UK Border Force
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I suggest a separate immigration line for those of us from low risk countries such as USA, Canada, AUS/NZ, Japan, Singapore etc.
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Confoederatio Helvetica
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419,
The UK has APIS. The UK Border Force has all of our details before our aircraft has taken off. If they want to keep out the terrorists they can deny permission to the airline before take off.
But for some reason the UK Border Force is unable, or unwilling, to use the APIS data for any sort of pre-arrival screening or analysis. They ask us the same bleeding questions as we submitted for APIS and filled out on the landing card.
Now that they have made it inconvenient for us no-risk passengers they want to extort £50 a year from us. Bar-stewards.
The UK has APIS. The UK Border Force has all of our details before our aircraft has taken off. If they want to keep out the terrorists they can deny permission to the airline before take off.
But for some reason the UK Border Force is unable, or unwilling, to use the APIS data for any sort of pre-arrival screening or analysis. They ask us the same bleeding questions as we submitted for APIS and filled out on the landing card.
Now that they have made it inconvenient for us no-risk passengers they want to extort £50 a year from us. Bar-stewards.
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The UK has APIS. The UK Border Force has all of our details before our aircraft has taken off. If they want to keep out the terrorists they can deny permission to the airline before take off.
APIS is all very well but it does nothing to stop people who are flying on altered or borrowed passports or people who might not show up as suspicious on the computer but when given face to face questioning may well turn out to be dodgy.
Join Date: Jun 2002
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These officials are trained to spot any telltale signs in your body language and your answers.
In the UK, we are burdened by the decisions made by the crap-for-brains high level managers inside our immigration service. Not only have they created not-fit-for-purpose systems for those with passports, the systems in place don't keep the smellies out because they don't have passports and don't follows the rules. Economic Migrants 1, UK Border Force 0. What is worse is that when a smelly gets in, the git gets bloody legal aid at my expense! I think we should send them all round to Shami Chakrabarti's house to live.
PM
I've only ever had good experiences with US Officials. You hear all the stories about stern faced people , don't make jokes at them, don't even smile etc (usually from the airline!) but I've always found them polite and respectful. OK I don't risk making jokes at them, but answer their questions politely, and I've never left without a 'have a nice day' or 'enjoy your stay'
Most countries have officials that can have a good day or bad day. Australia is better than most limited (sample size of 4 in my case). One officer remarked that her father lived very near where I came from when I passed through.
The trouble with US officials is that they are too robotic. Doubtless the training. 'Have you ever had a visa revoked?' Answer in my case 'yes without prejudice' as it was over ten years old so I tick the box. I assume that 'without prejudice' means that I had done nothing wrong. The guy at Newark (surely the worst airport for border inspection) promptly marches me off to Secondary. Luckily an intelligent agent with common sense clears me in five minutes (so I'll partially take back my comment). That said I've found charming staff at SFO & HNL. YVR preclearance was OK.
Japan has some of the most courteous people on earth but their border control can be officious.
I wonder if there is a correlation between how polite a country's people are and how polite their immigration & customs staff are?
As an aside, the Economist magazine is right. We shouldn't have a sign at airports saying UK Border but sating Welcome to the UK (or London or whatever). I think that was an idea of Gordon Brown but its unfair to single out a single politician - they are all as bad as each other. I much preferred it when immigration staff didn't have uniforms. It didn't make them any less effective.
The trouble with US officials is that they are too robotic. Doubtless the training. 'Have you ever had a visa revoked?' Answer in my case 'yes without prejudice' as it was over ten years old so I tick the box. I assume that 'without prejudice' means that I had done nothing wrong. The guy at Newark (surely the worst airport for border inspection) promptly marches me off to Secondary. Luckily an intelligent agent with common sense clears me in five minutes (so I'll partially take back my comment). That said I've found charming staff at SFO & HNL. YVR preclearance was OK.
Japan has some of the most courteous people on earth but their border control can be officious.
I wonder if there is a correlation between how polite a country's people are and how polite their immigration & customs staff are?
As an aside, the Economist magazine is right. We shouldn't have a sign at airports saying UK Border but sating Welcome to the UK (or London or whatever). I think that was an idea of Gordon Brown but its unfair to single out a single politician - they are all as bad as each other. I much preferred it when immigration staff didn't have uniforms. It didn't make them any less effective.
Last edited by Peter47; 22nd Aug 2015 at 20:10.
It's just people doing their jobs,and quite often there's no latitude to deviate from the set procedures.
Just answer the questions promptly and you'll be on your way.And always be polite to anyone in uniform,especially at borders,it's just good sense
Just answer the questions promptly and you'll be on your way.And always be polite to anyone in uniform,especially at borders,it's just good sense
Good idea, if I get questioned next time I'll simply show them one of my credit cards and point out that that the limit on it is more than their annual income and that I earn three times as much as they do. That should get me waved through as quickly as I deserve.
Clearly, Metro Man is having a laugh...hes winding everyone up. Either that or he really does need to get over himself. I almost feel like joining the Border Agency just in the hope I can greet him one day and discuss his salary and status during the very very long transit through the border!
@Peter47 +1
An in your face UK Border sign is extremely poor psychology. If you are attempting irregular entry it's unlikely to make a difference since you have already decided to try. If you're a regular/tired/grumpy traveller it's a red rag to a bull that makes matters worse.
