Will I be allowed back in to UK despite a passport stamp as shown?
I am a Canadian who entered the UK a few weeks ago from Holland. I am an idiot and didn't really have much of a plan for how long/what I would be doing while in the UK. I didn't have a ticket out of the country. The Immigration officer questioned me a lot, asking me what my plan was. I told him I would be staying with a friend for about three weeks, and then I was planning on going home. He said he would still let me into the UK, but that I would have a special stamp in my passport that will flag up when I try to leave:
So I looked at my passport today and it seems like my passport says I can only stay in the UK for forty eight hours? The writing is a bit hard to see, but the officer never mentioned that I could only stay for that long. I'm a bit confused whether I am going to have problems when I try to leave.
I am trying to plan a weekend trip back to Holland, but I'm scared that when I try and leave they are not going to let me back into the UK. I plan on booking a ticket back to Canada.
I was hoping that this would make it okay for me to stay in England if I had proof of leaving.
Best Answer
Your leave-to-enter stamp clearly says something different from what you remember the IO telling you. Exactly how this happened is not really important now (but see below for a hypothesis), because you wouldn't be able to prove that he said something different from what the paperwork shows, anyway.
I second Gayot Fow's advice to seek qualified advice from one of the places he mentions in comments -- but in case you can't get them to talk to you, here's what this random person on the internet has to say:
First off, cancel that weekend trip. The risk that you will be denied entry back to the UK when you try to enter again is significant; you might well be detained until they can put you on a flight back to Canada.
Second, don't panic. After your leave to enter expired on December 23, you are in principle not "legally present" anymore, but it appears that you do have a grace period of 90 days to leave on your own, barring further run-ins with the authorities. Leaving within this grace period will let you avoid an actual entry ban, though the overstay will still be on your record and may flag you for particularly tough questioning when you try to enter the UK in the future.
(See paragraph 320(7B)(i) of the Immigration Rules).
It is likely that this was what the IO had in mind when he acted like it was OK to you to stay for three weeks -- especially if we assume that you misheard him sightly and he actually meant that the short duration he put in will flag you up if you try to enter again, rather than when you leave.
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Can you travel with a stamped passport?
A U.S. visa stamp in your passport allows you to travel to the United States and request admission from the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection inspector at the U.S. port of entry.What happens if passport is stamped?
If you have had your passport incorrectly stamped, despite showing proof of residency, we want to reassure you that your rights in Spain will not be affected. When travelling in the future, any stamp will be considered null and void when accompanied by evidence of lawful residence such as your residency certificate.Does UK immigration stamp passport on entry?
If you use the e-gates to enter the UK, your passport will not be stamped. This means that you will not have an official record of the date that you entered the UK. You should therefore keep evidence of your date of entry to the UK (for example your flight ticket), because may need this later on.Why did they stop stamping passports?
Eventually, they completely stopped stamping altogether. Efficiency proved to be the biggest reason for their change. The new process could help reduce lines at immigration checkpoints and make it a smoother process for travelers.Passport stamps YES you MUST get one if coming into the UK to work a short explainer updated
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