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3 Passport scenarios (I assume these are legal, or else that's the question - not seeking criminal...


3 Passport scenarios (I assume these are legal, or else that's the...

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Harmless
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Monkos - 16 Sep 18 12:14 PM
Harmless - 16 Sep 18 10:47 AM
Monkos - 16 Sep 18 9:57 AM

- Other passport control in other countries can't see anything about your record unless you have been flagged on interpol. You won't be flagged on interpol unless your crimes specifically involve travelling abroad to commit crimes or you've otherwise given police a reason to suspect you.


- When you return to UK, passport control will ask if you if went anywhere else, and check the pages for stamps while you answer, so answer truthfully.

There's something wrong with these two points of yours, in my experience of travel , and of talking to other ex-cons.

- I'm pretty sure even a domestic sex crime gets in the way of you entering the US, owing to interpol notifications.

- When returning to Glasgow airport from Berlin, I was asked no questions at all. Although I suppose there was nothing in my passport to prompt any questions, as I only took a detour into the Netherlands.



On your first point, you might not get in, if you declare your convictions, and your PPU might not be keen on you going without being sure you got a genuine visa only because they know the americans will complain and get them in trouble if they find out. But it won't be because of any interpol notifications unless your PPU tell you they are putting one because you have genuine reason to give them concerns.

On the second point, if you've been in europe, they know everywhere you've been anyway, and the desk officer might not ask you anything if he's busy even if the 'ask more questions' flag is on. I've only ever been asked additional questions once on returning on over half a dozen trips, but a record of your return still goes on the system with any comments from the desk officer if they made any. But it's nothing to be worried about.

This is a mainly academic quibble now, but, how can anybody possibly know I was in the Netherlands, seeing as I merely got a train detour to and from there (in an out of Berlin)?


Monkos
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Harmless - 16 Sep 18 12:41 PM
Monkos - 16 Sep 18 12:14 PM
Harmless - 16 Sep 18 10:47 AM
Monkos - 16 Sep 18 9:57 AM

- Other passport control in other countries can't see anything about your record unless you have been flagged on interpol. You won't be flagged on interpol unless your crimes specifically involve travelling abroad to commit crimes or you've otherwise given police a reason to suspect you.


- When you return to UK, passport control will ask if you if went anywhere else, and check the pages for stamps while you answer, so answer truthfully.

There's something wrong with these two points of yours, in my experience of travel , and of talking to other ex-cons.

- I'm pretty sure even a domestic sex crime gets in the way of you entering the US, owing to interpol notifications.

- When returning to Glasgow airport from Berlin, I was asked no questions at all. Although I suppose there was nothing in my passport to prompt any questions, as I only took a detour into the Netherlands.



On your first point, you might not get in, if you declare your convictions, and your PPU might not be keen on you going without being sure you got a genuine visa only because they know the americans will complain and get them in trouble if they find out. But it won't be because of any interpol notifications unless your PPU tell you they are putting one because you have genuine reason to give them concerns.

On the second point, if you've been in europe, they know everywhere you've been anyway, and the desk officer might not ask you anything if he's busy even if the 'ask more questions' flag is on. I've only ever been asked additional questions once on returning on over half a dozen trips, but a record of your return still goes on the system with any comments from the desk officer if they made any. But it's nothing to be worried about.

This is a mainly academic quibble now, but, how can anybody possibly know I was in the Netherlands, seeing as I merely got a train detour to and from there (in an out of Berlin)?


You're right, they can't know that unless you fly or go through some other formal border checkpoint like the eurostar.
Harmless
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Monkos - 16 Sep 18 12:14 PM
Harmless - 16 Sep 18 10:47 AM
Monkos - 16 Sep 18 9:57 AM

- Other passport control in other countries can't see anything about your record unless you have been flagged on interpol. You won't be flagged on interpol unless your crimes specifically involve travelling abroad to commit crimes or you've otherwise given police a reason to suspect you.


- When you return to UK, passport control will ask if you if went anywhere else, and check the pages for stamps while you answer, so answer truthfully.

There's something wrong with these two points of yours, in my experience of travel , and of talking to other ex-cons.

- I'm pretty sure even a domestic sex crime gets in the way of you entering the US, owing to interpol notifications.

- When returning to Glasgow airport from Berlin, I was asked no questions at all. Although I suppose there was nothing in my passport to prompt any questions, as I only took a detour into the Netherlands.



