UK tourist visa refused 3 times. Need to get there for flight home

Here’s what ended up happening-

I flew into Glasgow from Dublin with no problems, once there I caught a bus down to London. Also with no issues. I spent a while there, saw the sights and caught up with old friends. Just like I stated I would.

Then after much contemplation decided to take the leap and continue with my return trip to Iceland, consequences be dammed!

As some people on here have stated, leaving the UK was no problem, I got a puzzled look when the immigration person saw my rejection stamps but other than that it was all ok.

Went to Iceland, had the most amazing leg of any journey in that wonderful place… then it was time to try return to London. I had booked a transfer from London to Dublin for the return, hoping I could evade the immigration “system” but there are certain connecting airlines that have to clear immigration before continuing to there connecting flight. There is actually a massive sign listing who needs to clear immigration and who doesn’t. Of course all the Irish connections did, so they got me again.

Even though I had done everything I had told them I was here to do i.e. tourist things, I’m sure they weren’t too happy with the fact that i had disobeyed them. I won’t go into all the details but basically they put me in a detention centre for a week untill my flight home was due (the one I had booked months earlier).

It was quite an experience, I got the rare opportunity to meet real asylum seekers and hear about the true ordeals people face and the heartless system of our well-off nations. I shared rooms with people being sent home to certain death, it was a really eye opening experience. And I’m glad it happened the way it did.

I hope this helped anyone in a similar situation.

I’m sorry, but you’ve screwed yourself well and proper here. Not only have you been refused entry three times in a row, which means that any future visa applications will be treated with extreme prejudice, but you’ve now illegally entered the United Kingdom as well.

To expand on that last bit, just because there are no border controls between Ireland and the UK doesn’t mean that your Irish visa gives you any right to be the UK. Per section 2.6, you should have applied for a visa, or at the very least presented yourself to an immigration officer at the border:

…the following do require leave to enter the United Kingdom on
arrival from the Irish Republic:

Persons who have at any time been
refused leave to enter the United Kingdom and have not since been
given leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom.

Persons from the above categories who enter the United Kingdom from the Irish Republic without leave do so in breach of Article 3 of the Immigration (Control
of Entry through Republic of Ireland) Order 1972 (as amended) and are illegal entrants.

However, not all hope is necessarily lost.

First, the United Kingdom is one of a few countries without exit immigration, so now that you’re in the country, illegally or not, there’s nothing stopping you from leaving to Australia… or Iceland.

Second, major airports like Heathrow allow visa-free transit. Since both your flights from Iceland and to Australia are international flights, you can complete the transfer without ever passing through immigration, if and only if all of the following conditions are met:

1. You’re arriving to and departing from the same airport
2. You can check your bags through to Australia (unlikely), or you have no checked baggage, so you don’t have to pass through Immigration to fetch and recheck it

I can’t find anything that says you can’t spend 5 days airside, but obviously you’ll want to change one of your flights to minimize this if at all possible.

But if you can’t meet those conditions, then I’d advise you to forget Iceland, lay low in London, and head home to Australia. Immigration detention is not fun, and it’s entirely possible that they wouldn’t even let you on the plane in Iceland, in which case you’d be even more screwed.

The first thing a traveller in trouble should do is contacting their embassy/consulate.
As you are in Glasgow now, the next Consulate is in Edinburgh:

Mitchell House
5 Mitchell Street
Edinburgh EH6 7BD
Tel: +44 131 538 0582

Unfortunately it is an Honorary Consul (meaning that he isn’t really paid for his job and has very limited rights, so do not expect much). Perhaps it is better that you call directly the Embassy in London:

Strand
London WC2B 4LA.
Tel: 020 7379 4334

Explain your situation (and DO NOT LIE !!!!). Hopefully they can sort out the trouble you are in.