GAR form - do you have to inform immigration?

[Nibbler]

ifonly - the form goes to the 3 agencies regardless. I could have allowed multiple selection however the thought was people would miss this when completing the form.

IO540 - The text on the form is for the benefit of the person completing the form and not required by the agency staff. The actual paper form was to address the needs of an older technology, the FAX. Again a little logic was applied and it simplified the task.

The white listing was a little more cunning than that. During the initial contact and negotiation phase I used an email on the same domain I intended to use for the form. By communicating with me I didn't need to specifically request a white listing, which would have meant another delay or someone else finding fault.

[SunnyDayInWiltshire]

A nice feature would be to store personal details for recalling on repeat flights but that gets you hassles with the DPA

If the website uses a form to enter details, then browser plugins such as LastPass could be used. These remember your personal details for forms like this in an encrypted way that only you can unlock and is independent of the website itself. It automatically prefills all the form fields which you can then edit/tweak as appropriate for each flight.

Perhaps this might be a simpler way of dealing with the issue, avoids the Data Protection Act, and keeps the website itself simpler.

SD

[Nibbler]

Spot on SunnyDayInWiltshire - keep it simple!

This is why we set up the web form the way we did and you are quite right browser plugins can help with autofill

[johnny3star]

Has there been any progress on this? [GAR submissions by email]
I just got back from a trip to Southern Ireland, via N.I and then back via Glenforsa.
Completing and sending multiple GARs for this trip was a real time-consuming pain.

[xj8driver]

I always email my GAR form to the tower, and they forward it on to those that need it.

I had a chat with the local Border Force guys the other day, while they were waiting for an inbound flight, and they gave me their card and said to email the GAR to them if I wanted belt & braces.

I also asked about coming back at a different time/date than on the GAR, and they said to just call/email the home tower (EGTF) or call/email them with a revised ETA. As long as they know, there'd be no problem.

[peterh337]

You absolutely should not send a GAR to any airport; it contains personal information and the airport is not entitled to see it.

The GAR is sent to a combination of Customs, Immigration, or Police, according to the rules specified on the form.

Some airports however have entered into private arrangements with C&I and in such cases the form needs to be sent to e.g. Customs even when the official instructions don't say so. The best way to deal with that is to send the form to both C and I for every foreign departure and every foreign return. The ncu@ email address reaches both C and I in one go.

There is an ongoing project to bring the badly needed electronic GAR submission which appears to be nearly done.

[dublinpilot]

And worse still if the airport don't send it it's you that gets in trouble not them. Even if they do send it you have no evidence that it was sent. I've been accused of not sending it in the past and would have had a difficult conversation except for the fact that I had a copy of the fax and the confirmation page with me.

[The Grim EPR]

Does anyone have an email address that Hampshire police use to receive completed GAR forms please?

And is anyone close to a generic solution to online filing of the GAR yet? Great work was being done I remember, but it went quiet (understandably) during the Olympics.

Thanks!

[SunnyDayInWiltshire]

Google is your friend

I found a reference to this address for Hampshire police
[email protected]

But I have no idea if this is still valid and/or correct.

..but yes, it just highlights how hard it is to find out where to send these forms when the Police need to be notified. Your airfield might offer the option to do it for you.

It would be great if the government and police forces could save money by removing the need for special branch to be involved, save money, reduce notification time before flying etc etc. I can't really see an ongoing need for this system. We can only hope.

[The Grim EPR]

Thanks for that Mr Sunnydayinwiltshire. Much appreciated.

Google on this occasion wasn't quite as friendly as usual though. I had found that email address previously. (I should have mentioned that!).

Sadly, it is no longer active and the emails bounce back.