Originally Posted by
B747-437B
The UK used to have similar questions in their application forms (as of 2013), except they wanted a horrendous level of detail. I had to provide details of 571 trips to 62 countries (including 215 previous trips to the UK with itemised day-to-day itinerary of each) - totally my application had 321 pages of supporting documents. This for a TOURIST visa. I have some friends who are airline crew and they routinely have to turn in 1000+ pages of travel history when applying for US visas.
Have you travelled to the UK in the last 10 years? Please provide details (full address, telephone number and email address of all the places where you stayed during your visit, including hotels) of all your trips to the UK over the last 10 years.
Have you travelled outside your country of residence, excluding to the UK, in the last 10 years? You should include travel for study, training, business trips etc. When giving this information please provide details of all your trips abroad that you have not described in answer to question 6.1.
More about that story :
UK visa renewal rant
Oh yes, the only reason I haven't included the UK in my list is by virtue of holding a UK passport! I've supported a number of employees through the process and it's not just punitively bureaucratic, it also fails to recognise that it is possible to visit a country other than as part of a week-long organised business trip or package tour.
I know there's no way of checking these things (particularly as there was little border control at the time) but I used to live about 1km from the French-German border, and a short distance from the Swiss border. I would regularly cycle across, and quite enjoyed cycling down the river, which would involve regularly criss-crossing from country to country. I also used to regularly use the ever-confusing Basel-Mulhouse EuroAirport, the one with the border fence down the middle. You'd often find the French toilets broken (oh no, no stereotyping there) and have to cross to the Swiss side to spend a centime. Part of me relished the bureacratic possibilities this presented.
12th Oct 1998 - Entered Kehl, Germany via Pont de l'Europe by bicycle. Wanted to buy cigarettes from a vending machine as they're cheaper than in France. Had a Bratwurst from the very nice stand outside the Friedenskirche. No accommodate as it was a day trip. Organised by me. Telephone number of the vending machine company: xxx xx xx xx xx.
12th Oct 1998 - Returned to Strasbourg, France via Pont de l'Europe by bicycle to return to student accommodation.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg for the purpose of leisure cycling.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the French region of Alsace for the purpose of leisure cycling.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg for the purpose of leisure cycling.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the French region of Alsace for the purpose of leisure cycling.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg for the purpose of leisure cycling.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the French region of Alsace for the purpose of leisure cycling.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg for the purpose of leisure cycling.
14th Oct 1998 - Crossed the river Rhine by a small foot/cycle bridge into the French region of Alsace for the purpose of leisure cycling.
20th Oct 1998 - Entered Switzerland at the Bale-Voyageurs station for transfer to Basel-Mulhouse airport as there was no easy transfer entirely within France at the time.
20th Oct 1998 - Transferred from the Swiss to the French side of the Basel-Mulhouse airport building, as I was on a French domestic flight and technically departing from Mulhouse, not Basel.
20th Oct 1998 - Transferred back from the French to the Swiss side of the Basel-Mulhouse airport building, as the toilets on the French side were out of order and I needed to go before clearing security (and frankly, the Swiss are good at this kind of thing).
20th Oct 1998 - Transferred back from the Swiss to the French side of the Basel-Mulhouse airport building, as the Swiss security weren't happy about me departing Switzerland on a French domestic boarding pass.
etc, etc.