Problems with Working Holdiday Visa for the UK..
 

Here is my dilemma...

I am leaving from Monreal to Dublin and then driving into Belfast where I will be living and staying for approximately 2 years. When I received my visa it did not say anywhere that I had to have my visa Endorsed by a British Immigration. So here I am now with a visa going to live in Belfast and I cannot get my visa activated.

I have contacted the cosulate in Canada and they told me that I can get my visa endorsed by a immigration in the centre of Belfast. I call the immigration in Belfast and they tell me they can send my visa to London and have it endorsed and sent back to me. I call the immigrations office in Belfast and they tell me that I must come in to Belfast via an international flight and there and only there can I get my visa endorsed.

The problem is my flight is non refundable and non reroutable. I can't lose the 800$ for my ticket cause i cannot afford another ticket... I need a way around this and I only have like a week and a half to figure it out. Please someone help me...

Who can I call to get right answers, what can I do to get around this? Is there anyway around this? Has anyone gone through this before... any help will be appreciated.

Thanx.

Re: Problems with Working Holdiday Visa for the UK..
 

pa_cheeks <[email protected]> wrote in news:3cb5f6fe$1 @usenetgateway.com:

    > Here is my dilemma...
    >
    > I am leaving from Monreal to Dublin and then driving into Belfast where I will be
    > living and staying for approximately 2 years. When I received my visa it did not
    > say anywhere that I had to have my visa Endorsed by a British Immigration. So here
    > I am now with a visa going to live in Belfast and I cannot get my visa activated.
    >
    > I have contacted the cosulate in Canada and they told me that I can get my visa
    > endorsed by a immigration in the centre of Belfast. I call the immigration in
    > Belfast and they tell me they can send my visa to London and have it endorsed and
    > sent back to me. I call the immigrations office in Belfast and they tell me that I
    > must come in to Belfast via an international flight and there and only there can I
    > get my visa endorsed.
    >
    > The problem is my flight is non refundable and non reroutable. I can't lose the
    > 800$ for my ticket cause i cannot afford another ticket... I need a way around this
    > and I only have like a week and a half to figure it out. Please someone help me...
    >
    > Who can I call to get right answers, what can I do to get around this? Is there
    > anyway around this? Has anyone gone through this before... any help will be
    > appreciated.
    >

get a cheap Ryanair flight from Dublin to Belfast (or any other UK airport where
immigration will endorse the VISA) - this is an international flight

A return from Dublin to a UK airport can be bought for 30 UK pounds if you buy at the
right time.

This all seems a bit bureaucratic though. I am sure there must be an easier
solutuion.

--
[email protected]

BMW R1150GS Previous bikes CBR6FX, TDM850, VFR750FR & FJ, NX650, GS125ES

Re: Problems with Working Holdiday Visa for the UK..
 

I espied that on 11 Apr 2002, pa_cheeks <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Here is my dilemma...
    >
    > I am leaving from Monreal to Dublin and then driving into Belfast where I will be
    > living and staying for approximately 2 years. When I received my visa it did not
    > say anywhere that I had to have my visa Endorsed by a British Immigration. So here
    > I am now with a visa going to live in Belfast and I cannot get my visa activated.
    >
    > I have contacted the cosulate in Canada and they told me that I can get my visa
    > endorsed by a immigration in the centre of Belfast. I call the immigration in
    > Belfast and they tell me they can send my visa to London and have it endorsed and
    > sent back to
    > me. I call the immigrations office in Belfast and they tell me that I must come in
    > to Belfast via an international flight and there and only there can I get my
    > visa endorsed.

I don't know the details of this, but of those three, the first two sound as if they
largely agree with one another, while the last sounds entirely wrong.

Clearly, you must have the visa endorsed by British Immigration when you arrive in
the United Kingdom -- in other words, it has to be seen by the immigration people in
order to certify that you have entered legally.

I don't think there is any border crossing for you to do this between Dublin
and Belfast, so it has to be done when you get to Belfast -- your first UK
"port of call".

I cannot imagine that this means that you have to arrive *by air* in the UK: in
international terms, there is, I think, no difference between your flying to Dublin
and then travelling to Belfast, or flying to Paris and then taking the Eurostar train
to London.

I suspect that the consulate in Canada means that you have to deal with Belfast, and
that the first Belfast people you spoke to are saying "yes, we can do this, but we
have to send the visa to London rather than stamp it here in Belfast".

    > The problem is my flight is non refundable and non reroutable. I can't lose the
    > 800$ for my ticket cause i cannot afford another ticket... I need a way around this
    > and I only have like a week and a half to figure it out. Please someone help me...
    >
    > Who can I call to get right answers, what can I do to get around this? Is there
    > anyway around this? Has anyone gone through this before... any help will be
    > appreciated.

