[SimonS1]

[quote quote=1000647]But what do you expect from a country whose Borders Agency does not know even in normal times who is in the country – because it has never checked passports on departure[/quote]

Why would they care who is leaving? Really they are only interested in making sure people who are entering the UK are entitled to be here.

In any case wouldn’t they pick up any people of interest from the passport info the airlines collect?

[Cedric_Statherby]

[quote quote=1000648]Why would they care who is leaving? Really they are only interested in making sure people who are entering the UK are entitled to be here.[/quote]

But some people coming to the UK are only entitled to be here for a limited period – short term visa holders, for example tourists or students. And the UK has no way at all of establishing whether these people do actually leave, or change from legal short term visitors to illegal overstayers.

Or perhaps we are the only country that gets it right and everyone else, who do check passports on exit (or in the case of the US, collect the used physical entry forms from the airlines) are the ones who are wrong.

The Home Office have no way of telling if people coming into this country have honoured the terms of their visa and actually left when they should have done.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Jacob, cwoodward

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=1000650]The Home Office have no way of telling if people coming into this country have honoured the terms of their visa and actually left when they should have done.[/quote]

Don’t the airlines share information on exits with UK Border?

[cwoodward]

Hi SimonS1
The short answer to your question is:
No -they do not at least not in a routine and timely manner.

[SimonS1]

[postquote quote=1000663][/postquote]

UK Border received API data for 100% of outward travel.

Through the provision of API data by carriers the Home Office is able to monitor people departing the UK. These checks allow operational assessment as to whether a person appears to have complied with the terms of their permission to stay in the UK; for example whether they left the country on or before the date of expiry of their visa and which may inform decisions on subsequent applications to re-enter. It also enables identification of those individuals who no longer have permission to stay in the UK but who have not been recorded as departing. The data also support national security by helping the police and security services track the movements of known or suspected criminals and terrorists.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/547989/report-on-statistics-being-collected-under-exit-checks-programme.pdf

So the statement “Borders Agency does not know even in normal times who is in the country – because it has never checked passports on departure” is not correct, to a certain degree of accuracy they know, also it is not necessary for UK Border to check passports themselves.

The latest results show the vast majority (96.3%) of non-EEA nationals with visas expiring in 2018/19, that is, who were due to leave, departed in time

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/826381/fourth-report-on-statistics-being-collected-under-the-exit-checks.pdf

[capetonianm]

The Home Office have no way of telling if people coming into this country have honoured the terms of their visa and actually left when they should have done.

The elephant in the room that nobody is ever willing to discuss. A glaring loophole which accounts for the obscene number of people residing illegally and with no accountability in the UK.
“Surely all those people couldn’t have got in illegally?” is often heard.
They didn’t, they got in legally in most cases and became illegal by overstaying the duration of their visa, illegally changing the purpose, or both.

The airlines will share exit information with the authority on an ‘as needed’ basis when there is an enquiry about a specific individual but you may as well try to drain the ocean with a thimble.

[cwoodward]

The slightly longer answer SimonS1

No -they do not at least not in a complete, routine or timely manner.
Capetonianm is absolutely correct in his assertions as am I

The UK system is far from fit for purpose in this instance.

[Jacob]

But I noticed the last time I was leaving Canada there also no passport control from border police only airlines want to see your passport.

[Author]

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