Border Force obviously bought the uniforms from Primark. Without disrespect to individual officers some, er, don't really wear them well. When they wore their own choice of smart civilian clothes they seemed nicely understated and probably more effective for that
...As an aside, the Economist magazine is right. We shouldn't have a sign at airports saying Border Force but stating Welcome to the UK...I much preferred it when immigration staff didn't have uniforms. It didn't make them any less effective...
Border Force obviously bought the uniforms from Primark. Without disrespect to individual officers some, er, don't really wear them well. When they wore their own choice of smart civilian clothes they seemed nicely understated and probably more effective for that
I have a Romanian friend who works for a Swiss pharmaceutical company. On arrival at Heathrow on a business trip from Zurich she was asked by a 'professional' from UK Border force whether she was 'entering the UK for the purposes of prostitution'. She doesn't come here any more. our loss, not hers.
Holiday Inn Express 'clerk thought Alecsandra Puflea was a prostitute' | Daily Mail Online
Graduate and boyfriend denied room at Holiday Inn Express because 'clerk thought she was a Romanian prostitute'
Alecsandra Puflea said she and her boyfriend were turned away by staff
She claims a worker told her: 'I'm sorry, but we don't accept Romanians'
She said police told her the hotel is screening guests under a new policy
Other Romanian women were using the rooms for prostitution, she said
Hotel spokesperson said it 'is definitely not a case of racial discrimination'
Holiday Inn Express has apologised and is now reviewing its local policy
By CHRIS KITCHING and EMILY PAYNE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 09:45 GMT, 22 July 2015 | UPDATED: 00:58 GMT, 23 July 2015
Graduate and boyfriend denied room at Holiday Inn Express because 'clerk thought she was a Romanian prostitute'
Alecsandra Puflea said she and her boyfriend were turned away by staff
She claims a worker told her: 'I'm sorry, but we don't accept Romanians'
She said police told her the hotel is screening guests under a new policy
Other Romanian women were using the rooms for prostitution, she said
Hotel spokesperson said it 'is definitely not a case of racial discrimination'
Holiday Inn Express has apologised and is now reviewing its local policy
By CHRIS KITCHING and EMILY PAYNE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 09:45 GMT, 22 July 2015 | UPDATED: 00:58 GMT, 23 July 2015
I have a Romanian friend who works for a Swiss pharmaceutical company. On arrival at Heathrow on a business trip from Zurich she was asked by a 'professional' from UK Border force whether she was 'entering the UK for the purposes of prostitution'. She doesn't come here any more. our loss, not hers.
Graduate and boyfriend denied room at Holiday Inn Express because 'clerk thought she was a Romanian prostitute'
Alecsandra Puflea said she and her boyfriend were turned away by staff
She claims a worker told her: 'I'm sorry, but we don't accept Romanians'
She said police told her the hotel is screening guests under a new policy
Other Romanian women were using the rooms for prostitution, she said
Hotel spokesperson said it 'is definitely not a case of racial discrimination'
Holiday Inn Express has apologised and is now reviewing its local policy
By CHRIS KITCHING and EMILY PAYNE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 09:45 GMT, 22 July 2015 | UPDATED: 00:58 GMT, 23 July 2015
Alecsandra Puflea said she and her boyfriend were turned away by staff
She claims a worker told her: 'I'm sorry, but we don't accept Romanians'
She said police told her the hotel is screening guests under a new policy
Other Romanian women were using the rooms for prostitution, she said
Hotel spokesperson said it 'is definitely not a case of racial discrimination'
Holiday Inn Express has apologised and is now reviewing its local policy
By CHRIS KITCHING and EMILY PAYNE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 09:45 GMT, 22 July 2015 | UPDATED: 00:58 GMT, 23 July 2015
Talking to people, as I do as part of my job, it is easy to detect these attitudes, with the sweeping, usually negative and often completely false claims they make regarding "foreigners" in UK.
Whilst the UK certainly does have to gurard it's borders against illegal migrants, it needs to do it in a rather more intelligent way, rather than tarring all people of certain nationalities with a single brush.
Paxing All Over The World
This is all very natural 'end of empire' behaviour. The examples are rife. This week alone, apart from seeing the treatment of other human beings that are not 'us', we see 'us' promoting their cronies into the House of Lords.
Then there is the sight of one political party trying to hijack the internal election of another political party and thinking this is 'good sport'. The Era of the Great Decadence is upon us ....
Then there is the sight of one political party trying to hijack the internal election of another political party and thinking this is 'good sport'. The Era of the Great Decadence is upon us ....
Last edited by PAXboy; 28th Aug 2015 at 10:52.
Whilst the UK certainly does have to gurard it's borders against illegal migrants, it needs to do it in a rather more intelligent way, rather than tarring all people of certain nationalities with a single brush.
I think you'll find many nations do take a more enlightened approach to checks than does UK in the "May era".
air pig
just try to get into Israel and then complain.
just try to get into Israel and then complain.
Rwy in Sight
Join Date: Oct 2007
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The "in your face" attitude of the British immigration officials of West African origin" tells me all I need to know about you Metro Man. I'd suggest that racists like yourself ought to be permanently banned from entering the UK.