could ask them to issue your revised PR on a free-standing document without you sending the passport back.

I would love to ask them but I have to wait until Monday (won't have a nice weekend) and even then I would have to take a day off work as I am not able to sit on the phone for long periods of time while working. In your opinion are they to be trusted when they say "as soon as possible"?

Its really pi**ing me off! How useless are they? What is their problem?

Same here on my passport it's say 17/JUN/ JUIL 8 and half 8 i don't know if i should sent it or not.

dasjoker wrote:
Same here on my passport it's say 17/JUN/ JUIL 8 and half 8 i don't know if i should sent it or not.

When did you get your PR? I got mine on 14 October, dated 14 September and two weeks later the LETTER. Maybe yours is on the way.

Have you travelled so far on with your new PR sticker?

Where are you going on holidays? If you are going back to your home country, a minor error on your residence card wont matter to them. You should get back into the UK without problems and be able to get on a plane. Is there anything else wrong with your vignette?

andrej wrote:

dasjoker wrote:
Same here on my passport it's say 17/JUN/ JUIL 8 and half 8 i don't know if i should sent it or not.

When did you get your PR? I got mine on 14 October, dated 14 September and two weeks later the LETTER. Maybe yours is on the way.

Have you travelled so far on with your new PR sticker?

I got letter today as well same here dated on 13 september.

dasjoker wrote:

andrej wrote:

dasjoker wrote:
Same here on my passport it's say 17/JUN/ JUIL 8 and half 8 i don't know if i should sent it or not.

When did you get your PR? I got mine on 14 October, dated 14 September and two weeks later the LETTER. Maybe yours is on the way.

Have you travelled so far on with your new PR sticker?

I got letter today as well same here dated on 13 september.

So... What you gonna do? Are you gonna send it back or you gonna ask them stuff. I was thinking to send it straight away but am worried they keep it for another 3 months or something. Then I am doomed.

EUsmileWEallsmile wrote:Where are you going on holidays? If you are going back to your home country, a minor error on your residence card wont matter to them. You should get back into the UK without problems and be able to get on a plane. Is there anything else wrong with your vignette?

I wanna fly to South Africa (home country) in January - still to book the trip and am not really worried about getting through UK immigration as the mistake is theirs but I also planned to go to France in November. My main worry is that I send the passport back to Liverpool and they keep it for months or lose it or something retarded.

My worry also is the airline and immigration people checking your papers before you leave the host country overseas. I already had major problems in Spain and Germany (Ryan air and Easy Jet) when trying to board a plane to return to UK because my EU family stamp was in my expired passport (travelled with 2 passports) and those people are simpeltons anyway.

andrej wrote:

EUsmileWEallsmile wrote:Where are you going on holidays? If you are going back to your home country, a minor error on your residence card wont matter to them. You should get back into the UK without problems and be able to get on a plane. Is there anything else wrong with your vignette?

I wanna fly to South Africa (home country) in January - still to book the trip and am not really worried about getting through UK immigration as the mistake is theirs but I also planned to go to France in November. My main worry is that I send the passport back to Liverpool and they keep it for months or lose it or something retarded. I don't trust them and I never did.

My worry also is the airline and immigration people checking your papers before you leave the host country overseas. I already had major problems in Spain and Germany (Ryan air and Easy Jet) when trying to board a plane to return to UK because my EU family stamp was in my expired passport (travelled with 2 passports) and those people are simpeltons anyway.

Well there is no email address or direct phone on letter so monday i will write back to her via mail(so old fashion) because i am going to holiday which i booked already for x-mas and new year also my passport is expiring end of this year so i applied new passport, maybe i can send my new passport and get my visa quicker

personal advice is as follows. While the UKBA may ignore that minor omission upon reentering the UK and especially if you provide a copy of that letter from the UKBA, you may have problems in the country of departure the Immigration officers of which may pick on it for fun and refuse you to depart.

My suggestion is post the passport back ASAP in a special del envelope and provide another one for the return. In the same envelope include details of your travel plans and say that should they not return it by then you will sue their asses of and get compensation for all the consequential losses for their negligence! Their caseworkers must ensure that all the info is correct before posting the thing back.

