Passport lost and need to have my passport back

[Raiden_2007]

Dear all,
I sent my passport to UK Borader agency for IGS visa back in January and they informed me in March that they could not locate my passport. Now my prospective employer needs to see my passport for my status. I have called home office more than 50 times to chase my application up and asked them to inform me my status in writing (as my passport could not be located as per Home Office) and to issue me a 'lost passport letter' with which I can have a new passport. My new employer has given me onlyh 20 days time to inform them of my status in writing. Everytime I call them they tell me to wait. Although its past 14 weeks now they seem to be very indifferent to my case. What should I do now? I need to have my passport back asap.

[Raiden_2007]

Dear all,
I sent my passport to UK Borader agency for IGS visa back in January and they informed me in March that they could not locate my passport. Now my prospective employer needs to see my passport for my status. I have called home office more than 50 times to chase my application up and asked them to inform me my status in writing (as my passport could not be located as per Home Office) and to issue me a 'lost passport letter' with which I can have a new passport. My new employer has given me onlyh 20 days time to inform them of my status in writing. Everytime I call them they tell me to wait. Although its past 14 weeks now they seem to be very indifferent to my case. What should I do now? I need to have my passport back asap.

Already have complained.

[vnvijay]

What I feel is, y dnt you walk down to HO building & meet the supervisor or manager over thr & tell them that you need to go to home country, with-out the passport I cant do it or I cant stay hr because I have dnt have valid visa to say in UK.

Before meeting them try to take an appointment with the top guy & speak to them, write down all the possible points which u want to discuss.

Hope this helps you & get ur thing right, God bless you!!!!!!

VJ

Dear all,
I sent my passport to UK Borader agency for IGS visa back in January and they informed me in March that they could not locate my passport. Now my prospective employer needs to see my passport for my status. I have called home office more than 50 times to chase my application up and asked them to inform me my status in writing (as my passport could not be located as per Home Office) and to issue me a 'lost passport letter' with which I can have a new passport. My new employer has given me onlyh 20 days time to inform them of my status in writing. Everytime I call them they tell me to wait. Although its past 14 weeks now they seem to be very indifferent to my case. What should I do now? I need to have my passport back asap.

Already have complained.

[Raiden_2007]

What I feel is, y dnt you walk down to HO building & meet the supervisor or manager over thr & tell them that you need to go to home country, with-out the passport I cant do it or I cant stay hr because I have dnt have valid visa to say in UK.

Before meeting them try to take an appointment with the top guy & speak to them, write down all the possible points which u want to discuss.

Hope this helps you & get ur thing right, God bless you!!!!!!

VJ

In the letter issued to me they said that if I needed to visit my home country I was gonna have to get a emergency travel document from my embassy here in UK and in order to come back I need to apply for visa again.
Could you tell me how to book an appointment with the top guy? and directly speak to them. Are they gonna let me?

Dear all,
I sent my passport to UK Borader agency for IGS visa back in January and they informed me in March that they could not locate my passport. Now my prospective employer needs to see my passport for my status. I have called home office more than 50 times to chase my application up and asked them to inform me my status in writing (as my passport could not be located as per Home Office) and to issue me a 'lost passport letter' with which I can have a new passport. My new employer has given me onlyh 20 days time to inform them of my status in writing. Everytime I call them they tell me to wait. Although its past 14 weeks now they seem to be very indifferent to my case. What should I do now? I need to have my passport back asap.

Already have complained.

[Raiden_2007]

In the letter issued to me they said that if I needed to visit my home country I was gonna have to get a emergency travel document from my embassy here in UK and in order to come back I need to apply for visa again.
Could you tell me how to book an appointment with the top guy? and directly speak to them. Are they gonna let me?

[vnvijay]

Hi,

one thing i wanted to let you know is, i dnt have HSMP with me or UK visa.

I just wanted to help people so i do this work, by giving them advise when they are in need of it.

if you need an appointment, pls go to HO building tell them you need to meet the top guy.

I think they should help you!

VJ

In the letter issued to me they said that if I needed to visit my home country I was gonna have to get a emergency travel document from my embassy here in UK and in order to come back I need to apply for visa again.
Could you tell me how to book an appointment with the top guy? and directly speak to them. Are they gonna let me?

[rockhall]

I would really love to know the outcome of this passport, my friend had the similar case where allllllllllllllllllllllllll his original documents were lost including his wife and dependants, all they told him is that he should check the post office nothing else its not their problem.

What they gave him was his status on a piece of paper for him and family.

[thsths]

I have called home office more than 50 times to chase my application up and asked them to inform me my status in writing (as my passport could not be located as per Home Office) and to issue me a 'lost passport letter' with which I can have a new passport. My new employer has given me onlyh 20 days time to inform them of my status in writing. Everytime I call them they tell me to wait. Although its past 14 weeks now they seem to be very indifferent to my case.

