I have right of abode in my Australian passport. When I leave the UK I occassionly have had the certificate scanned (I think it is held under some sort of light) and then been asked how I was entitled to it. This is very sporadic though and probably occurs maybe 20% of the time.

I'm curious - who asks you this?

Very, very occasionally I have been screened by pre-check-in agents at LGW when I'm flying a US carrier to the states. These folks normally have a little stand which has a laptop and they quiz me before I approach the check-in counter. I think this has only happened about twice in my life, though.

ISTR reading somewhere that these are security people subcontracted by the airline (and thus have no "legal" - i.e., governmental - authority. They are welcome to ask questions about your immigration status in the UK, and you are welcome to refuse to answer if you so choose. I remember one of them getting arsey with me because she couldn't find an entry stamp to the UK in my US passport. Slapping down my UK passport in front of her without saying a word seemed to do the trick. :eek: ;) :D

It's as you go through security where they usually only ask to see your BP I could be completely mistaken (bit of jet lag ATM) but is there a sign there that says "Passport Control"?

As I said they usually scan the certificate which unlike a visa does not have my photo just my passport number hand written on it, then ask me how I was eligible for it (they are pretty rare beasts). From my perspective it is almost identical to arrivals.

Ah - I know who you're talking about. These are the rare exit-control screeners. I've only ever seen them at LHR T3 and T2, and even then only in times of "heightened security" (like for a few weeks after the Glasgow/West End car-bomb business last year).

Yes - they are government employees, not airline subcontractors. They're well within your right to quiz you about your immigration status.

Are they actually entitled to? Now that I think about it I am supposed to be free from immigration control, what right do they have to ask me why I am entitled to right of abode any more than they have the right to ask a UK citizen how they are entitled to citizenship?

StevenShev- I flew out on Continental. They were doing it to everyone in line. I looked up ITCS ( someone said ISTR?) or whatever it was and I got the same info...just diff name?

I know I was completely legal but I just dont want them not granting me entry because they think I'm gonna try it again but this time never leave! I know this sounds silly when I say I've gone twice already and have never overstayed my visa but this trip means the world to me and I dont want anything silly to happen. As I already stated bringing proof of return tix, bank docs, and a letter from job verifying my employment saying when I am due back to work. I'm not showing this unless asked!

So from what I've gathered is they probably don't know when I have left because they don't enable exit control?
Will they only see my stamp for my April entry and think thats the last time I was there?

Thanks for dealing with my neuroticism :)

Before I was a UK citizen, I had ILR for a while. Every time I would come through immigration (entering the UK), they would say "did you get this through work?" (I assume the alternatives were marriage, long-term residence, asylum status, or ancestry, among possible others.)

It always struck me as a bit odd that they would ask this, since it didn't seem to much matter, but perhaps they were checking this against their database - i.e., if I had said I had got it through work but actually had got it through marriage then I would be in trouble, although I cannot imagine why the hell I would say such a thing.

Perhaps it is under these guidelines that they are asking? They would have to make a VERY strong case to keep you out, or in, and frankly it's none of their business, but I guess they are just asking as routine.

As regards right of abode vs. citizenship, IANAL, but I believe these are fundamentally different. Citizenship confers rights which you do not have as a right-of-abode-holder. For instance, you of course have no consular protection overseas from the FCO. You can also be deported from the UK. I believe that it is easier to strip right of abode than it is to strip citizenship - doing the latter is REALLY difficult; they wanted to strip Abu Hamza - a truly awful guy - of his British citizenship but I don't think they were ever able to (although probably mostly because he had renounced his Jordanian - or was that Egyptian? - citizenship and thus stripping his British citizenship would leave him stateless which would be a violation of the Geneva Convention), and if they can't take away his, then most other people's would be safe.

