My step son is due to enter the UK in a couple of weeks, Naturally my wife and I will be picking him up from the Airport at Heathrow. What are the procedures bearing in mind he is 16 and travelling alone and has very limited English speaking skills when confronting Immigration in the UK. Should we notify Immigration before his arrival..? Advice on this would be most helpful

Many Thanks

Jason

Is he travelling totally alone or is he an Unaccompanied Minor ? If he is an UM, then the airline will accompany him to immigration. In any event you should provide him with a letter or a note, in English, explaining that you are at the airport to meet him, and giving your contact phone number. This will also be useful to the airline if there is any problem and they need to contact you.

Don't worry, this is fairly common. Lots of children travel alone.

He is travelling alone, he is 16 does that make him an UM ?

He is travelling alone, he is 16 does that make him an UM ?

He can travel alone if you are happy with that, unless the airline has a policy that 16 year old's cannot travel alone. You can check with the airline. Normally an UM is a child that you have paid the airline to take care of during the flight, that is take him to the plane, meet him at the other end, etc. Again, you can check with the airline for the cost of this.

When my sister-in-law, who is well over 18 and speaks virtually no English, came to visit us she asked the airline when checking in at BKK if they could help her and they arranged for someone to meet her at Heathrow and escort her through immigration and customs until meeting us.

This was with Thai and there was no charge; the man who met her off the plane wouldn't even accept a tip!