Error on UK visit visa - ignore or take back?

[Mister Fixit]

I have just come back from collecting my wife's passport from VFS after she was granted a UK visit visa.

 

Of course, sod's law says that after I got home I noticed that they had entered her Date of Birth wrongly on the visa.  

 

If you look on the visa, her DoB has been mistakenly entered as 09/07/**49** when it should have been **69**.   They must have looked at my DoB which is 1949. 

Not sure if I should take it back for amendment or not.  Just concerned that some airline staff in Bangkok might notice it and refuse boarding.   Or if not, that an eagle-eyed UK Immi person might notice it and kick up a fuss when we arrive.  

Should I take it back and make them amend it, or do people think it will be OK?

 

Edited May 4, 2018 by Mister Fixit
Clumsy

[theoldgit]

I would go back to VFS and point out the mistake pronto, they should send it back to the UKVI and get a new vingette issued.

 

The airline staff may well pick it up and deny boarding, the Border Force Officer will almost certainly do so.

[Jip99]

Personally, I doubt that the airline staff would pick it up. Certainly it is more likely that Border Force would do.

 

A question for Old Git, given your knowledge of procedures,.....  Mr Fixit was astute enough to pick up the error, I am not sure everyone (myself included) would have done so...... what would happen at the point of entry - clearly it is no fault of the visa holder.

[Mister Fixit]

1 hour ago, theoldgit said:

I would go back to VFS and point out the mistake pronto, they should send it back to the UKVI and get a new vingette issued.

 

The airline staff may well pick it up and deny boarding, the Border Force Officer will almost certainly do so.

Yes, I'll go tomorrow morning,  I know it's Saturday, but they are open for Premium services applicants so I will ask to speak to a manager and get a bit shirty - not enough to alienate them but enough so they know who's boss.  I have found that's the best way to deal with them.    

 

Actually, I suspect the airline staff would possibly pick it up rather than the Immi officer in the UK.  After some really unpleasant treatment by some nasty old bat in Manchester (I will never go there again) I always go with her to the Non-UK/EU passport desk at Birmingham where we normally fly into.

 

There, I hand them both my UK and her Thai passport and explain who she is and why we are here and they just wave her through.  They swipe the passport, but don't do a fat lot more than glance at it.  

 

[theoldgit]

50 minutes ago, Mister Fixit said:

Yes, I'll go tomorrow morning,  I know it's Saturday, but they are open for Premium services applicants so I will ask to speak to a manager and get a bit shirty - not enough to alienate them but enough so they know who's boss.  I have found that's the best way to deal with them.   

I wouldn't go to the desk downstairs, I'd make my way straight upstairs.

I can understand your anger and frustration, but it's the UKVI staff who would have made the mistake, not the VFS staff, I'm assuming that you or your wife didn't put your date of birth on the form by mistake, even if you did they should still have picked it up from the passport.
If I were in your position I would try to act nicely at first, pointing out that it's not their mistake, and see how it goes from there.

Sorry if I'm going into egg sucking mode, but you know what Thai people are like when they think they're losing face.

Good job you spotted it.

[Mister Fixit]

1 hour ago, theoldgit said:

I wouldn't go to the desk downstairs, I'd make my way straight upstairs.

I can understand your anger and frustration, but it's the UKVI staff who would have made the mistake, not the VFS staff, I'm assuming that you or your wife didn't put your date of birth on the form by mistake, even if you did they should still have picked it up from the passport.
If I were in your position I would try to act nicely at first, pointing out that it's not their mistake, and see how it goes from there.

Sorry if I'm going into egg sucking mode, but you know what Thai people are like when they think they're losing face.

Good job you spotted it.

 

I never go to the downstairs desk, I learnt that the first time!  Straight upstairs for me.   

 

Sorry if I gave the wrong impression above.  I'm not angry or frustrated, but I am irritated that I have to traipse down there again twice.  I know it'll get sorted eventually, but I have a busy week next week and tbh I want to go myself to be certain,  because my lovely but sometimes frustrating wife will almost certainly find a way to cock it up ...   

 

 

[Here It Is]

Sorry to be a pedant, but are you absolutely sure that you entered the correct date of birth in the first place?  Just want to make sure, you know.

[Mister Fixit]

10 hours ago, Here It Is said:

Sorry to be a pedant, but are you absolutely sure that you entered the correct date of birth in the first place?  Just want to make sure, you know.

 

I don't need to enter anything.  Her correct DoB is in her passport for all to see, including the ECO.  It's he or she who has made the error, no doubt about that.  It's interesting that my app took twice as long as usual and I did wonder if whoever it was might have been a trainee - although I suspect the slip was more likely made due to pressure of work after to a post-Songkran  backlog.

 

I did check however, and yes, I DID enter it correctly online.  Look,  I have even attached a copy of the application so you can check for yourself - just so you can make sure, you know.  

