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Uk Border Agency Frustration
05 September 2011
Has anyone out there experienced the pure frustration of trying to lodge a complaint or dare I say it, actually speak to someone at the UK Border Agency to question a decision or seek some advice? I am British. My South African wife and her son set up home with me in the UK in 2000 - we own property in joint names, have UK bank accounts, qualified for indefinite leave to stay etc. We were transferred overseas in 2003, now live in Belgium and until 2009, were frequent, unrestricted visitors back 'home'. Now she has to apply for a visitor's visa. That was about tolerable until such time in August 2009 we booked flights to SA via London and were refused boarding in Brussels as they had the 'wrong 5 year Belgian residency card'. Thus a holiday was ruined, and curiously, the UK Border Agency website giving 'guidance' on transit visa exemption, was revised literally overnight.
A year later, the Brussels Consulate closed their doors and directed that Visa applications had to be made, in person... to the British Embassy in Paris. Her most recent trip last week, followed an even more complicated 'online' application... a fee for 300 EU for a one year visa (ultimately cheaper than the 'free' 6 month EEA visa after travel costs) and my son charged 90 Euro (previously free) for a 6 month visa. In short a 500 pounds cost to pop back 'home'.
Imagine our surprise to receive their passports back today, usefully by DHL, with a letter stating her visa had been declined due to the absence of a page in her passport which was blank 'on both sides'. This was after lengthy interviews by two 'officers' in Paris, who both examined her passport. The letter referenced 'Entry Clearance Guidance ECB8.1' which, nowhere on their less than helpful website is there a link when proceeding to the online application once the requirement for a visa has been determined. In short, a wasted 500 pounds for yet another example of woeful guidance.
Am I the only one out here who is climbing the walls for a bit of fairness and desperately trying to reconcile how a UK government can allow a labelled 'foreigner' to prescribe to all things British (tax/property/NHI/ bank accounts etc), and wont let them in? Or maybe we should offer our UK home to the UK government to rent out to 'asylum' seekers who flood into the country and make absolutely no contribution to the economy?? And finally, am I being overly cynical to question why the UK Border Agency, when stamping her passport on arrival, uses a blank page...?
A year later, the Brussels Consulate closed their doors and directed that Visa applications had to be made, in person... to the British Embassy in Paris. Her most recent trip last week, followed an even more complicated 'online' application... a fee for 300 EU for a one year visa (ultimately cheaper than the 'free' 6 month EEA visa after travel costs) and my son charged 90 Euro (previously free) for a 6 month visa. In short a 500 pounds cost to pop back 'home'.
Imagine our surprise to receive their passports back today, usefully by DHL, with a letter stating her visa had been declined due to the absence of a page in her passport which was blank 'on both sides'. This was after lengthy interviews by two 'officers' in Paris, who both examined her passport. The letter referenced 'Entry Clearance Guidance ECB8.1' which, nowhere on their less than helpful website is there a link when proceeding to the online application once the requirement for a visa has been determined. In short, a wasted 500 pounds for yet another example of woeful guidance.
Am I the only one out here who is climbing the walls for a bit of fairness and desperately trying to reconcile how a UK government can allow a labelled 'foreigner' to prescribe to all things British (tax/property/NHI/ bank accounts etc), and wont let them in? Or maybe we should offer our UK home to the UK government to rent out to 'asylum' seekers who flood into the country and make absolutely no contribution to the economy?? And finally, am I being overly cynical to question why the UK Border Agency, when stamping her passport on arrival, uses a blank page...?
