UK Border at LHR Jul/Aug2009
I was on a holiday at Hurghada for a week, with 1 job interview in London in between.
My passport was not biometric and for some reason UK required all non biometric passports from Venezuela to be screened at their embassies prior to travel. (I was not aware as I don't live in my country of origin)
As soon as I landed in London and went to passport control all the flags that possible could be raised were there... told them I was not aware of such rule and that I knew I could enter UK without a visa so no reason to pass by an embassy prior my trip, showed them all details about my visit to the country and explained I was supposed to be there only for 22 hours as I was on holidays but that earlier that morning I managed to change my ticket for an earlier departure so only 18 hours, they told me I was trying to enter illegally and I was going to be detained.
All sort of question including why I have so much cash, clothes (Only a weekend bag with 3 changes) etc, etc in a very rude way. I told them that if there was anything I could do to fix the situation like to book the next available flight out of UK to any country I could enter (all europe most likely) and they got angrier and send me to a temporary immigration detention center at the airport with some immigrants from different places. At this point I was so angry and tired (2 hours of search and questioning and already missed my scheduled appointment).
They allowed me to make a phone call to my girlfriend to explain her the situation as she was expecting me back in egypt the next day, no answer as she was scuba diving, and the UK Border agent asked me, What nobody loves you? as she did not answer the phone. I had to keep quiet and not answer to that as It could make it worse for me...
After two more hours they allowed me to enter UK without my passport and I should return to the security office in the airport before my departure to be escorted to the plane...
The good side of the story is that I got upgraded on my return as the airline was informed about my case (they were not aware of such rule for my passport), I did not get a second chance for another interview but the job was in Lybia and we all know what happened there few years ago, and I ended getting a job in Brazil
