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So the following conversation took place at Gatwick Airport in April 2015, around 10:30PM, as I was entering the UK on a Swedish ID card. I was dressed in jeans and a plain red t-shirt (it was warm outside), had a laptop bag for hand luggage and was sober.

(I look southern European, perhaps Bulgarian, and speak Estuary English - basically like Gordon Ramsay accent-wise)

IO: Where are you arriving from?

Me: Zurich

IO: Where are you headed to?

Me: London

IO: What will you be doing in London?

Me: Just visiting

IO: For how long?

Me: A week

IO: Where will you be staying?

Me: At a hostel in Dollis Hill

IO then looks at my ID and scans it with a UV lamp. After 30 seconds…

IO: Do you have another document?

Me: Er, such as?

IO: Dunno, bank card, library card, driving licence, anything.

Me: Nothing with a photograph I’m afraid, but here’s my debit card (handing in my Maestro card)

10 seconds later...

IO: How come you’ve got a Swiss bank card!?

Me: Because I live and study in Switzerland, in Zurich

IO: Since when?

Me: Autumn 2014

IO: What do you study there?

Me: Computer science, at the federal institute of Technology

IO: Towards what degree?

Me: Bachelor

IO scans the ID, and 30 seconds later...

IO: Alright, have a good evening.

The question in bold is among the weirdest questions I've received from immigration anywhere, although thinking about it, I suspect the officer had her doubts about me actually being an EEA national.

Is this the likely reason for the unusually long landing interview (for an EEA national)?

On some previous occasions I've cleared immigration at the same airport, under identical circumstances, without a single question.

Crazydre
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3 Answers3

27

The officer might have wondered if your documents are genuine or a (good) forgery. That can sometimes be gauged by asking a couple of rambling questions and see if the answers are coherent. That starts with "what is your birthdate" even if they have the passport directly in front of their eyes and goes from there.

In that sense yes, he questioned your nationality.

o.m.
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You stated you were arriving from Zurich. The officer asked you a destabilizing question: why do you have a Swiss debit card?

Such questions are meant to gauge your reaction and the consistency of your story. A legitimate holder would react, naturally, just as you did: "uh, because I said I live/study in Zurich, Switzerland." A non-legitimate holder (one who is just repeating a story and not familiar with geography) might stammer, hem-and-haw, or try to talk the question away, like: "oh my brother is Swiss."

This kind of non-sequitur probing is common. Just proceed as normal.

bishop
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Turned comment into answer per @Gayot Fow suggestion

You can consider yourself extremely lucky, if the was the weirdest question you ever got at immigration. Immigration officers are supposed to ask some off beat questions to gauge your reaction. See http://www.statewatch.org/news/2007/jan/uk-ho-immig-decision-making-study.pdf

Hilmar
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