Admitted on wrong basis

I've just come back from Spain after a 2 week holiday and arrived at Heathrow Terminal 2. It seemed as if the immigration officers there were all being trained because they seemed very fresh-faced and there was some sort of supervisor hovering around them.

Anyway, I was called up to the desk, the IO examined my passport (I am currently on ILR after being on a work permit) and didn't say a word to me. She stamped by passport, gave it back to me and let me through. As I was walking to the baggage collection I had a look at my passport where she had stamped and noticed that she had placed the entry stamp next to my work permit stamp (which is still valid as I only obtained ILR 7 months ago and I had a 5 year work permit).

In other words, she had recorded my entry back into the UK on the basis of my work permit (Code 2 stamp) and NOT on the basis of my ILR vignette.

Does anyone know if this could affect my future application for naturalisation or affect my immigration history in any way?

Dawie,
This would have no impact on your naturalisation application in the future since it merely states which date you arrived back in the UK and does not affect the visa category.

Since you have a valid ILR visa at the time of entry that is all that matters. In most countries, your old WP would have been cancelled at the issuance of the ILR but I guess HO does not do that.

Rest assured you are fine.

have you checked out this link:

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... =incorrect

Yeah, I contributed to that posting some time ago. I guess I have nothing to worry about. At least she didn't stamp it with "No access to public funds and employment prohibited".

The next time I will tell the IO that I have ILR. I think this IO just flicked through my passport and the work permit stamp was the first evidence of leave to remain that she found and she just stamped it immediately.

By the way, it's the first time I've ever entered the UK without the IO saying a word to me. The last 3 times I've entered the UK since being granted ILR I've suffered what one could almost call mini-interrogations. Questions like "How long have you lived in the UK", "How long have you been away", "How did you get ILR", "How long have you had ILR" etc.

In fact they started asking me more questions when entering the UK on ILR than when I used to enter on my work permit. Then it was just "Has your employment changed?" and then you were on your way.

What sort of stamp was it? Was it just a date stamp or did it have anything else on it?

It was just the usual date stamp, that's it. But it was placed on the same page as my work permit stamp which is in the front of my passport (I'm not a visa-national) and I know for a fact that the IO did not even look at my ILR sticker which is in the back of my passport. Hence my fear that I have been let into the country on the basis of being a work permit holder and not a ILR holder.

What sort of stamp was it? Was it just a date stamp or did it have anything else on it?

Dawie wrote:It was just the usual date stamp, that's it. But it was placed on the same page as my work permit stamp which is in the front of my passport (I'm not a visa-national) and I know for a fact that the IO did not even look at my ILR sticker which is in the back of my passport. Hence my fear that I have been let into the country on the basis of being a work permit holder and not a ILR holder.

I already answered your question above. Just a normal date stamp, no writing.

Sorry don't know how I double posted 30 minutes apart?! I see your concern, however as you mentioned there was no other writing with the stamp, don't think there will be an issue when you apply for naturalisation.

Dawie,

You presume the IO was unaware of your ILR but that is unlikely to be the case. IO's can flick through a standard 32 page passport in 30 secs and tell you how many UK visa vignettes there may be....they do this day in day out. If she had indeed landed you on the basis of your WP then there would have been as a mimimum a conversation as to 'continuing employment' and definitley the involvement of a Chief IO not to mention discussons about your absence from the UK vis a vis the returning residents rule. To summarise the IO can place an entry stamp anywhere on a travel document although it usual practice to stamp an EC vignette or residence permit containing page upon first entry to the UK in that category.