I think you are in a tight spot. The Home Office can drag out a case as long as they want to, so unless they are somewhat helpful and actually look at your case, you may never get your visa. You can complain to the BIA, but that is of little use in my experience. If you can convince your MP that you have a case, your chances are a lot better. Do you know whether they have just lost your passport, or your whole file?

If you just want your passport back, you have to send them a letter. Of course this will also cancel the application. If you do not get your passport, you should at least get compensation for the cost of a new one. You certainly have a right to this, but enforcing it could be different. I don't think you can take the Home Office to the small claims court, or can you?

Tom

[Raiden_2007]

I guess they have lost the whole file...now my prospective employer needs a letter which confirms my status in UK...so that they could apply for a work permit...now looks like this is a deadlock situation..but going to MP is the last resort...now given that they have lost it...how things are gonna go?should I stop living my life?can the employers not take me anymore?

[gollywood]

Just prove to them you sent it by showing them a copy of the Special Delivery slip (or whatever service you used).

I will have the date that you sent it - and if you use the track & trace facility, it will confirm when the itemd was received.

[rockhall]

I strongly believe that these people are trained not to be sympathectic to the causes of people, so u cannot really blame them probably there are workers at the HO who would be sympathetic but they cannot or must not show it.

[Raiden_2007]

I guess they have lost the whole file...now my prospective employer needs a letter which confirms my status in UK...so that they could apply for a work permit...now looks like this is a deadlock situation..but going to MP is the last resort...now given that they have lost it...how things are gonna go?should I stop living my life?can the employers not take me anymore?

could you tell me why complaining to BIA is of little use? they gave me 20 working days ceiling. is it only for the sake of saying?on top I wanna know whether consulting with a solicitor could be of any help?

[Raiden_2007]

I would really love to know the outcome of this passport, my friend had the similar case where allllllllllllllllllllllllll his original documents were lost including his wife and dependants, all they told him is that he should check the post office nothing else its not their problem.

What they gave him was his status on a piece of paper for him and family.

can they travel with that document? what happened to your friend? what problems is he facing without passport? could you please tell me

[vinay shanthi]

here is what i would do if i was in ur situation.

send a subject data access request regarding u. pay proper fee for this, think it is 10£. do a search on this forum for subject access request and u will see what it is and what u get

next make a freedom of information request for details on all incidents of lost documents in visa section in last 5y

ask same for lost passports

ask same for criminal investigations for involvement of home office staff in pilfereing documents

ask same for any internal investigations done into lost documents of people applying for visas and reports of the same investigations

ask same for number of people against whom complaints were forwarded to the police for lost document investigations

ask same for number of people who were punished in internal disciplinary procedures for losing / pilfering documents

also ask same for how many complaints were there about lost documents in last 5y period and how many of these were traced in full

ask same data on how many people were paid compensation for the same and what was the total amount of compensation offered.

also ask in your subject data access request who had pocession of your documents for the last time. and ask if there was an investigation whether the documents were misplaced or pilfered by home office staff and ask what was the result of the enquiry. if there was no enquiry, ask them why not
*******************

now regarding what else you can do

do a search of this forum for all incidents of lost passports / lost documents in home office

contact your area MP, give full details of your case, mention about people previously losing documents in home office as well, with proof from this forums search results, ask them to investigate this matter

ask the home affairs select committee of parliament to investigate lost documents / pilfered documents in home office. select committees might not accept individual complaints. so write a complaint to each and every mp on that committee. see parliament website for their details

when u write to home office, make a copy to your area MP and mention this in your complaint letter as well

when u get all the data from ur subject access request and freedom of information act request. see what data is useful and controversial and write about the same to each and every newspaper especially the ones like daily mail and sun etc. send copies to opposition MP wiho is shadowing home affairs as well and copy of all these to david cameron as well.

if u have lost ur documents anyway, then get back at them by using the data that u get on FOI requests. if they dont give u the data, then u can report the same to the information commissioner and also papers and also opposition politicians.

most useful will be intervention by your MP and help by your area newspaper if u can get help from them

also ask home office to issue u a letter that they have received your passport and documents for visa renewal purposes and show this to your employer. in same letter ask home office to mention that as the visa application is pending withthem, ask them to mention as per immigration rules you present status of visa continues to be valid and that you can continue working. also mention in your letter that because they lost ur documents if u lose ur job now then they will be liable for all damages. also mention that they will be liable for all costs incurred in getting the documents and also legal fees and also damages for problems encoutered by you in this regard. also mention that they will be liable for any damages resulting from ID fraud.

