480 EU citizens refused entry to UK in 2009

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e ... een_refuse

With regards to your enquiry about the number of EU citizens refused entry to the UK, I can disclose that 480 EU passengers were refused entry at the border controls in 2009, of which 305 (64%) were initially refused at juxtaposed controls.

Juxtaposed controls is the funny way UKBA refers to their immigration officers in France and Belgium who clear passengers before they take the ferry and channel tunnel trains. I would guess that more people fly to the UK than take the ferry/train, but twice as many train/ferry passengers are refused...

Not at all clear why these people were refused. Did they not have a passport with them? Or was it for "public policy" reasons?

[Rolfus]

If there is a defect in your paperwork, passport recently expired, spouse with no EEA Family Permit etc, these juxtaposed points of entry are accessible without having to persuade an airline to carry you. And if you can't persuade the ECO that you should be allowed to enter you go back to a hotel in Paris rather than waiting for a full-fare flight out in some holding facility.

So they are the first, and perhaps only, choice for someone with unclear paperwork; so hardly surprising that they have a higher refusal rate.

[86ti]

spouse with no EEA Family Permit

That should not count as the refusal of a EU citizen.

[Rolfus]

Agreed. It is another example of the usefulness of these juxtaposed posts for testing documentation.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

But I still do not get the number of refusals of EU citizens. It seems high. One per day for train/ferry. Every other day for airplane.

EU citizen can be turned away for only a few reasons:
(1) no way of showing that they are EU citizen (no passport, no ID card, and no alternative docs)
(2) public policy
(3) national security and public health (both should be exceedingly rare).

At the Belgium/France entry points, an expired passport should be just fine for entry into the UK.

[fysicus]

I agree: such high numbers are almost impossible and very hard to believe!

We had the case of Geert Wilders a few years ago (in fact in 2009 so he is one of the 480), and even that one was ruled unlawful by an immigration tribunal.
See http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/p ... 718039.ece and http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 873282.ece for details.

Of course, occasionally someone can just forget to carry a passport when travelling, but the other reasons (security, health) should be extremely rare. An immigration officer at an air- or seaport is not really in a position to have a strong case for refusal on such grounds.