I had one case where they inserted a letter "F" on the male applicants residence card. Had I not noticed this letter, they would have travelled as a woman. We phoned them first to indicate that we will be returning the passport for amendment. They reissued the correct one with "M" in the same passport without even destroying the old one. So the guy now carries two RCs one saying he's a woman, another that he's a man. While that may be a minor omission, had he been stopped in the departure country, they could have easily refused boarding because of this minor thing. By the way, they re-sent the passport back in around 7-10 days' time from start of the process. So you should be ok! Certainly make sure you do that before you leave, do not delay, ACT NOW! (...on Monday)

You should have no problem with your trip to South Africa.

For the trip to France, you could have your marriage certificate, etc in the unlikely event that someone spots the DOB mistake. The normal problem for visa nationals doing an "MRAX" is that airlines won't let them on. That shouldn't be a problem for you.

If you are very nervous and not prepared to stand your ground, getting the UKBA to change the vignette would be better.

I'm surprised by airlines attitude to vignette being in expired passport; this is common practice worldwide. I myself had to travel with new and expired passports together and occasionally had problems at check-in. Always managed to fly in the end though, just stood my ground, best to be polite and patient. In fairness to airlines, they are not experts in immigration matters.

EUsmileWEallsmile wrote:You should have no problem with your trip to South Africa.

For the trip to France, you could have your marriage certificate, etc in the unlikely event that someone spots the DOB mistake. The normal problem for visa nationals doing an "MRAX" is that airlines won't let them on. That shouldn't be a problem for you.

If you are very nervous and not prepared to stand your ground, getting the UKBA to change the vignette would be better.

I'm surprised by airlines attitude to vignette being in expired passport; this is common practice worldwide. I myself had to travel with new and expired passports together and occasionally had problems at check-in. Always managed to fly in the end though, just stood my ground, best to be polite and patient. In fairness to airlines, they are not experts in immigration matters.

andrej: very sorry to hear about your problem. If I were you I wouldn't bother sending it back. I presume you'll be applying for BC soon so I don't think there's any point. There's no way they could refuse you at the border.

EUsmile: I had a small issue once with Ryanair myself. They asked me, in a hostile tone, "Why do you have two passports!?" even though one was clearly expired. They really thought it was some kind of joke or something. Anyway after a short discussion they gave in. As to them not being immigration experts, they SHOULD BE! Oh well.

he should first satisfy the requirements for BC and it will be some time away before he gets it. It's better to have everything accurate rather than not. Yes, he may not have any problems, or may have precisely the problem of the vignette not being recognised as valid (even with the letter from the UKBA) in the departure country, so why risk it?

seputus wrote:

EUsmileWEallsmile wrote:You should have no problem with your trip to South Africa.

For the trip to France, you could have your marriage certificate, etc in the unlikely event that someone spots the DOB mistake. The normal problem for visa nationals doing an "MRAX" is that airlines won't let them on. That shouldn't be a problem for you.

If you are very nervous and not prepared to stand your ground, getting the UKBA to change the vignette would be better.

I'm surprised by airlines attitude to vignette being in expired passport; this is common practice worldwide. I myself had to travel with new and expired passports together and occasionally had problems at check-in. Always managed to fly in the end though, just stood my ground, best to be polite and patient. In fairness to airlines, they are not experts in immigration matters.

andrej: very sorry to hear about your problem. If I were you I wouldn't bother sending it back. I presume you'll be applying for BC soon so I don't think there's any point. There's no way they could refuse you at the border.

EUsmile: I had a small issue once with Ryanair myself. They asked me, in a hostile tone, "Why do you have two passports!?" even though one was clearly expired. They really thought it was some kind of joke or something. Anyway after a short discussion they gave in. As to them not being immigration experts, they SHOULD BE! Oh well.

Minor point, all that's required to leave an EU country when traveling to another EU one is a valid passport. That's it, no visa required.

seputus wrote:

andrej: very sorry to hear about your problem. If I were you I wouldn't bother sending it back. I presume you'll be applying for BC soon so I don't think there's any point. There's no way they could refuse you at the border.

EUsmile: I had a small issue once with Ryanair myself. They asked me, in a hostile tone, "Why do you have two passports!?" even though one was clearly expired. They really thought it was some kind of joke or something. Anyway after a short discussion they gave in. As to them not being immigration experts, they SHOULD BE! Oh well.

thanks seputus, it will be another 11 months before I can apply for BC and I do want to travel before that to SA, France (on ferry) Poland (through Germany and Germans are always very thorough (but fair)) and Spain or Greece next summer... I don't know... I am relieved I got the PR and the British don't scare me since its their mistake (the vignette not the PR). I am more worried about pendantic German policemen, ill-tempered Ryan air and Easy jet ground staff. SAA/Virgin/BA staff are more relaxed and are used to UK visas and documents in SA passports so they won't be a problem.

mcovet wrote:personal advice is as follows. While the UKBA may ignore that minor omission upon reentering the UK and especially if you provide a copy of that letter from the UKBA, you may have problems in the country of departure the Immigration officers of which may pick on it for fun and refuse you to depart.

