Originally Posted by
B747-437B
Not quite accurate. Once a visa/entry clearance is issued, the only burdens of proof that need to be met at the port of entry (other than identity which can be verified via biometrics) are that there is no material change in circumstance since the application has been made (eg. quit job, got married, etc..) and that there was no factual misrepresentation during the application. The subjective assessment made by the Entry Clearance Officer at the consular post overseas must prevail if those criteria are met.
Quite so. I was about to make the same point.
There's a big difference between arriving with a visa (even with a challenging immigration background, shall we say) and arriving without one as a citizen of a country (outside the EU) from which a visitor to the UK doesn't need a visa. In the latter case the Entry Clearance Office has to make a decision about whether our not the visitor is travelling for
bona fide purposes and if he isn't so satisfied the visitor can be sent straight back without any right of appeal. In the former case, when a visa has been issued, that decision has already been made during the visa-issuing process (typically in a British Consulate overseas) and it is extremely unlikely entry would be refused - and doing so is a rather more involved process.
I've had both the pleasure and the misfortune to see both sides of this with close friends travelling with and/or visiting me.