Clarification on UK Visitor Rules Paragraph 41 and the Schengen cooling off period

3/17/2015 10:25:53 PM

The text seems more targeted at people using the Schengen area to reset their UK clock rather than the other way round.

Having said that, given that many visitors can only spend 90 days out of 180 in the Schengen zone, anyone trying to alternate 90 days in Schengen and 90 in the UK long term might fall foul of the changed rule.

5/29/2015 5:17:44 PM

This rule was made by orders in council so there’s no parliamentary debate that we can refer to understand the motivation behind it.

When the rule was published, the Home Office gave this brief statement…

To clarify the current General Visitor rules to guard against abuse by
those whose repeat visits amount to de facto residence.

source: Explanatory Memorandum

…which can be interpreted as they do not want someone building up a private life in the UK to the extent where the person’s human rights become engaged. This leads to expensive judicial procedures which often result in the person gaining permanent residence (which bestows access to public housing, income support, and ultimately a British passport). The British public has found these incidents to be a massive source of annoyance.

To the point, however, people hopping back and forth to reset their Schengen clock are not the sort of people who make human rights claims, and there’s nothing to suggest that these people are specifically targeted by the new rule.

So is it OK to tell the IO that the purpose of your visit is to reset your Schengen clock? It may work once, possibly twice, but not repeatedly. IO’s have it firmly in mind that visitors should be doing ‘visitor things’ and these are 1. maintaining relationships with family/friends or 2. touring, shopping, entertainment, or similar ‘visitor things’. If it becomes clear that the person is establishing a pattern, the person can expect problems.

As always, the person’s ‘luck’ at clearing UK immigration will largely depend upon their personal impact and their behaviour during the landing interview. As long as the landing interview goes smoothly and the person has a viable premise for his visit, there’s no need to be concerned about running foul of this new rule.

This answer also holds especially true for people who make continual back-to-back visits like taking the ferry to Calais (in France) and returning on the same day (i.e., setting their ‘UK Clock’). These are the people targeted by the new rule. Once is OK most of the time; twice will attract a more probing landing interview; and three consecutive back-to-back visits will almost certainly result in detention.

To summarize, the new rule is a vaguely worded, imprecise tool that gives the IO a lot more discretion in detaining and removing visitors, but there is nothing to suggest that Schengen hoppers are specifically targeted.

Update 17 March 2015

The new visitor rules were posted earlier today at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-rules-part-2

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

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Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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