Immigration officer stamped "Indefinite leave to enter UK" in US passport of EU citizen. How to fix it?
At Heathrow yesterday, a US-Swedish dual citizen presented his US passport to immigration, as he had forgotten his Swedish one at home.
He went in the non-EEA queue and was initially interviewed like a non-EEA national, but the officer then asked if he held any other nationality, whereby he said he was also Swedish but had forgotten his Swedish passport at home.
The officer asked if he had any evidence of his Swedish nationality, whereby he found (in his bag) his English-language signed and stamped birth certificate from Sweden, which doesn't contain a photograph, but states his nationality as Swedish.
Apparently this satisfied the officer, whereby he stamped his US passport, with the leave stamp saying "Given indefinite leave to enter the United Kingdom" (example below):
with a handwritten annotation saying "holder is also an EEA national".
I read in a UK guidance that "indefinite leave to enter" stamps are officially no longer to be used at ports of entry, having been replaced by visa stickers obtained in advance.
That's why I wonder: was this the correct procedure for handling an EEA national without an EEA passport?
If not, what specifically should the person have been given instead? And in the unlikely event of a police or immigration enforcement inspection, would he be OK with what he's got?
Note: picture is an example of what the stamp the traveller got looks like. This happened on 1 feb 2017, and he will now be in the UK for 4 weeks.
Best Answer
It sounds like the IO went above and beyond, with better service than the traveler could rationally have expected in advance -- but I can't see anything wrong about the outcome.
The EU/EEA freedom of movement rights apply to a person, not to a particular passport.
Once the IO was convinced that the traveler was indeed an EU citizen, it may not have been legal for him to grant a time-limited leave to enter, in the absence of a definite reason to do so. (But that's just speculation).
The freedom-of-movement directive explicitly contemplates that Union citizens may arrive without their qualifying passport:
Article 5, section 4. Where a Union citizen, or a family member who is not a national of a Member State, does not have the necessary travel documents or, if required, the necessary visas, the Member State concerned shall, before turning them back, give such persons every reasonable opportunity to obtain the necessary documents or have them brought to them within a reasonable period of time or to corroborate or prove by other means that they are covered by the right of free movement and residence.
The bolded part is what the traveler in this case was invited to do, and then successfully did.
Pictures about "Immigration officer stamped "Indefinite leave to enter UK" in US passport of EU citizen. How to fix it?"
Is indefinite leave to enter the same as permanent residence?
Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) is also commonly referred to as 'Permanent Residence'. If you are a foreign national and you are granted Indefinte Leave to Remain, you will have permission to live and work in the UK without restriction.Can EU citizens apply for indefinite leave to remain?
There are different ways to apply for indefinite leave to remain based on your circumstances. If you or your family member are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, you may be able to apply for settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme instead.What does given leave to enter the United Kingdom for an indefinite period mean?
Indefinite Leave to Remain (\u201cILR\u201d) or Indefinite Leave to Enter (\u201cILE\u201d), also referred to as settlement or permanent residence, are types of immigration status in the UK which mean there is no longer a time limit on a person's ability to stay in the UK.What is an indefinite leave to enter?
Applicants who are granted Indefinite Leave to Enter (ILE) at a visa issuing Post should have no time restrictions on their stay in the UK, that is, they can stay indefinitely.Getting Visa Stamp in Passport
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Images: Uriel Mont, Ethan Wilkinson, Ketut Subiyanto, Ketut Subiyanto