If an immigration officer were to ask me how and when I became a British Citizen, I would most likely tell them it was absolutely none of their business. But I like to use IRIS so this isn't normally an issue. I'm not an immigration officer, but I don't think the details of my citizenship acquisition show up on their database when they scan my passport. I've only come through UK immigration and shown my British passport to a human being three or four times, but every time it's been right through, than you very much.

Also, as a citizen, you cannot legally be kept out of the country. I'm not sure the same applies for right-of-abode-holders.

My advice you you, bensyd: apply for citizenship the instant you can. It's worth every penny, just for peace of mind if nothing else.

The difference between ILR and RoA is that ILR they are still able to question wether you have the means to support yourself and you do not have a legal right to live in the UK, whereas RoA means I am entitled to public funds etc. It also very clearly says I am "exempt from immigration control" and I may use the EU passport line at UK ports.

Well according to wikipedia (yes it can be flawed) RoA holders have amongst other rights "an unconditional right to live, work and study in the United Kingdom".

See that's the thing I am entitled to register for a UK p/port but I have to pay the £600 it costs, even when I got my RoA it was the same except that RoA only cost about £100 and was processed in 10 days citizenship could have taken upto 6 months.

It seems to me that what they are actually doing is checking to make sure my documents aren't forged but then it's not like it's that hard to forge a passport.

Hmm, I thought RoA applies to those with a U.K.-born citizen grandparent. Seems there's a separate category for that with no right to public funds.

I see. I don't know a lot about RoA, but now that I think about it, even the terms quite clearly define what they are: one is indefinite leave to remain, meaning, I suppose, that entry is at the discretion of the officer; the other is right of abode, meaning that entry is not at the discretion of the officer (rather, it's a right of the holder). I've never had RoA (went straight from ILR to citizenship) so I confess I don't know. I trust you on this one.

So educate me here: there's a major difference between applying to be naturalised as a citizen of the United Kingdom and registering for a UK passport. You have to do the former before you do the latter. Are you eligible to apply for naturalisation? If so, then yeah this can take an age (although for me it only took about eleven weeks, but I was rather lucky) and costs a mint (like around £450 these days, I believe). If you're already a citizen (e.g., through ancestry), then applying for your UK passport is relatively quick (six weeks for your first one) and cheap (£100 or around there).

There are a couple of benefits to British citizenship anyway:

- Consular protection overseas should you need it,
- You can pass it along to your kids,
- It's for life,
- You can live anywhere in Europe, should you ever change your mind and return to the EU,
- Your spouse can move with you anywhere in the EU. If you live together anywhere in the world for two years, your spouse will have automatic FLR in the UK; if you live together anywhere in the world for at least four years, your spouse will have automatic ILR in the UK.

But don't let me push you. ;)



I mainly got it for the security of living in Britain; ILR wasn't secure enough for me. Also my partner's from South Asia and same-sex marriage isn't recognised in my other country of citizenship (the US) so now we can get married in the UK and he can live free from immigration worries.

So...does the concensous think no?? ;)

Also anyone know what e-borders is ( I have a rough idea) and wouldnt that be considered exit control?

When passports are 'swiped' at airline desks it is to take data for Advanced Passenger Information System purposes and its normally done for the government of your destination country. This is why an airline in London will swipe your passport if you are travelling to the US but not, for example, to France... you could well have returned home via the Continent after your last stay which means that there would be no means of the UK authorities knowing when you left. As previous posters have said, UK Border staff are only usually present in the Departures area at times of heightened security and then they are more interested in catching terrorists than 'overstayers'.

There may be conditions to this, and it certainly doesn't pass over to another generation if no one lives in the U.K. (grandchildren of U.K. citizens get in under INF9 - think it used to be RoA).

Ah yes, sorry. ;) You should be fine.

Sorry mate, haven't a clue...

ah cheers

i've posted on a couple of forums, and so this place has given the most feedback.

Other places are like why are you asking, I dunno, etc etc

It's a perfectly normal question to ask and don't post if you don't know! ^

I think that scan was just for security and isnt something given to Immigrations.