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  • Liability if an air/sea carrier refuses boarding in the new visas-for-a

    From Colum Mylod@21:1/5 to All on Wed Mar 5 10:34:56 2025
    Evisas are the new way to make travel more miserable. UK joins the
    "club" April 2 with £10-16 visas. Airlines are supposed to have an
    automated check but if they incorrectly refuse boarding who bears responsibility & ultimate costs? Liability the other way (gov on
    airline) is £2k but what about the passengers incorrectly refused?

    Quote: For the majority of travellers, airlines and ferry companies
    will be expected to verify the ETA status before the passenger boards
    a flight or ship to the UK. They will be penalised if they fail to
    check. The government says: "Where an inadequately documented arrival
    (IDA) is brought to the UK, the carrier may be liable for a fine of up
    to £2,000."

    (When the EU sorts out Schengen's version eventually this Q will apply
    to almost everyone.)

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  • From Theo@21:1/5 to Colum Mylod on Wed Mar 5 11:23:33 2025
    Colum Mylod <cmylod@bigfoot.comremove> wrote:
    Evisas are the new way to make travel more miserable. UK joins the
    "club" April 2 with £10-16 visas. Airlines are supposed to have an
    automated check but if they incorrectly refuse boarding who bears responsibility & ultimate costs? Liability the other way (gov on
    airline) is £2k but what about the passengers incorrectly refused?

    Surely this is just a simple query: passport number goes in, yes/no comes
    out?

    If 'no' comes up incorrectly, you'd have to take it up with the government
    that maintains the database.

    Unlike with real visas (where there are lots of types, rules and
    different corner cases) this seems at first glance straightforward?

    Will there be more extensive checks on the evisa status, eg counting the
    number of days you've been present in the country and refusing you if they think you've overstayed (which could cause a refusal if they miscounted)? I don't think UK airports even have exit checks at present, or do they get
    that information from passenger manifests?

    Theo

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  • From Colum Mylod@21:1/5 to theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk on Thu Mar 6 10:50:51 2025
    On 05 Mar 2025 11:23:33 +0000 (GMT), Theo
    <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

    Colum Mylod <cmylod@bigfoot.comremove> wrote:
    Evisas are the new way to make travel more miserable. UK joins the
    "club" April 2 with £10-16 visas. Airlines are supposed to have an
    automated check but if they incorrectly refuse boarding who bears
    responsibility & ultimate costs? Liability the other way (gov on
    airline) is £2k but what about the passengers incorrectly refused?

    Surely this is just a simple query: passport number goes in, yes/no comes >out?

    Others' experiences of the existing settlement scheme (all online, no
    physical cards) is occasionally name-NI-etc go in, an invalid "no" or
    other failure comes out. In my question, you're about to board but
    Computer says "no" and the airline refuses you. If it should have said
    "yes", who pays the consequences? Gate staff are supposed to call it
    in (HO 24hr number) but in reality there's a common layer of dumbness
    in the outsourced function. So you go elsewhere and sue the original
    airline?

    Unlike with real visas (where there are lots of types, rules and
    different corner cases) this seems at first glance straightforward?
    Unlike the US scheme, there's no "print me as proof".

    Will there be more extensive checks on the evisa status, eg counting the >number of days you've been present in the country and refusing you if they >think you've overstayed (which could cause a refusal if they miscounted)? I >don't think UK airports even have exit checks at present, or do they get
    that information from passenger manifests?
    The desks were installed around 2010-12 to start exit checks but
    understaffing meant it never happened. Exits are taken from airline
    records (you can get a list with a SAR) but no guarantee they're
    correct, or ferry exits are tracked. Could easily mean an unregistered
    exit leads to an invalid overstay status. Again, if you find out at
    the next flight, where's the liability?


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  • From Vir Campestris@21:1/5 to Colum Mylod on Wed Apr 9 11:59:30 2025
    On 06/03/2025 10:50, Colum Mylod wrote:
    Others' experiences of the existing settlement scheme (all online, no physical cards) is occasionally name-NI-etc go in, an invalid "no" or
    other failure comes out. In my question, you're about to board but
    Computer says "no" and the airline refuses you. If it should have said
    "yes", who pays the consequences? Gate staff are supposed to call it
    in (HO 24hr number) but in reality there's a common layer of dumbness
    in the outsourced function. So you go elsewhere and sue the original
    airline?

    I'm a UK resident, but not a citizen. The only time I have had trouble
    was coming in to the UK at one of the channel ports. They made my
    (English) wife and I go and park in a corner until they'd dealt with
    everyone else. Even though I was able to produce a UK driving licence
    which I'd had for decades.

    Then told me I could go, with no explanation. I wasn't going to argue then!

    I don't think there will be many problems.

    Andy



    --
    Do not listen to rumour, but, if you do, do not believe it.
    Ghandi.

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