UK Immigration Mistreatment

Well, I recently arrived in the United Kingdom to see my girlfriend. We had known each other for a duration of 5 months, we had planned a trip to meet for a couple of weeks. I don't care what anyone says about that, it's what I wanted to do, if you don't like it or have something rude to say, then just don't reply.

However, once I had arrived at customs, I presented my Passport, answered the questions accordingly. I was told to sit on some bench while being handed a paper stating that I had been detained and so has my passport. Initial reasons for this seemed to be they couldn't get in contact with the people I was going to stay with because they were at the Airport looking for me. So, they didn't believe me. Then there was some mis-entered information of my name that wasn't my fault, and that had screwed me as well.

After awhile I was brought to a room where they searched my belongings, then they escorted me to an area where they finger printed me and stuck me in a cold room by myself while I waited for the immigration officer assigned to my case to further question me. I waited for hours, no answer, I had asked the guards in the area how long it was going to be, they checked and got back to me about 30 minutes later.

They had then told me that the woman had left that evening, and a male had been assigned to my case. After awhile, he came in and questioned me. I answered honestly, and properly. I was polite, and had nothing preventing me from staying there.

He left and came back and was totally rude to me, told me I was being removed from the country, and was a prick about it. He stated reasons such as my money to accommodate myself, which was illogical. I had 310 pounds for 2 weeks. Yes, if I had not had a place to stay and food secured before I had got there, this would be a problem, but this wasn't the case.

I had a place to stay at, and food, that I didn't have to pay for. The rest of my money for for stuff such as shampoo, tourism, and what not. Not to mention, they had used my unemployment against me, I have been trying to obtain a job, it's just not easy. The money I had used for the trip was a gift from my family for graduating, it was mine to do with as I wished.

They tried saying I could only rely on my family for the trip, and basically put me down over it in a rude manner. This has nothing to do with me staying in the country, it was none of their business, it should have never been used against me.

All in all, they were total assholes to me and my family. They were rude to my girlfriend's family as well. They had threatened to arrest her mother because she raised hell with them. Then they had told her family and my family reasons as to why I was detained and removed that I wasn't informed of.

They said it was because I had originally met her over the internet, my clothing, irrelevant things such as that. Even though my story and my intentions were legit, and had been confirmed by multiple people in England and in the United States, I was still removed.

The worse part is, this was over 12 hours when I was notified that I was being removed, it shouldn't have taken this long. They then told me all the flights that day were gone, that I would have to wait till morning to be removed from the country on a plane. So, I was then told I had to go to a detention center for the duration of the night. I waited hours for the people to take me there, they finally showed, and then it took hours to actually get to a bed.

After a short nap or so, I was woke up and taken back to the airport where I waited in a room until my flight. I was stuck in a room with people who couldn't even speak English. Hell, half the staff were Indian, not even proper UK citizens. I was then taken to my flight, as I was leaving, I had seen the officer who had made the decision to remove me.

Funny thing is, they had told my family that he had not came in that day. They had called to speak with him. They lied to my family in that regard. Also, while my family and my girlfriend's family were trying to find me in the detention center, they were lied to and were told they had no record of me being there.

This should have been a short decision, it shouldn't have taken over 20 hours in total to get me out of the country. I should have never been denied, it was pathetic.

I had enough funds, I had legit reasons to stay in the country, yet they said they didn't believe me. They thought I would overstay my welcome in the country, and said I would recourse to public funds and work illegally. They used these reasons to remove me from the country, even though I specifically said I was aware that this was illegal, and I would never attempt such a thing.

The house I was going to be staying at was her mother's house. She was living there since she couldn't work for the time being for medical reasons. I had personally talked to her mother and asked if I could stay there for the duration of my visit, she had agreed. Her family confirmed my intentions, yet I was still removed.

All and all, I was mistreated. I should have been removed from the country in no time at all, it shouldn't have taken as much time as it should have. They hung up on my family over the home, threatened her family, and just caused a hassle for everyone.

I have lost a lot of money on this trip, namely because they took my return ticket and changed the date on it so I could use that on the way back. By doing this, my insurance on the ticket wouldn't mean jack, meaning I couldn't get my money back since the ticket was used.

