Transfer ILR from old passport to new passport in Heathrow

hello all,

as promissed before I am telling you what happened to me today in Hethrow:

I went to holiday and came back with a new passport, when I got to the immigration officer, I handed him my landing card and both passports,Old (with the new type ILR sticker on it)and new passport, he said to me the follow:

"unfortunatley I cannot transfer your ILR sticker from the old to the new passport, I will only stamp the date on your new passport, you will still have to carry both passports with you, until you find a time to go to the home office and pay 250 pounds in order to transfer it.
we used to do it before for free using the rubber stamp, but not anymore."

otherwise the IO was as fast as carrying one passport, he didnt even make any cross checks between old and new. everything seemed to be so smooth.he didnt ask me any questions so I will keep carrying both passport and save myself 250 squids !!!!

I had a different experience yesterday- I have a stamp "At present there is no time limit on the holder's stay in the UK" on my current passport. The immigration officer at Terminal 3 said that neither that or the green sticker on my expired passport is acceptable any more and that I should get the new sticker with photo as soon as possible from the Home Office (which means paying 250 quids).
Any suggestions as to how correct he was would be appreciated.

Hi David,

perhaps because my ILR was the new type sticker with photo? ( I have corrected my post to be more specific, I dont know about the green ILR type.)

Clearly the IO has let you in anyway... so why the next one wont let you in?

K2004 wrote:Hi David,

perhaps because my ILR was the new type sticker with photo? ( I have corrected my post to be more specific, I dont know about the green ILR type.)

Clearly the IO has let you in anyway... so why the next one wont let you in?

Hi K2004,
The green sticker is just a sticker without photo which says "Indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom". Home office had started issuing stickers with stamps on them after they gave us ILR.
IO let us in this time, but told us that we have to go and get the new one asap- we did not face any problems with this sticker before (in fact, the wet ink stamp was all they looked at)- so I was wondering whether it is a new rule which says everybody has to get the new ILR with photo in them.
Rgds

I am bit confused now. Does anybody know if people can still travel with just a passport which says "At present there is no time limit ....".

The reason I am asking is because I was planning to apply for British Citizenship. I want to submit my expired passport which has the original ILR stamping (the green sticker) along with a certified copy of my current passport as I will be travelling in the next 12 weeks.

Home office procedures seem to be changing very fast and the main aim appears to be to make money.

I spoke to IND and the people there don't seem to have a clue about this. What they told me is that they can only put an ILR sticker with the photo if my current passport did not have an ILR stamping. Since I have already got the old stamping I will have to wait until my current passport expires. It is 8 more years to go for me before my current passport expires.

I think it will be years before immigration officials can start enforcing this ILR sticker with a photo rule strictly even if they wanted to because there must be loads of passports with the old stamping. I will be going out of the country shortly and returning in a week's time. I will share my experience with you after I come back.

My friend came into the UK with the old green sticker recently on a valid passport. No questions asked.

ishameeque wrote:My friend came into the UK with the old green sticker recently on a valid passport. No questions asked.

I also came in yesterday with the ink stamp (not even the green sticker) on my passport- no questions asked.
However, one of my friends who had come in with the stamp was asked to go and get ILR endorsed on his new passport at Croydon as soon as possible. He had got his ILR transferred to the new passport at Terminal 3- where immigration officer put the usual immigration stamp with a seal "the holder has indefinite leave" on top of the stamp, which apparently is no more valid.

davidm wrote:The immigration officer at Terminal 3 said that neither that or the green sticker on my expired passport is acceptable any more and that I should get the new sticker with photo as soon as possible from the Home Office (which means paying 250 quids).

Horsefeathers - the IO only need be satisified you are a returning resident based on the fact that you:

1. Held ILR on departure - as evidenced by an ILR residence permit with photo, a green vignette sticker or ink stamps stating 'holder has ILR/ILE' or 'There as present no time limit' etc.

2. Have not lost such status by being away from the UK for more than 2 years.

3. Are returning for settlement as opposed to a mere visit.

4. Did not receive funding for/ in 1.

However as repeatedly stated it is best to have evidence of your ILR status in a valid passport. This may mean having to shell out £150 for a postal application or £250 for an in peron application. I anticipate these fees to almost double as of 1 April 2005. You may if dual nationality is not an issue wish to apply for naturalisation entitling you to a British Passport.

To make things clearer, am I right in saying that a person who has a green vignette sticker ( or an ink stamp for that matter) on a valid passport do not have to go for a photo permit until the passport expires?. Thanks

well here is my thoughts,

There are people who got their ILr 10 or 20 years ago, and they have already forgotten about IND and Home Office, how on earth they are going to know about the new rules if the home office didnt write to them and advised them formally about the new sticker?not every ILR holder know about this discussion board .

please refer to my earlier post below.

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

ok so the summary is:

if you have new type ILR (Sticker with photo) and your passport has expired , you can get away with carrying both passport old and new.

but if you have old type ILR and your passport has expired, immigration officers will tell you to transfer your ILR to your new passport ASAP but they will let you in.

As promised earlier I am back with my experience.

I landed in Gatwick yesterday and held out only my current passport that has the ILR ink stamp to the immigration officer. No questions were asked nor did the officer want to see the original ILR sticker on my expired passport. I was out in 2 minutes.

This morning I have got a reply from IND to the query I had posed to them regarding the old type sticker and ink stamps. The mail clearly says that I can travel just with my current passport that has got the ink stamp and they will not insist on Visa sticker with my picture on it.

I came in yesterday at Terminal 2 with my current passport which has the ink stamp on it- no questions asked this time!

Has anyone entered the UK with their new passport which has yet to have the ILR (Residence Permit - Indefinite Leave) put into it, and which does not have any ink stamp in it (re indefinite leave to enter)? Answer is yes, because they also showed at the same time their previous passport which did.

But if you have already stamps in the new passport which show you have ILR (the stamp will be just date without mention of restrictions re 6 months etc), and perhaps this is your second or third entry with your new passport already, why would you need to show the old passport this time at all? The stamps (without restrictions attached) say it all in the new passport.

Well, the answer would be, I guess, look at the IND website on returning residents...which says

"If you have an indefinite leave to remain stamp in an old passport but do not wish to have it transferred to your new passport, you will need to carry your old passport and your new passport when you travel as evidence of your settled status. If are unable to produce this, there is a risk that you will be denied entry to the UK at the port of entry."

Does this mean that you might be let in as ILR in this situation (carrying new passport without the previous one, but the new passport has some evidence of ILR through its already existing stamps)?

Has anyone been in this situation where they have not had their old passport with them? (people forget, or try and limit the documentation they have to carry, if it's possible).