Need Help: Non English Speaking family member visiting UK

[from_india]

Hi All,

I am on my HSMP in UK. We need to bring my wife's aunt over here.

If possible we will like the aunt to travel alone to UK. The problem is that she is not fluent in English. We are concerned that if she comes alone it may cause problems at the port of entry(while dealing with the port of entry officers).

Does anybody have any similar experience? We don’t want her to come till UK and deported back.

Another question: an agent in India is suggesting that we should get a visitors visa for her. I thought we should get family members visa. Any suggestions on what kind of visa will be better?

Thanks in advance!

[olisun]

Hi All,

I am on my HSMP in UK. We need to bring my wife's aunt over here.

If possible we will like the aunt to travel alone to UK. The problem is that she is not fluent in English. We are concerned that if she comes alone it may cause problems at the port of entry(while dealing with the port of entry officers).

Does anybody have any similar experience? We don’t want her to come till UK and deported back.

Another question: an agent in India is suggesting that we should get a visitors visa for her. I thought we should get family members visa. Any suggestions on what kind of visa will be better?

Thanks in advance!

There shouldn't be any problems at the immigration as there are interpreters at hand and also some of the officers are of Asian origin...

Does your Aunt speak Hindi at least??

Regarding family member's visa, forget about it... The agent is right about the visitor's visa...

[from_india]

Thank you very much for such a qucik and clear response. This helps!

[INSIDER]

A large number of IOs at port speak Indian languages.
Since she will have a visa any questioning will be minimal.

[Christophe]

And don't forget: the ability to speak English, fluent or otherwise, is not a requirement to visit the UK. Millions of people pass through UK ports of entry every year with minimal or even no English. Also, the visa now generally acts as de facto entry clearance unless there is something to make the immigration officer at the point of entry suspect either fraud or a material change in circumstances since the visa was issued.

[piglet]

I was recently in the immigration queue with some people from my native country who did not speak any English. We were totally unrelated and only met in the queue, after we left the plane.

They had heard me speaking English to my husband on my mobile and asked me if I could, when I finish with my quick passport check, come with them to their counter to translate for them. They were visiting their son and had all proper documents/visas. I think that they had a family visitor visa, but I am not 100 percent sure about this.

I said I was happy to do so as long as the immigration officer allowed me to do that. When we came to immigration counters (we were next to one another), the immigration officer was more then happy for me to translate for them, actually, he turned to me and asked me if I spoke the same lingo and if I could take few minutes to translate. I guess it saved him some time to look for some of his very busy colleagues who spoke the lingo.

He just asked me if we were related (we were not), then he fired of some questions for them (how long are they staying, with whom, what is their occupation back in their country and similar). I translated to and fro, took only a few minutes, they got their stamp and off they went to pick up their luggage. We met again downstairs at the luggage area and they thanked me a lot, but I guess they were just lucky to have got a really easy going officer.

So she can always ask someone young(er) on the plane who speaks English to help her with translating.

However, with Hindi I don't think this would be neccessary as I always see quite a few Indians working as immigration officers at the airport. She is very likely to get one of these people anyway, and yes, as someone else mentioned, they do have translators there also. So don't worry about it, she will find the way.

They won't deport her just because she does not speak English, hell, they would have to deport half of the country then....

[Jeff Albright]

I would also suggest you writing a letter in English with all her travel plans, destination, etc. + most common answers to the questions asked by immigration officers. She can then show the letter to aircraft and airport members so they will direct her to the right place/terminal and to the immigration officer to have answers ready for him/her about her visit.

[Administrator]

.

We need to bring my wife's aunt over here.

Be careful with this word "need." As mentioned above, she will be coming under a visit visa. Best to explain she is on a normal visit to the UK for tourism and to remain in contact with the family.

If there is some other important reason (such as attending a wedding or if there is some family member who is ill), you can mention the important reason.

But when you use that word "need," it implies more serious things. Try to avoid it unless it is true and necessary.


As described above, so long as the visa has been issued, her troubles with English are very unlikely. One possibility is to meet her at the point of entry with someone who has good to excellent English. That way if there is any concern, immigration has the possibility to speak directly with the family she is coming to meet.

If you make such an arrangement, make sure she has a paper (in English) with names & mobile phone numbers of the people who may be waiting for her. She can hand it to immigration authorities if there seems to be some difficulty.

the Admin

[Dawie]

Entry clearance confers leave to enter so an immigration officer cannot turn someone away who has a visitors visa unless there are reasons to suspect the visa was obtained by deception or fraud.

[INSIDER]

Entry clearance confers leave to enter so an immigration officer cannot turn someone away who has a visitors visa unless there are reasons to suspect the visa was obtained by deception or fraud.

As well as if there is a change of circumstances or purpose.

[Wanderer]

Entry clearance confers leave to enter so an immigration officer cannot turn someone away who has a visitors visa unless there are reasons to suspect the visa was obtained by deception or fraud.

Or if the entrant is using the visit visa to look for work or get married or sth. I've seen that on Airport on telly, that IO, Eric is a tough nut, he sent one SA lass back cos he found registry office lists in Berkshire printed from the internet in her bag.

Another time he sent this SA guy back cos he didn't have enough money to live on with him.

All valid reasons but Eric does seem to have downer on Saffers.....

[Dawie]

South Africans don't require prior entry clearance for visits of less than 6 months.