Edited May 5, 2018 by Mister Fixit

[DJ54]

My Thai (2) DL have wrong birthdate even though they took the information from my passport which the month is spelled out. 

I didn’t notice it but wife did then questioned me about my birthdate 

duh I don’t know...... anyway I didn’t go back had been there 4 times too many. 

 

On the visa Best to get it changed.....Murphy’s Law 

[Eaglekott]

If I'm right you should have that corrected or it might cause some problems for you, That is in the lines that is machine read, and scanners might trigger an alarm. I believe they can solve it but it might stall you and have you miss a connecting flight, or just take some hours away that you can spend on doing something funnier.  

[brewsterbudgen]

I have just come back from collecting my wife's passport from VFS after she was granted a UK visit visa.
 
Of course, sod's law says that after I got home I noticed that they had entered her Date of Birth wrongly on the visa.  
 
If you look on the visa, her DoB has been mistakenly entered as 09/07/**49** when it should have been **69**.   They must have looked at my DoB which is 1949. 

Not sure if I should take it back for amendment or not.  Just concerned that some airline staff in Bangkok might notice it and refuse boarding.   Or if not, that an eagle-eyed UK Immi person might notice it and kick up a fuss when we arrive.  

Should I take it back and make them amend it, or do people think it will be OK?
 

How did it go? Was it straightforward getting them to acknowledge the error and assuming they did, how quickly and easily will it be corrected?

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[roo860]

Yes, I'll go tomorrow morning,  I know it's Saturday, but they are open for Premium services applicants so I will ask to speak to a manager and get a bit shirty - not enough to alienate them but enough so they know who's boss.  I have found that's the best way to deal with them.    

 

Actually, I suspect the airline staff would possibly pick it up rather than the Immi officer in the UK.  After some really unpleasant treatment by some nasty old bat in Manchester (I will never go there again) I always go with her to the Non-UK/EU passport desk at Birmingham where we normally fly into.

 

There, I hand them both my UK and her Thai passport and explain who she is and why we are here and they just wave her through.  They swipe the passport, but don't do a fat lot more than glance at it.  

 

 

I wouldn't tar all the immigration staff at Manchester with the same brush, when my wife landed there alone recently and had made a mistake on her landing card, the officer was very helpful and took care of it. Also he spoke in Thai wishing her a good stay in England.

 

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[Mister Fixit]

1 hour ago, brewsterbudgen said:

How did it go? Was it straightforward getting them to acknowledge the error and assuming they did, how quickly and easily will it be corrected?

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Ah, glad you asked.  I was about to post something about this morning's little jaunt.

 

I arrived about 10 am and the place was deserted.  A girl and her mum came out as I arrived and that was that.  Made a change having the lift to myself.

 

There was one girl at the counter upstairs and I explained what had happened but her first words were 'Didn't you check your passport?' as though everything was my fault. 

 

I gritted my teeth and said  'I wasn't told to check my passport, I was told to check my documents.  I did check the whole bundle because I wanted to see that everything necessary had been returned to me, and I also checked the dates of the visa in the passport because I had asked them to start it from a specific day.  I did NOT check if my wife's date of birth had been incorrectly entered because I didn't think anyone could make a mistake when the correct date of birth was just a few pages away and could have easily been checked'.

 

She digested that and then asked me to wait.  She went in the big room and I saw her buttonhole a rather large lady and have a conflab.

 

Said large lady came out and obviously hadn't listened to the counter clerk because not only did she ask again why I hadn't checked the passport, I also had to explain it all over again, flipping the pages to show the correct DoB and then to the visa to the incorrect DoB.  I had to do this about 3 times before she cottoned on.

 

I also said that even if I had noticed the error yesterday and gave it back, the passport would still have had to go back and it was just going back a day later, whatever the day I had pointed it out.  She seemed to have a problem grasping that.

 

Then there was a series of phone calls to various people and the upshot was that I had to leave the passport with her.  Quelle surprise, like I didn't know.  They said it would take about 3 days to get back, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

They didn't want me to leave the entire bundle and they didn't take a note of her application number.  I asked for a receipt for the passport three times but she just jotted her name on a scrap of paper and disappeared into the big room and left me there.  She didn't give me a phone number to call to check either but did say she'd call my wife when it came back.  If it doesn't come soon, it means yet another trip down town to nudge them and maybe more. 

I asked the counter clerk to get her back to give me a receipt but she just said 'She know about it' and went back to her phone.

 

I will see if we get a call by Wednesday but I am not expecting one that soon.  I'm pretty twitchy about not having a  receipt for the passport but they'll be paying for a new one and a free visa if they lose it.  

