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General questions on becoming British
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 3:21 pm
by digitanium
Hello
I have applied for my British citizenship (pending) however need the below questions off my chest.
1. Does becoming British enhance my chances of getting a better mortgage rate compared to a ILR holder?
Slightly unrelated... (apologies if this has been asked before),
How does the UK immigration department keep track of my movement out of UK and to the country my current nationality as my passport is not stamped on entry or exit (electronic gate).
Thanks
Re: General questions on becoming British
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 3:23 pm
by CR001
Not immigration related no.
Settled (ILR) and British citizenship get better rates than temporary migrants. It is still dependent on your personal financial circumstances etc.
They keep track because your passport is electronically scanned every time you enter and exit the UK.
Re: General questions on becoming British
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 3:39 pm
by digitanium
Thank you.
Did you mean when my boarding pass is scanned before I go thru the security check? I don't remember of having to produce my passport to any officials on UK exit except to the airline staff just before boarding a flight.
Re: General questions on becoming British
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 3:42 pm
by CR001
Perhaps the departure systems are link, who knows. Does it really make a difference?
Re: General questions on becoming British
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 4:00 pm
by digitanium
Well just for my knowledge really.
I wondered how the UK immigration officer will know how many days I spent out of the country since there is no entry or exit stamp on my passport each time I make the trip and return to UK.
Are they just taking my word for it when I say I was away for X amount of days?
Re: General questions on becoming British
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 4:12 pm
by vignezh
digitanium wrote:Well just for my knowledge really.
I wondered how the UK immigration officer will know how many days I spent out of the country since there is no entry or exit stamp on my passport each time I make the trip and return to UK.
Are they just taking my word for it when I say I was away for X amount of days?
perhaps you will have arrival and departure stamps from the country you visited.
Re: General questions on becoming British
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 4:33 pm
by digitanium
vignezh wrote:digitanium wrote:Well just for my knowledge really.
I wondered how the UK immigration officer will know how many days I spent out of the country since there is no entry or exit stamp on my passport each time I make the trip and return to UK.
Are they just taking my word for it when I say I was away for X amount of days?
perhaps you will have arrival and departure stamps from the country you visited.
Not with the country of my current nationality. We have electronic gate in/out of the country which updates the immigration data electronically but no stamps on the passport.
Re: General questions on becoming British
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 4:56 pm
by CR001
Do you complete a landing card when you return to the UK?
Re: General questions on becoming British
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 4:59 pm
by digitanium
Yes I do.
Re: General questions on becoming British
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 5:14 pm
by noajthan
digitanium wrote:Well just for my knowledge really.
I wondered how the UK immigration officer will know how many days I spent out of the country since there is no entry or exit stamp on my passport each time I make the trip and return to UK.
Are they just taking my word for it when I say I was away for X amount of days?
The officer will know as he can check you on the UK border control system.
You are scanned & tracked & reported upon much more than you might imagine when you transit a UK border, by the airline, by Border Force and by the airport (think mobile phone tracking);
this is right from checkin (whether online or at the airport), throughout the airport & as you fly, including by the departure control system.
If you are interested what UKVI knows about you can make a SAR request & see (some of it).
Re: General questions on becoming British
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 5:18 pm
by tripping
Digitanium,
What nationality passport do you hold? EU or Non EU?
I guess whenever you enter UK (exiting UK only scan boarding pass from my experience) and enter/exit the country you are visiting, the electronic recordings will be evidence of your time out of UK. But then your scanned boarding passes may also be electronically linked to your current passport, where details had to be entered for flight bookings. No expert, but these are just my thoughts.
Re: General questions on becoming British
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 12:15 am
by secret.simon
CR001 wrote:Do you complete a landing card when you return to the UK?
digitanium wrote:Yes I do.
I believe that landing cards are only filled in by non-EEA citizens. Therefore,
digitanium must be a non-EEA citizen. I would make an intelligent guess at them currently being either a Canadian or a Japanese national.
Speculative - I would be very surprised if your UK departure data is not stored by the Stupid for a certain (unspecified) amount of time for anti-terrorism reasons. And guess which government department has oversight of anti-terrorism measures?
There is also a possibility that the country of your current nationality would share information with the UK authorities on your entry and exit from that country.
Re: General questions on becoming British
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:41 am
by noajthan
secret.simon wrote:CR001 wrote:...
Speculative - I would be very surprised if your UK departure data is not stored by the Stupid for a certain (unspecified) amount of time for anti-terrorism reasons. And guess which government department has oversight of anti-terrorism measures?
There is also a possibility that the country of your current nationality would share information with the UK authorities on your entry and exit from that country.
If anyone wishes to do a little research the relevant keywords are PNR, DCS, eBorders / iBorders
Re: General questions on becoming British
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 10:15 am
by digitanium
noajthan wrote:digitanium wrote:Well just for my knowledge really.
I wondered how the UK immigration officer will know how many days I spent out of the country since there is no entry or exit stamp on my passport each time I make the trip and return to UK.
Are they just taking my word for it when I say I was away for X amount of days?
The officer will know as he can check you on the UK border control system.
You are scanned & tracked & reported upon much more than you might imagine when you transit a UK border, by the airline, by Border Force and by the airport (think mobile phone tracking);
this is right from checkin (whether online or at the airport), throughout the airport & as you fly, including by the departure control system.
If you are interested what UKVI knows about you can make a SAR request & see (some of it).
Thank you. That makes sense.
I hold a non-Eu passport. Not Canadian or Japanese.