On your first point, you might not get in, if you declare your convictions, and your PPU might not be keen on you going without being sure you got a genuine visa only because they know the americans will complain and get them in trouble if they find out. But it won't be because of any interpol notifications unless your PPU tell you they are putting one because you have genuine reason to give them concerns.

On the second point, if you've been in europe, they know everywhere you've been anyway, and the desk officer might not ask you anything if he's busy even if the 'ask more questions' flag is on. I've only ever been asked additional questions once on returning on over half a dozen trips, but a record of your return still goes on the system with any comments from the desk officer if they made any. But it's nothing to be worried about.

So just so I understand you correctly, there is no possibility of being turned away from the United States because of an interpol notice that the cops never forewarned me about? And no probability of them putting up a notice to the US  unless they specifically suspect I'm up to no good by going there?


Edited
6 Years Ago by Harmless
BenS
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[quote]
Monkos - 16 Sep 18 9:57 AM

Only UK passport control can see that you are subject to travel notifications, and not even see why (you might be a football hooligan, or a spy). Other passport control in other countries can't see anything about your record unless you have been flagged on interpol. You won't be flagged on interpol unless your crimes specifically involve travelling abroad to commit crimes or you've otherwise given police a reason to suspect you. Or if you've not declared your travel in advance properly.

Maybe it's only the UK passport control who can see specifically that you are subject to travel notifications, but if you're on the SOR and have notified foreign travel to an EU country (plus a few non-EU western European countries), then your passport will "flag" at the border control of any of those countries because your details will have been entered on SISII (Schengen Information System II). Even if they can't see the exact reason for the flag on your passport, they will receive a notification that you are being monitored in some way and they are instructed to ask you a few basic questions discreetly (in reality, it is not always discreet, as staff at some (mainly smaller) airports are unfamiliar with the procedure).

Changing your passport will not remove a flag, because the flag does not relate to your passport, but rather to your personal details such as name and date of birth. So scanning your passport will result in a match for someone with your exact name and date of birth who requires extra attention at passport control.
Edited
6 Years Ago by BenS
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BenS - 17 Sep 18 10:32 AM
[quote]
Monkos - 16 Sep 18 9:57 AM

Only UK passport control can see that you are subject to travel notifications, and not even see why (you might be a football hooligan, or a spy). Other passport control in other countries can't see anything about your record unless you have been flagged on interpol. You won't be flagged on interpol unless your crimes specifically involve travelling abroad to commit crimes or you've otherwise given police a reason to suspect you. Or if you've not declared your travel in advance properly.

Maybe it's only the UK passport control who can see specifically that you are subject to travel notifications, but if you're on the SOR and have notified foreign travel to an EU country (plus a few non-EU western European countries), then your passport will "flag" at the border control of any of those countries because your details will have been entered on SISII (Schengen Information System II). Even if they can't see the exact reason for the flag on your passport, they will receive a notification that you are being monitored on some way and they are instructed to ask you a few basic questions discreetly (in reality, it is not always discreet, as staff at some (mainly smaller) airports are unfamiliar with the procedure).

Changing your passport will not remove a flag, because the flag does not relate to your passport, but rather to your personal details such as name and date of birth. So scanning your passport will result in a match for someone with your exact name and date of birth who requires extra attention at passport control.

True, but from what Monkos has said here  (and I don't know if he' right but sounds well researched), the authorities won't put up an interpol Green Notice(the type they use for the USA) unless they suspect you're going abroad in order to do evil. And even if they're going to put up a notice, they'll tell you in advance rather than let you waste a ticket. 

That said, they almost certainly did put up an SISII notice for me in Germany, given how long it took the border staff to stare at their screen. And I'm guessing the cops didn't think I was up to no good there. Although I don't think Monkos was talking about this.

After Brexit won't the Shengen info exchange thing be gone? Isn't that a good thing? Or would they abandon discretion and default to Green Notice always?


Edited
6 Years Ago by Harmless
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BenS - 17 Sep 18 10:32 AM
Changing your passport will not remove a flag, because the flag does not relate to your passport, but rather to your personal details such as name and date of birth. So scanning your passport will result in a match for someone with your exact name and date of birth who requires extra attention at passport control.

What's your source on that?