 

Altogether, not an especially inspiring experience.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2018 by Mister Fixit

[Mister Fixit]

24 minutes ago, roo860 said:

 

I wouldn't tar all the immigration staff at Manchester with the same brush, when my wife landed there alone recently and had made a mistake on her landing card, the officer was very helpful and took care of it. Also he spoke in Thai wishing her a good stay in England.

 

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Lucky her.  The old bat who checked my wife was a nasty old cow,   Gabbled at her in broad Manc, and when my wife didn't catch it first time repeated it in typical Brit was and shouted it at her.

 

I stuck my nose in and said I was her husband and she was with me so she just scowled and literally threw my wife's passport at her and she almost dropped it because it was done so hard.

 

And don't get me started on the Etihad ground staff who ripped me off when I paid for overweight baggage ...  I didn't mind paying, and expected to, but I did mind them nicking 40 quid off me when my back was turned and then saying I had put it back in my wallet - which was empty so how could I?

 

I'll never fly into Manchester again.  Horrible experience.

 

  

 

 

Edited May 5, 2018 by Mister Fixit

[7by7]

6 minutes ago, Mister Fixit said:

There was one girl at the counter upstairs and I explained what had happened but her first words were 'Didn't you check your passport?' as though everything was my fault. 

 

I gritted my teeth and said  'I wasn't told to check my passport, I was told to check my documents.  I did check the whole bundle because I wanted to see that everything necessary had been returned to me, and I also checked the dates of the visa in the passport because I had asked them to start it from a specific day.  I did NOT check if my wife's date of birth had been incorrectly entered because I didn't think anyone could make a mistake when the correct date of birth was just a few pages away and could have easily been checked'.

 Not excusing anyone at all, but mistakes are always possible, even simple ones even in the most efficient of operations; which UKVI are not!

 

Always check everything, and I mean everything,  immediately. Especially when dealing with government departments; British as well as Thai. Remember the mistake on her visa was made by a British UKVI employee, not a Thai VFS one. 

 

Indeed, when I renewed my passport in the UK last time, it was returned with a cover note advising me to do just that and inform HMPO immediately of any errors.

 

Lesson learned, I hope.

 

 

[Mister Fixit]

30 minutes ago, 7by7 said:

 Always check everything, and I mean everything,  immediately. Especially when dealing with government departments; British as well as Thai. Remember the mistake on her visa was made by a British UKVI employee, not a Thai VFS one. 

<snip>

Lesson learned, I hope.

 

 

 

Yes, I realise that UKVI made the error, but the way VFS dealt with it was not especially satisfactory,  especially the rather blase way my passport was taken with no receipt offered.

 

Nor was I too impressed with the inference that the error was somehow my fault for not checking some tiny writing which was also quite badly printed.  69 year old eyes aren't always as good as 29 year old eyes.  Further, as I said above,  it's irrelevant when the error was brought to their attention - it was wrong and needed to be rectified whatever happened.

 

But I DID check everything as usual but I do admit not to checking the date of birth because 1) I was more interested in the validity dates on the visa, which to me was the point of the application, and also I doubt if anyone would have thought of checking the DoB when the correct one was within 3 pages of the wrongly printed visa.  TBH, I had never noticed that the DoB was even printed on the visa and I'm not too sure that many other people would have known if asked.

 

But, hey, no-one's perfect and I most certainly will be checking any future visas far more rigorously.  Having had 4 previous visas with no real problem (partly thanks to your advice in the past) I didn't expect there to be a problem this time either.

 

Now let's see what next week brings ...

Edited May 5, 2018 by Mister Fixit

[theoldgit]

9 hours ago, Mister Fixit said:

Nor was I too impressed with the inference that the error was somehow my fault for not checking some tiny writing which was also quite badly printed.  69 year old eyes aren't always as good as 29 year old eyes.  Further, as I said above,  it's irrelevant when the error was brought to their attention - it was wrong and needed to be rectified whatever happened.

 

But I DID check everything as usual but I do admit not to checking the date of birth because 1) I was more interested in the validity dates on the visa, which to me was the point of the application, and also I doubt if anyone would have thought of checking the DoB when the correct one was within 3 pages of the wrongly printed visa.  TBH, I had never noticed that the DoB was even printed on the visa and I'm not too sure that many other people would have known if asked.

Whilst I agree that the applicant should check that the visa has been printed correctly, though it beggars the question why don't the UKVI have equally robust procedures for ensuring that important things like visas are issued correctly, I have every sympathy with your wife who will have been presented with a sealed package containing her passport and supporting documents, and would be more interested in ascertaining if the visa has been issued or not. I have to admit that all we ever do is look to see if there is a visa vingette stuck in the passport, we're not inclined to scrutinise the passport in a very busy office, checking for mistakes, but we will in future. 

I also agree with you that the lack of courtesey and empathy shown by the VFS staff is indicitive of the way they treat applicants, agreed it's not their error, but they are the public face of the UKVI and should act accordingly. 

