Still no exit check

[thsths]

Hi

After all the discussion about exit check while leaving the UK, I was special paying special attention to this issue flying from EMA to Europe. There was one officer sitting in a booth, but he just waved us through, without checking anything. So maybe they only do exit checks if you look "suspicious" or "foreign". They are certainly not comprehensive yet. Our passports were checked during check in and at the security gate, but as I understand the system that is just an identity check.

I guess in Heathrow things may be different. And of course with the overstayer ban deferred, the whole topic is much less important than it seemed a while ago.

Tom

[Christophe]

Yes, certainly the checks are not by any means universal or, seeminly, systematic yet. The airline checks passengers' passports as an identity check (to make sure the name on the ticket matches the name on the passport) and also to be satisfied that the passenger has the necessary papers to admitted to their destination: airlines are often subject to quite substantial fines for carrying improperly documented passengers.

I've been checked and not checked recently at Heathrow, though I haven't seen what you describe at East Midlands (i.e. it has always been either comprehensive checks of all the passengers or else no one staffing the station at all). I have usually (though not absolutely always) been checked on Eurostar. And there seem to be exit checks about half the time for travellers using the Channel Tunnel by car - although sometimes they still just look at the passport cover, of British passports at least (a practice that has always seemed to me to be a complete waste of time and money).

[thirdwave]

Exit checks are sporadic at most airports..recently travelled out of Gatwick & encountered no checks.The only difference from a few months ago was the requirement to have one's shoes scanned, which I found to be a harrowing experience on account of the many passangers who seemed to be unwashed, with extremely smelly feet..

[saeed1707]

What does 'overstayer ban deferred' mean ?

When are exit checks due to be made as standard on departure ? And what happens to overstayers leaving UK ?

[hsmpkiwi2]

I have usually (though not absolutely always) been checked on Eurostar

by British or French immigration? When it was at Waterloo, the checks (in waterloo, before boarding the train) were for french immigration - there was no desks or counters where british immigration could have been even if they wanted to.