make it clear that if u dont get all ur documents back then u will not let them get away with it and that you will involve the press and opposition politicians as appropriate for help in this matter

if u need to travel then you will need a letter from home office about the lost documents and use the same to get an emergency travel document from ur embassy and use that to travel. but u will need a visa to get back to uk. but i wouldnt travel if not essential

best of luck

my friend lost documents at home office similarly. ran around for more than 6months. then involved solicitor and MP. solicitor was liasing with MP etc. suddenly they sprang to life and later all documents were found. earlier they had told not found and issue paper saying this and paper visa. suddenly they found everything after MP started to follow this issue seriously. mention the same to ur area MP. this had happened before as well and they seem to be getting away with this.

last but not the least send a complaint to the data commissioner regarding loss of personal documents by home office and ask for people to be prosecuted for misplacing your documents under the provisions of the data protection act

start an online petition (there are dedicated free websites for this) about whether people have lost documents at home office or know people who have lost documents at home office and ask such people to sign the petition. ask for an official investigation into these episodes. address the petition to david cameron. and put the link to the petition on this forum and all immigration forums. do a search for lost documents on this forum and send a link by private message to that petition to every person who said they lost documents and ask them to sign this petition and to ask their freinds to sign the petition as well. the more the people who sign, the more the chances of there being a proper investigatuion into this issue. i myself know a few people who lost documents i will sign the petition and ask who ever lost documents on bapio forums and other forums to sign the petition as well.

keep copies of all communication between u and home office in this matter. buy a phone conversations recorder easily available on the internet. record all conversations between u and home office in this matter. u can use that as proof probably if needed later for legal action

read up on data protection act and freedom of information act consumer guides on the internet

contact no win ne fee lawyers, see if they will take your case and whether even if u win all charges will be recoverable from home office for legal action

now the ball is in ur court. best of luck

[rockhall]

Raiden_2007 as Vinay said the ball is in your to answer your question my friend had to get a solicitor to help him because he was told to wait 20 days and that had passed with no response, They only gave him compensation just to get the passports back but that was it he did not want to further delay the situation so he just went to get new passports.

I suggest you contact a solicitor/lawyer because trust me the suspense will kill you at least with a solicitor you will know whats going on. This is just rediculous. Try your MP they do get results from the HO, so this is a good start.

Good Luck

[Raiden_2007]

Thanx guys for your reply...all I need now is a letter saying my status and my new visa and I dont mind to bear the cost of new passport on my own...once they issue me the letter my employer will apply for a work permit on my behalf and by this time I will get my new passport on which I will have my FLR satmp. Thats it.

I dont want all my files to be found..because the process seems very complex and on top I dont have enough time... is this possible?

[Raiden_2007]

I dont have my name on electoral register will the MP still help me?

[pr4t4p]

Dear all,
I sent my passport to UK Borader agency for IGS visa back in January and they informed me in March that they could not locate my passport. Now my prospective employer needs to see my passport for my status. I have called home office more than 50 times to chase my application up and asked them to inform me my status in writing (as my passport could not be located as per Home Office) and to issue me a 'lost passport letter' with which I can have a new passport. My new employer has given me onlyh 20 days time to inform them of my status in writing. Everytime I call them they tell me to wait. Although its past 14 weeks now they seem to be very indifferent to my case. What should I do now? I need to have my passport back asap.

Hello,
When I was a student in this country like 3 years back, I had the same problem and apparently the Home Office told me that passport has lost in the post.
And it took them 8 months to send me a letter confirming my visa was granted at this date and until this date and we apolosize for the incovinience.....
I use to call them almost everyday but in vain, the only way it worked for me was sending them fax letters continously .....
I guess you can find the fax numbers on the website depending on what kind of application you have submitted ....
But honestly it was a nightmare for me .....The Royal Mail will also not pay for the damages as they send recorded delivery .....
All you have to do is get yourself a new passport by calling royal mail if its lost in post asking them to send a letter of confirmation that it has been lost ....
and same with home office ....
I hope it helps .....
Regards ...

[Raiden_2007]

Hello,
When I was a student in this country like 3 years back, I had the same problem and apparently the Home Office told me that passport has lost in the post.
And it took them 8 months to send me a letter confirming my visa was granted at this date and until this date and we apolosize for the incovinience.....
I use to call them almost everyday but in vain, the only way it worked for me was sending them fax letters continously .....
I guess you can find the fax numbers on the website depending on what kind of application you have submitted ....
But honestly it was a nightmare for me .....The Royal Mail will also not pay for the damages as they send recorded delivery .....
All you have to do is get yourself a new passport by calling royal mail if its lost in post asking them to send a letter of confirmation that it has been lost ....
and same with home office ....
I hope it helps .....
Regards ...[/quote]


thanks for your reply.
1.When did you first suspected that your passport was lost? did you not ever receive any acknowledgement letter?
2. did they grant you any paper visa before admitting that they had lost it?
3. did you complain or hire solicitors?

[Raiden_2007]

I have received the lost passport letter from home office today. I have also withdrawn my IGS application today as well. My employer will apply for my work permit on my behalf and I am gonna have to apply for entry clearence from Bangladesh. But there is nothing else I could do.