[Mister Fixit]

11 hours ago, theoldgit said:

 it beggars the question why don't the UKVI have equally robust procedures for ensuring that important things like visas are issued correctly,

Quite, and a very good point.  

 

It would be quite simple to have a double-check by a clerk of an ECO's work.  

 

A simple list of what specific items to check such as visa start and finish dates, applicant's DoB, passport number  etc would be a more robust way of dealing with potential errors than allowing the un-knowledgeable customer to do it.  

 

Sadly, I suspect all that would happen would be bleats of 'scarce resources/high costs' etc, but that's not our problem.  That is their problem but they (meaning Gov't departments) always seem to pass the onus elsewhere.

 

The rot started about 20 years or so ago when things such as responsibility for putting out bins and what they were filled with was devolved onto the consumer instead done by the provider,  and this trend has worsened over the years.

 

BTW, it was me who collected the passport and not my wife.  If she had collected it, she'd have just tried to put it away unchecked and got it out the morning we flew out.  Not that I would have let her, natch.

 

At least I checked it properly when I got home and I had some peace and quiet to go through everything, and not do it in a crowded and busy public office.

 

[7by7]

 

3 hours ago, Mister Fixit said:

15 hours ago, theoldgit said:

it beggars the question why don't the UKVI have equally robust procedures for ensuring that important things like visas are issued correctly

Quite, and a very good point.

 I suspect that you are correct that, if asked, UKVI's reply would, indeed, be along the lines of 

 

3 hours ago, Mister Fixit said:

bleats of 'scarce resources/high costs' etc,

 This despite the obscene profits they make on most visa categories. Though to be fair, not visit visas. Though, of course, UKVI's decision to charge fees set by Parliament in Sterling in USD at an exchange rate extremely favourable to them does put even visit visas into the highly profitable group!

[Mister Fixit]

An update on the visa error.

 

My wife had a call direct from the Embassy on Tuesday to say that her visa had been corrected and would be available at VFS yesterday (Wednesday).

 

She duly went and collected it without any problems.  Revised visa pictured below. 

 

However, there was a little sting in the tail.  She was also given a letter (reproduced here) to say that they could not date the visa from the date I had requested as the payment had been made more than 90 days beforehand.  

 

I have never don this before, but in February, the fare prices were so good that I decided to take the risk and buy them as the prices were starting to climb quickly.  I booked them sharp-ish, leaving on 4th July.  When I made the visa application I asked if the visa could be dated from the 1st July because I was considering changing the leaving date (we have a load of things to do in the UK and I thought I might leave a few days earlier).

I must have miscalculated the dates back from the 4th July and although the interview was 20h April, the actual payment was made on the 9th April.  The letter says that the visa could only be dated from 90 days after the payment was made, so it had a start date of 4th July, thankfully.  If they'd have dated it from 5th July I would have had the expense of changing the departure ticket whether I'd wanted to or not.   

 

As it happens, they seem to have miscalculated the start date wrongly anyway, because according to my calendar,. 90 days on from 9th April is the 7th July so we were lucky in that they seem to have got the dates wrong.  

 

They did not include this letter with the incorrect visa last week so it sort of looks like they were having a dig back.

 

I don't normally apply so early, but as I expected a few large expenses in May I thought I'd apply early so my bank balance looked healthier.  

 

Anyway, all's well that ends well and I won't be pre-booking before making a visa application in future.

[brewsterbudgen]

Interesting thread. I wonder how differently it would have been handled, if the move to Delhi had already happened?

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[theoldgit]

First of all I'm glad they corrected their mistake, as a matter of interest did they actually apologise?

 

I'm a little confused with the start date of the actual visa, maybe it's me. Are you saying that they've told your wife, the person their letter refers to as "Dear Applicant" that the visa can only be issued for a date after 90 days from the payment date, or up to 90 days from the payment date?

 

As they've said, applicants can actually apply 90 days before the intended date of travel, and the visa will be dated for up to 90 days after the payment is made, so if somebody applied and made a payment today their visa could be valid for travel at any specified date up to 8th August.

 

Your wifes application was paid for on the 9th April so could have been issued with a commencement date of any date up to 9th July, even 1st July if that what she wanted. Visas used to be dated from the date they were issued unless the applicant specifically asked for the visa to be post dated, they seem to have changed this.   

[theoldgit]

1 hour ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Interesting thread. I wonder how differently it would have been handled, if the move to Delhi had already happened?

As I understand it the visa vingette will still be printed, and attached to the passport, in Bangkok, it's just that the authority to do so will come from Delhi, where the decision will actually be made, so hopefully mistakes will still be able to be rectified fairy quickly.

[digbeth]

curious to what happened to the old vignette? was it peeled of or just stuck over with text 'labelled inoperative' 

and would this cause problems in some ports were the IO to find two similarly dated visa on the same passport