Monday, January 08, 2007
So this is what happened to me when I was returning from New York on Jan 2nd this year.
At Newark airport checkin I was informed by my friendly VirginAtlantic rep that the flight was oversold. But because I had already prearrange the seat online, I was already checked in into my Premium economy class seat.
I got to the gate and waiting for the flight, I noticed that there are lot of people who were very happy, for some reason. Turns out that because the flight is oversold, they are moving select passengers up a class.
So you guessed it - I was upgraded to first class (or as they call it 'Upper Class'). That was great!
But the story is not about that, although the service on Virgin Atlantic First class is a story by itself.
Upon arrival to Heathrow terminal 3, I got to the passport control and the guy asked me the purpose of my trip. I said that I 'live there'. He reponded with 'Can I see you EC visa'.
Thats where it all gone pete tong.
When I first moved to UK, the company I worked for arranged the visa and work permit and when I quit that company and got hired through a recruitment agency to a company where I work now, I was assured that everything will be take care of on the visa and work permit front.
The thing is, that the first company only did 1/2 of work. They provided me with the work permit in the UK, but what I was missing was called EC - Entry Clearance. You get it from Embassy in New York. Its like a page in your passport telling INS agents that you are ok with US Government.
Turns out that when I left the first company, the work permit got anulled and the company that I was getting hired by should've applied for the new work permit and then got the EC clearance for me before allowing me to start working. I got hired by the new company on Oct 16th and worked for them from then on. Turns out that I was working for them illegally because no work visa or EC clearance was ever provided.
So getting back to the guy that stopped me at the passport control. He took all my documents - passport, boarding card and my now worthless work visa - and went away to consult with the 'Senior passport' dude. When he came back he asked me if I could prove to him that I work in UK. I whipped out my work pass, my bank ATM card and my National Insurance Card - thats like Social Security card. I also dialed up my HR department only to find out that they are not in the office until Jan 8th!!! The friendly passport dude tells me that 'thats the way the world tuns'. What? What am I supposed to do when the Immigration officer stops you at a border and you cant prove to him that you live there? Call the main office of your company. So I did. A receptionist answered the phone. I explained to her that I am stuck in Heathrow terminal 3 and the control officer will not let me into thte country unless I speak to an HR person. She said - No problem I can verify to them weither you work here or not.
Excieted, I hand over the phone to the passport dude, he spells out my name, she tells him that I dont work there. What? Anyway, at this point, I dont even have my luggage with me, because I never made it to the carousel to pick it up. A burly woman comes over and takes me to gt the luggage. She goes through it, for some reason. They take me to a holding cell, where they strip you from everything you own - wallet, money, phone, luggage. Its basically a jail cell where you are waiting for an immigration official to come and interview you. Why is it that your phones are not allowed, but there is a public phone for you to make calls from?
After sitting there for about 1 hour, the same burly woman comes over and takes me to a room where she fingerprints me, takes a photo and basically creates a record of me trying to sneak into the country illegally. Fuck me! After that they return me to the holding cell where there are a couple of interesting characters: 4 asian dudes, 1 italian, 1 australian chick and 1 guy from UAE. The UAE guy has been in this situation before, but this time, he got stopped on the highway for traffic violation and they found out that his visa was overstayed by 5(!) days. He lived and paid taxed in UK for 5 years before this moment and they treated him, just like me, like a criminal. I would understand if he was a NRA dude on government help, defrauding UK citizens of money. He had a steady job and paid taxes. Now they are going to send him to UAE, where he doesnt live anymore. What is he suppose to do?
The australian chick was in even worse postion. She finished college in Australia earlier this year, took a 3 month break and was now on her way to her family in UK with her diploma. The UK immigration stopped her and told her that she will not be allowed into UK becuase she is coming there to get a job. They desided that because she had her diploma with her.
So the interview dude comes over and we go to a video-taped room where he takes a statement from me about this whole incident. I tell him everything and he asks me a couple of questions. Everything is fine. I ask him what is going to happen to me? He says you are going to be deported and not allowed back into the country without a proper visa. I tell him that its not my fault and that my company is the one who fubared on this. He assures me that he will get to the bottom of this and let me know. He comes back in about 30 minutes and tells me that he was able to get intouch with someone at my company's HR department and they have taken full responcibility for what happened. That is not a good thing. That means that they will still deport me on the first available flight, but at least the HR has taken responcibility.
The flight I was put on was 1600 VS001 out of heathrow to EWR. Besides the fact that I had to pay for it, it was booked solid. I just spent 8 hours on the plane coming to Heathrow, then 7 hours in the holding cell and now I am going to be spending another 8 hours on the plane on my way back to New York. Nice! I come back to Newark on 3rd at 10pm. 24 hours after I left.
So lets examine this - thousands of people sneak into the country illegally everyday. They deside to make an example out of me and create a record for me because my company's HR people didnt bother to check if it was ok for me to start working. My companys HR is blaming the Recruiting agency for not 'transfering the visa from my previous employer'. What? Didnt you check?
The good thing is that my company is paying for all charges that I inccur in NY. Within reason of course. And they are starting the process of getting the visa again.
The bad thing is that I am here while my child and my fiance are in UK. I have not seen them since Dec 29. We bought a house and have someone coming to live there on the 8th. When I was c9oming back to UK on the 3rd, we were going to be preparing the house for that person. Now my fiance has to do everything herself. You better beleive it my company is paying for everything, but how do you put the price on not being able to see your family and being in a foreign country?
So I am in New York now. Working from my company's New York office on Park Avenue. I spoke to the person responcible for clearing this fiasco and they said that it should be mid-week when they should hear back anything about my work permit. After that I should go to the Embassy in New york and get that EC clearance. Fun, eh?