In message , tim.....
writes

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 15 Sep 2007 10:53:19 +0100, Edward Cowling London UK
wrote:


I had my first experience of the new "Uk Border" style of immigration at
Heathrow last night.

I had no idea it was changing. It was already the worst form of
immigration "service" I've encountered anywhere in the world. Oh well,
one further reason not to leave the country.

You've never flown to the US then! It's the pits, makes the
UK controls look trivial.

I remember arriving in Philadelphia on a Sunday and telling the guy in
immigration I was coming over for business meeting on the Monday in
Wilmington, Delaware.

"Who's worth seeing in Wilmington ?" he asked. Without any trace of a
smile or humour.

Talk about promoting trade & industry :-) USA immigration officers
usually look and sound like ex night club bouncers who were sacked for
brutality !


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

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

"Edward Cowling London UK" wrote in message
...
In message , tim.....
writes

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
. ..
On Sat, 15 Sep 2007 10:53:19 +0100, Edward Cowling London UK
wrote:


I had my first experience of the new "Uk Border" style of immigration at
Heathrow last night.

I had no idea it was changing. It was already the worst form of
immigration "service" I've encountered anywhere in the world. Oh well,
one further reason not to leave the country.

You've never flown to the US then! It's the pits, makes the
UK controls look trivial.

I remember arriving in Philadelphia on a Sunday and telling the guy in
immigration I was coming over for business meeting on the Monday in
Wilmington, Delaware.

"Who's worth seeing in Wilmington ?" he asked. Without any trace of a
smile or humour.

Talk about promoting trade & industry :-) USA immigration officers usually
look and sound like ex night club bouncers who were sacked for brutality !

Yep, that's it.

Whatever the problems with the organisation (and the
US has that too) at least the Brits attitude is pleasant
and they give the impression that they are making an
objective decision as to whether you are a bad'n or not.

The American's attitude is rude and if you are foreign they
have already decided (that you are).

tim

"Mizter T" wrote in message
ps.com...
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,

Apparently, the difference is that they are now no longer
allowed to decide not to check every person when the
queues are long. They now have to check everybody
and the queue length is someone else's problem to (not)
sort out.

tim

On Sat, 15 Sep 2007 12:08:46 +0100, "tim....."
wrote:

You've never flown to the US then! It's the pits, makes the
UK controls look trivial.

I will admit I always liked the non-uniformed informality of the UK
approach. They could quite easily have tightened it up without losing
that typically British friendliness.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On Sat, 15 Sep 2007, Edward Cowling London UK wrote:

Plus I liked the no nonsense approach.

What do you mean? I don't remember there being much nonsense in the
approach the last few times i've been through passport control.

tom

--
non, scarecrow, forensics, rituals, bacteria, scientific instruments, ..

In message , Neil Williams
writes
On Sat, 15 Sep 2007 12:08:46 +0100, "tim....."
wrote:

You've never flown to the US then! It's the pits, makes the
UK controls look trivial.

I will admit I always liked the non-uniformed informality of the UK
approach. They could quite easily have tightened it up without losing
that typically British friendliness.

Yeah, give them all a Walther PPK and allow them to take the odd pot
shot at anyone who looked a bit Brazilian :-)

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

In message , Tom
Anderson writes
On Sat, 15 Sep 2007, Edward Cowling London UK wrote:

Plus I liked the no nonsense approach.

What do you mean? I don't remember there being much nonsense in the
approach the last few times i've been through passport control.

You didn't get the guy doing the mime impression then ?

I knew they'd stop that :-)

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

Mizter T wrote:

...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?

Having travelled with Eurostar last week, UK Immigration (at Brussels)
were extremely variable. The female Officer who I saw was really
miserable for some reason, and didn't utter a word. Her male colleague,
sitting next to her in the booth, on the other hand was quite jovial and
chatty with those he saw.

Cheers,

Barry

In article ,
Barry Salter wrote:
Mizter T wrote:

...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?

Having travelled with Eurostar last week, UK Immigration (at Brussels)
were extremely variable. The female Officer who I saw was really
miserable for some reason, and didn't utter a word. Her male colleague,
sitting next to her in the booth, on the other hand was quite jovial and
chatty with those he saw.

Practising their good cop bad cop routine perhaps ...

Nick
--
Serendipity: http://www.leverton.org/blosxom (last update 9th Sep 2007)

"The Internet, an ersatz counterfeit of real life"
-- Janet Street-Porter, BBC2, 19th March 1996