I recently changed the spelling of my name, dropping an entire middle name (and informed the cops), but my passport bears my old name. But I've never travelled since the name change.
Edited
6 Years Ago by Harmless
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BenS - 17 Sep 18 10:32 AM
[quote]
Monkos - 16 Sep 18 9:57 AM

Only UK passport control can see that you are subject to travel notifications, and not even see why (you might be a football hooligan, or a spy). Other passport control in other countries can't see anything about your record unless you have been flagged on interpol. You won't be flagged on interpol unless your crimes specifically involve travelling abroad to commit crimes or you've otherwise given police a reason to suspect you. Or if you've not declared your travel in advance properly.

Maybe it's only the UK passport control who can see specifically that you are subject to travel notifications, but if you're on the SOR and have notified foreign travel to an EU country (plus a few non-EU western European countries), then your passport will "flag" at the border control of any of those countries because your details will have been entered on SISII (Schengen Information System II). Even if they can't see the exact reason for the flag on your passport, they will receive a notification that you are being monitored in some way and they are instructed to ask you a few basic questions discreetly (in reality, it is not always discreet, as staff at some (mainly smaller) airports are unfamiliar with the procedure).

Changing your passport will not remove a flag, because the flag does not relate to your passport, but rather to your personal details such as name and date of birth. So scanning your passport will result in a match for someone with your exact name and date of birth who requires extra attention at passport control.

I'd assumed that SISII just used a match on passport number (hence the requirement to register any new passport). But you're saying when they enter the passport number that it searches for anyone with same name and date of birth, curious how you found that out?

Monkos
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Zack - 17 Sep 18 8:39 PM
BenS - 17 Sep 18 10:32 AM
[quote]
Monkos - 16 Sep 18 9:57 AM

Only UK passport control can see that you are subject to travel notifications, and not even see why (you might be a football hooligan, or a spy). Other passport control in other countries can't see anything about your record unless you have been flagged on interpol. You won't be flagged on interpol unless your crimes specifically involve travelling abroad to commit crimes or you've otherwise given police a reason to suspect you. Or if you've not declared your travel in advance properly.

Maybe it's only the UK passport control who can see specifically that you are subject to travel notifications, but if you're on the SOR and have notified foreign travel to an EU country (plus a few non-EU western European countries), then your passport will "flag" at the border control of any of those countries because your details will have been entered on SISII (Schengen Information System II). Even if they can't see the exact reason for the flag on your passport, they will receive a notification that you are being monitored in some way and they are instructed to ask you a few basic questions discreetly (in reality, it is not always discreet, as staff at some (mainly smaller) airports are unfamiliar with the procedure).

Changing your passport will not remove a flag, because the flag does not relate to your passport, but rather to your personal details such as name and date of birth. So scanning your passport will result in a match for someone with your exact name and date of birth who requires extra attention at passport control.

I'd assumed that SISII just used a match on passport number (hence the requirement to register any new passport). But you're saying when they enter the passport number that it searches for anyone with same name and date of birth, curious how you found that out?

I think it's fare to assume if you get a brand new passport, that at least in the UK system there will be a history of previous passport numbers it's connected to. Similarly if you have same name and DOB as people on a watch list, you'd likely get flagged. After all, you hear all the time about people with muslim type names being stopped simply for having some details matching people on watch lists.
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I don't have a factual source on what I said about the SISII running by name matches rather than passport numbers. I "learnt" this from another user on here, who asserted this. So it's not gospel, but I would tend to agree with it - otherwise any RSO could simply get a new passport and not report it, then travel freely undetected. It can't be that easy. So it would make sense that it's your name and DOB on the system and not just your passport number. Monkos's example shows this perfectly: people with Arabic names being stopped due to sharing a name with someone on a watchlist. Obviously these innocent trravellers won't have the same passport number as the people on the watchlist but they still flag up - reason: name.

But obviously this is all speculation.
Edited
6 Years Ago by BenS
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BenS - 18 Sep 18 8:38 AM
I don't have a factual source on what I said about the SISII running by name matches rather than passport numbers. I "learnt" this from another use on here, who asserted this. So it's not gospel, but I would tend to agree with it - otherwise any RSO could simply get a new passport and not report it, then travel freely undetected. It can't be that easy. So it would make sense that it's your name and DOB on the system and not just your passport number. Monkos's example shows this perfectly: people with Arabic names being stopped due to sharing a name with someone on a watchlist. Obviously these innocent trravellers won't have the same passport number as the people on the watchlist but they still flag up - reason: name.

But obviously this is all speculation.

I know an RSO who face to face claimed he just went to Germany undeclared (but using his declared passport) to "see what happened" (his life is so ruined he's just having fun with it now).

Nothing happened, he said. 



GO


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