We have contacted our state representative in congress, they have sent us papers to fill out. As soon as we have letters from her family stating that all I had said was true and what not, and proof of what has happened to me, we will send in the papers as an attempt to give my money back or get any justice.

Anyways, what's your opinion on the matter?

 

I would sue the shit of them, and asked for every person that spoke to me to take legal action personally against all of them.

 

what passport do you hold? That should tell us more about your case

 

I hold a United States passport. I shouldn't have needed a visa to enter the country for 2 weeks to visit my girlfriend and do some tourism, such as visit Windsor Castle.

They just made me feel completely like shit, and mistreated me. I was to the point of breaking down crying. All I had wanted to do is visit her and do some site seeing. I was within a 100 or so feet from her, but not allowed to see her or speak to her. They wouldn't even let me have a minute of time to see her and tell her bye.

 

Balorawn: I am terribly sorry to hear the story, my answer is basically the same as the rest. Sue the fucking wankers out of their shoes.

 

I'm a US citizen, would it even be possible for me to sue? I'm highly considering looking reporting my story to the news, get the shit on CNN. Don't know whether or not it'd work, but I can sure as hell try.

 

You can report it to reddit.com first, then you can report to all news agents who wants to hear it If it is possible, then sue too. But only if it is possible.

 

My guess is that you (or someone with your name) is flagged for something and they were giving you the runaround to avoid telling you the real reason. It should have been easy to get into the UK with a US passport so that has to be the reason.

 

There are only two people in the US that I know of with my name.

 

Report it to cnn, honestly the media is desperate for big news stories and this would be a great one. Btw sorry to hear how you were treated I would feel like shit if I had to go through that.

 

What A.Snow said, you wouldn't be treated like this unless (for example)

You were American-Asian (as in Middle Asia, Pakistani, Iraqi, Bangladeshi, etc) and spent time recently in the above countries (the old "went there for terrorist training" line)

Your name/someone close to you/someone you shared a house with recently, etc has done the above

You were travelling light (for the duration of your stay) which would lead them to assume you were entering the UK with the intention of setting up shop

£310 for 2 weeks isn't a lot of money for someone coming to see the sights, this could have given them reason to think that wasn't your intention

I seriously doubt you could sue, at most you could ask your local governor to petition the UK Embassy to try to find out the reason. However, they don't have to give you an honest answer due to "national security" (same as in America)

I am going to go out on a limb though and guess you aren't of White/African descent?

 

If you can't sue, write your story and send it to as much media as you can. Try to get it widespread.

 

I shouldn't get involved here but I will.

Having a family in the UK and your own family in the US 'vouch' for the legitimacy of your stay is 100% worthless; how many times do you think that has happened in the past?!

£310 for 2 weeks sight-seeing isn't enough money at all regardless of whether you have a place to stay and food provided.

You have to look at this from an imigration point of view. The UK is crammed full of illegal imigrants and i am happy so hear that they ARE actually taking steps against it (unfortunately at your expense in this instance).
You also have to accept these things take time. They cannot simply say 'Your not coming into the country for XYZ reasons' without checking. And on the other hand they cannot say 'Welcome to the Uk, feel free to overstay your welcome and take advantage of our already overstretched and abused benefits system'.

I am sorry if this seems harsh and I am not questioning your intentions but if they did not have genuine reasons for deporting you then I am sure they wouldn't have.

You can write to the UK government ask for a full breakdown and reasoning why they deported you and you are guaranteed a response (apparently).

Good luck!

 

I also say report to CNN. They love this kind of stuff.

 

They were right to send you back. If your gf tells you to fuck off the second day then you have no place to stay, no money and no flight home. Sure i can understand why your so pissed off but they were correct to send you back.

Plus what does "I was stuck in a room with people who couldn't even speak English. Hell, half the staff were Indian, not even proper UK citizens." have anything to do with it? You were in a room with all the other cases who might be denied. Also do you have to be white to be a UK citizen? You come off kinda racist no wonder they were pricks to you if you took that kind of attitude to them.

edit:
BLAH kiff beat me to it. Should have posted sooner. As for everyone saying sue them and make a fuss about it then just watch the passport control tv show (maybe uk border force) where they show you the cases. Sounds pretty typical as to what he is describing. When you see their point of view it becomes abit clearer and less dramatic.

