Immigration Corner | How can I get back my documents?

Dear Mr Bassie,

I recently made an application to the British immigration authorities and I now need the documents that I submitted with my application. Please advise me on how I can retrieve these documents that were submitted with my application.

UT

Dear UT,

Persons might be able to ask for their passport and other documents to be returned if they have sent them with their application but need them urgently.

How they do this depends on whether they applied in the United Kingdom or not, and what type of application was made. Please note that persons might have to cancel their application – they will be told if they have to do this when they ask for their documents to be returned to them.

Persons who have applied from outside the United Kingdom should contact the immigration authorities. Those persons will not get a refund if their application has been processed.

Persons will have three months to collect their passport or travel document once they have been told that it is ready for collection. If they do not collect their passport or travel document within three months, it will be returned to the authority that issued it.

When applying from within the United Kingdom, persons might be able to use the online ‘return of documents’ form. The form explains who can use it and how to get back their documents.

Persons cannot use the online form if:

· They no longer have permission to stay in the United Kingdom; (Their ‘valid leave to enter or remain’ has expired.)

· They want to cancel their application to extend their stay in the United Kingdom, because they now plan to leave;

· Their application to stay in the United Kingdom (‘leave to remain’) has been refused or rejected;

· They have applied for asylum.

If eligible, persons will usually get their documents back within 10 working days.

Please note that if the application has been refused and persons do not have permission to stay in the United Kingdom and they want to leave voluntarily, or cannot use the online form, they should contact the Voluntary Returns Service at: Voluntary Returns Service, Telephone: 0300 004 0202 Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Persons will be able to get their documents back at the airport. Please be aware that persons may be removed from the United Kingdom if they do not have permission to stay in the country and do not leave voluntarily.

Those persons who have applied for asylum should contact their caseworker or the Voluntary Returns Service to ask for the return of their documents.

When persons do not receive their documents, they can report that they have not received their documents if they have not been returned after 10 working days. Please note that individuals who have applied for British citizenship before 1989, their passport would have been sent to their country’s embassy in the United Kingdom.

CANCELLING A REQUEST

Persons should use the cancellation form if they no longer need their documents returned. Please note that a request cannot be cancelled if it has already been processed. Good luck.

John S. Bassie is a barrister/attorney-at-law who practises law in Jamaica. He is a justice of the peace, a Supreme Court-appointed mediator, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a chartered arbitrator, global vice president of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (UK). Email: lawbassie@yahoo.com