My suggestion is post the passport back ASAP in a special del envelope and provide another one for the return. In the same envelope include details of your travel plans and say that should they not return it by then you will sue their asses of and get compensation for all the consequential losses for their negligence! Their caseworkers must ensure that all the info is correct before posting the thing back.

I had one case where they inserted a letter "F" on the male applicants residence card. Had I not noticed this letter, they would have travelled as a woman. We phoned them first to indicate that we will be returning the passport for amendment. They reissued the correct one with "M" in the same passport without even destroying the old one. So the guy now carries two RCs one saying he's a woman, another that he's a man. While that may be a minor omission, had he been stopped in the departure country, they could have easily refused boarding because of this minor thing. By the way, they re-sent the passport back in around 7-10 days' time from start of the process. So you should be ok! Certainly make sure you do that before you leave, do not delay, ACT NOW! (...on Monday)

Thanks very much mcovet, now that I have an idea of 7-10 days duration I am more relaxed. I had nightmares last night about not seeing my little green book for months again... I think I'll send it off on Monday and if it does not come back in normal time period I shall request it back.

You appear to be well traveled. Have you had any real problems traveling with residence card over the years? I'd be interested to know. You'll always get the person on check-in who's never come across something before. I've had that many times, best to be patient.

EUsmileWEallsmile wrote:You appear to be well traveled. Have you had any real problems traveling with residence card over the years? I'd be interested to know. You'll always get the person on check-in who's never come across something before. I've had that many times, best to be patient.

When I was on my EEA family RC, which consists of a cheap pen-filled in stamp I had trouble, mostly with people on check-in counters from Ryan Air and Easy Jet. This was in Germany and Spain where the uniformed simpletons with basic training would gaze at my EEA family stamp in shock. The German lady bluntly asked me "Wat is dis?" They would usually call in some seniors and security personnel to confirm my leave to enter UK. It got worse when I travelled on 2 passports (expired and new). To be fair, the stamp representing EEA family permit for the UK really looks dodgy.

My schengen visas were always free since my wife is EU but that did not stop Polish passport control and German police staring at my South African passport and asking strange questions. Once on Polish/German border crossing the whole bus had to wait 30mins while German cops were checking my passport in their car. You can imagine all the other EU passengers getting restless. Haven't travelled since I got my PR (which now seems to be wrong) so I hope to sort it out and escape the curiosity of European civil servants.

When entering UK without my wife, I would be asked all kinds of questions and before I knew all the rules and my rights of free movement, I had my passport stamped dozens of times and was made to fill in landing cards, stand in the "all others" line. They even took my prints before they abandoned the whole finger-print on border campaign. Sometimes I just hated travelling, getting all worked up. You just need to know when to stand and fight and when to stand like a douche and take all the abuse and heat coming your way. I learned not to take heat from UK border guards but continentals are different... you gotta watch your step.

Well you always got there in the end. Hope it all works out. Let us know how quickly "as soon as possible" turns out. Cheers.

If they have asked you to send your passport to a particular person to rectified their mistake I would advice to do that rather than taking chances of using it to travel as it is. Usually when you send it to a particular person as requested by them it usually takes a month or less from date they receive it.
So I will advice to do as they requested. Take care.

olujay25 wrote:If they have asked you to send your passport to a particular person to rectified their mistake I would advice to do that rather than taking chances of using it to travel as it is. Usually when you send it to a particular person as requested by them it usually takes a month or less from date they receive it.
So I will advice to do as they requested. Take care.

Thanx. I am sending it first thing tomorrow by speed mail and return addressed envelope. But you say "A MONTH or less". WHAT? A whole moth? They must be joking. Gotta be in France second half of November... I mentioned it in my cover letter.

Cheers

they ran out of the ink in the printer.. so now they have orderd a new cartilage..

just send them mate and hopefully everything will be ok..

Punjab wrote:they ran out of the ink in the printer.. so now they have orderd a new cartilage..

Hope not! That may sort out dodgy joints but certainly not to be inserted in a printer. I think you meant 'cartridge'.

oh my english...