 

youtube link of the show please? I m kinda curious

 

Regardless of what passport you have, you do not have automatic right of entry into any country, even with a visa it's up to the immigration officials to decide your entry into the country.

As been stated before 310 pounds isn't a great deal (at best it would have paid for a really shitty london hotel for maybe 9 days. You should have about 80 pounds a day to cover a basic hotel, food and travel), however sometimes I go to countries with less then that but I always have two seperate debit cards and a current bank statement showing that I pay for my stay and a ticket out of the country if need be. I also carry business cards for my place of work and a couple of pay statements too (shows I have a reason to return to my country).

Also telling the immigration people "I am meeting my GF for the first time and we met on the internet" is never a good idea. If you didn't like each other in real life or the mother kicked you out then you would have problems. Everytime I come to Japan to see my GF, I never ever state I am visiting my girlfriend, I always say I am visiting friends (and have numbers for this) and am here for tourist reasons.

Personally out of all the countries I hate visiting, it would have to be the US as certain airports have over zealous immigration people. I've been held in detention in San Francisco airport for 4 hours after they didn't like my reasons for entering the country and had to wait until the place I was doing some consultancy work for opened. Even then unless I have all the paperwork (hotels or place to stay, money / debit cards / bank statements and pay slips) I still never feel comfortable going to the states.

As also been stated you can't sue the UK immigration people (even if you think they are lying as it's always going to be your word against theirs) all you can do is write to them and ask for the official reason you were denied entry, and your local state government have sent you forms to fill in which should help.

Being denied entry is always bad as you may be denied entry to other countries (so you will have to find out before hand if you will need a visa, even if the country does have a visa waiver program with the US) and if you do decide to come back to the UK you will have to apply for a visa first although you will have to give them more information.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11gxuAOfoHw&feature=related

 

I love the nigerian ones!

 

It's all been said, really.

You don't have automatic right to enter any country (apart from perhaps US affiliated countries?) and yes you need a visa. As far as I know, we have a visa waiver programme to get around that, but you still had to fill in a form on the plane for that.

The first thing they'll look at is that form - was there anything on that which may have rang alarm bells? Do you have a criminal record for example? Did you tick any of those boxes with a negative answer?

I don't know about this way round, but going to the US we have to use the ESTA to get authorization to enter the US before we travel (at least a few days in advance). We have to have a valid machine-readable passport with at least six months remaining on it. And, of course, a return ticket.

I imagine this applies to you as well - by using the Visa Waiver Program you waive all rights to appeal against any decision.

The ukvisas website states:

So my travelling advice would be:

• check your passport is valid for at least 6 months
• check you don't need a visa or any other permissions to enter the country
• buy travel insurance (you have to tell them how long you're going for)
• buy a return ticket
• ensure you have enough cash/traveller's cheques/balance on credit card to support your self EVEN IF you are staying with friends
• the suggestion of proof you want and need to return (e.g. pay slips) is a good idea
• know where you're staying and have the address on your person
• keep a pen on you - visa forms are often handed out on the plane and the stewards often don't have pens!

And most certainly don't make such statements as "Hell, half the staff were Indian, not even proper UK citizens". Our country, like yours, has people from all over the World living here, and lots of families settled here generations ago. That comment is ignorant and racist. I'm sure if you go back far enough, even your family can be traced as settling in the US - does that make you not a proper American?

To answer your question, you'd need to read the visa (waiver) documents you signed, and whether you signed away your right to complain, which you probably did.

Barc0de, there are loads of programmes you see with those sorts of things happening - Airport, Airline etc.

*EDIT* I nearly forgot - saying you're visiting your girlfriend is risky. Saying you're visiting your girlfriend you met on the Internet is downright stupid! That's asking them to think you're going to shack up here and throw you out as a result. Border control aren't lenient and don't have a sense of humour. Tell them you're visiting friends.

I remember my second time in the States. They asked if I'd been before, I said yes, a year ago. They asked why I was returning. I said that I liked it so much, I had to return, and smiled. He just stared at me.