On 15 Sep, 10:53, Edward Cowling London UK
wrote:
I had my first experience of the new "Uk Border" style of immigration at
Heathrow last night. After a long journey and 20 minutes in a holding
pattern the last thing you want is 15 minutes in a line. But that said I
have to admit I was impressed. There were about 6 lines f or EU
passports with the new uniformed staff on each line, with a few heavies
lurking in case of trouble. Every passport gets scanned and they do
actually look you over to see the picture is you. Plus I liked the no
nonsense approach.

Yes I could have done without the hassle, but it has to be done and they
seem to be doing a good job of it.

--
Edward Cowling "Must Go - Politician to Heckle !!"

I haven't really got my head around the changes but I don't think
things have changed radically overnight, apart from the fact that
Immigration Officers are now uniformed (if that is to be considered a
radical change). The Wikipedia article on the UK Immigration Service
[1] states that there are/were trials of the new uniform at Heathrow
Airport with a full rollout to all staff in September (i.e. now). In
the UKIS was is part of the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA), which
is what the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) of the Home
Office has become.
BIA website:
http://bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/

It would appear that this is currently a 'shadow' agency as the
enacting legislation, the "UK Borders Bill", is still passing through
Parliament. More info on this Bill is here on the BIA website:
http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/ourplans/ukbordersbill

Travelling earlier in the summer back into Stansted the Immigration
Officers weren't uniformed but were scanning passports. The BIA claims
that "from 2009 the majority of people will be counted in and out of
the UK"...
http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/ourplans/
securingtheukborder
....which sounds similar to what authorities in the US hope to do. I'm
not so sure they'll be massively successful in this endeavour, even
leaving aside the open border in Ireland. Are they scanning passports
of those coming off the ferries at all, as they weren't last summer?
How about Eurostar passengers, as they weren't doing that at Gare du
Nord when I went through there last winter?

I also wonder whether the "heavies" really were UKIS staff - perhaps
they were airport security staff. I guess they might have been
somewhat mean looking UKIS staff, but maybe they were just the more
senior supervisors. Bear in mind that the UKIS staff are civil
servants, not bouncers!

(Reminds me of the time the water company sent a huge mean looking guy
round to a place I lived as the water bill hadn't been paid - courtesy
of a misunderstanding with our landlord. He was obviously intended to
be somewhat intimidating, but he wasn't a bailiff and was really there
just for show - something I worked out immediately, which he realised
as well, so the whole effect fell a bit flat on its face! But I
digress massively!)

I'd always expect there to be some coppers close by if things did get
ugly - but trouble of that kind at Immigration is really not something
you ever hear about.

----------
[1] Wikipedia - UK Immigration Service
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Immigration_Service