It might be worth re-contacting the consulate in Canada to explain the conflicting
information you have had from Belfast, and have them confirm (in writing -- fax or
e-mail), the procedure that you are supposed to follow. You'd then have something
with you to take to the immigration people in Belfast, along with your visa.

--
Cheers, Harvey

Re: Problems with Working Holdiday Visa for the UK..
 

pa_cheeks <[email protected]> wrote:
    > I am leaving from Monreal to Dublin and then driving into Belfast where I will be
    > living and staying for approximately 2 years. When I received my visa it did not
    > say anywhere that I had to have my visa Endorsed by a British Immigration. So here
    > I am now with a visa going to live in Belfast and I cannot get my visa activated.

This sounds to me like the sort of thing that will be solved quickly and painlessly
in about 5 minutes once you get to Belfast and drop by the immigration dept office.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu

Re: Problems with Working Holdiday Visa for the UK..
 

In message <[email protected]>, wessie <[email protected]> writes
    >pa_cheeks <[email protected]> wrote in news:3cb5f6fe$1 @usenetgateway.com:
    >
    >> Here is my dilemma...
    >>
    >> I am leaving from Monreal to Dublin and then driving into Belfast where I will be
    >> living and staying for approximately 2 years. When I received my visa it did not
    >> say anywhere that I had to have my visa Endorsed by a British Immigration. So here
    >> I am now with a visa going to live in Belfast and I cannot get my visa activated.
    >>
    >> I have contacted the cosulate in Canada and they told me that I can get my visa
    >> endorsed by a immigration in the centre of Belfast. I call the immigration in
    >> Belfast and they tell me they can send my visa to London and have it endorsed and
    >> sent back to me. I call the immigrations office in Belfast and they tell me that I
    >> must come in to Belfast via an international flight and there and only there can I
    >> get my visa endorsed.
    >>
    >> The problem is my flight is non refundable and non reroutable. I can't lose the
    >> 800$ for my ticket cause i cannot afford another ticket... I need a way around
    >> this and I only have like a week and a half to figure it out. Please someone
    >> help me...
    >>
    >> Who can I call to get right answers, what can I do to get around this? Is there
    >> anyway around this? Has anyone gone through this before... any help will be
    >> appreciated.
    >>
    >
    >get a cheap Ryanair flight from Dublin to Belfast (or any other UK airport where
    >immigration will endorse the VISA) - this is an international flight
    >

I don't think this would work. The UK and Irish Republic form a common travel area,
so entering one counts as entering both, and there are no routine immigration checks
when passing from one to the other, particularly by land where you just keep on
driving. When I fly from Dublin to Manchester, passengers transfer from the plane to
the baggage reclaim hall by bus specifically so that they don't end up airside of
immigration as would happen if they used the walkways; I presume a similar situation
applies at Belfast.

The first two responses you had seem sensible, I'd just suggest you get something in
writing from the consulate in Canada saying what's expected of you to do, and maybe
make sure the Irish Immigration stamp your passport at Dublin to prove when you
arrived in the republic. The bit about having to enter via Belfast on an
international flight seems crazy -- there's no reason why you couldn't enter the UK
via the Channel Tunnel or on a ship, or via Heathrow. I'm not even sure how many
international destinations are served from BFS - not many long haul ones, I would
have thought.

--
Arwel Parry http://www.cartref.demon.co.uk/

Re: Problems with Working Holdiday Visa for the UK..
 

Arwel Parry <[email protected]> wrote:
    > I'm not even sure how many international destinations are served from BFS
    > - not many long haul ones, I would have thought.

Just a few European locations, I think. But they do have immigration people at the
airport - I have a Belfast "leave to enter for sixth months..." stamp.

As you have pointedo ut, however, you won't get one if arriving from the Republic
of Ireland.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu

Re: Problems with Working Holdiday Visa for the UK..
 

[email protected] (Miguel Cruz) wrote in news:[email protected]:

    > Arwel Parry <[email protected]> wrote:
    >> I'm not even sure how many international destinations are served from BFS - not
    >> many long haul ones, I would have thought.
    >
    > Just a few European locations, I think. But they do have immigration people at the
    > airport - I have a Belfast "leave to enter for sixth months..." stamp.

charter flights run to Orlando Florida - I made good friends with some Irish folk on
my last visit to Florida

I would imagine spare seats could be sold via bucket shops and maybe used by non
UK residents

--
[email protected]

BMW R1150GS Previous bikes CBR6FX, TDM850, VFR750FR & FJ, NX650, GS125ES