Frequency of travel?
Hi there. I have a few questions here, and I'm not really sure what forum they belong in..My first question involves frequency of travel....
Anyone familiar with the typical American's vacation time knows that American's don't get a lot of time off. Now, my situation is a bit different. My boss allows me as much unpaid vacation time as I like, so I pretty much take a big vacation 3 times a year (I make travel a priority and budget for it).
Lately I've been using my vacation time to visit friends in the UK, which means that I visit Scotland multiple times a year. On my most recent trip I was asked how I can manage so many vacations in a year. The immigration officer seemed highly suspicious when I explained my bosses vacation policy. Now I'm worried that I will have difficulty on future trips to Scotland.
Technically I am staying under the maximum time allowed, as I only end up going for one to two weeks at a time, making the maximum amount of time I'm there in a year being (at most) six weeks. But, I'm worried that they'll deny me entry the next time I try simply as I do a lot of travelling to the same location. Does anyone have any advice?
Edited by: ands0itg0es
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Another question I have...unrelated, but not really as it happened this same visit....As I was pulled into secondary once, I am pulled for additional questioning every time I enter the UK. I'm told that this is because of a stamp that I received in my passport indicating that they pulled me into secondary. If I were to get a new passport, would this stop the additional questioning, or would it show up in their system when they scanned my passport that I went to secondary?
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Hi Kolin. So far all I can find is that there's no way of knowing if they'll deny me entry based on my frequency of travel. I've been advised to bring a letter from my employer stating when I'm due to return to work, as well as a copy of my bank statement... and to of course always have a return ticket on me. From what I've read, as long as I have documents to verify that I intend to leave the country, things should be okay with my returning to the same place repeatedly -- but I am still quite nervous. I won't making another attempt at entering the UK until January, and I fully expect to get a lot of additional questioning that time.As for my question about replacing my passport -- from what I have read, that'll do no good at all. I think the best we can do is simply come prepared, and be polite... I think the chances of them denying anyone entry is slim, as long as that person has documents to verify their ties to the country, and their intentions in the UK.
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No real advice here, I just wanted to post that I sympathize -I've flown into the UK four times, each time has been completely legal (I've never overstayed a visa, ever). Each time I've been given hell by the border agents - the worst was in Scotland, the last time I entered. They detained me for 4 hours, went through my camera, read the texts messages on my phone, and went through my laptop. I don't have a clue why, but they flagged me so when I went to England a year later, they asked me about it. I don't think I'm at all suspicious looking, but I've gotten a lot of trouble from them. I guess I can sympathize when people complain about US border patrol now!
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If you have 3 vacations per year, maybe it nice for you to try and visit other places outside Europe :)9
Well, my vacation time was cut down to two vacations a year now, but I can get two weeks each time... still pretty awesome, considering that most Americans get considerably less. But, yes, I think I need to try and get to other places, too, though I do enjoy visiting my friend in the UK.So now what I think I'm going to do is plan my vacations so that I spend a little time seeing one country, and then about a week in the UK visiting. I haven't seen any of Europe besides the UK, so this will be the plan until I run out of appealing European destinations.
