Immigration History Records

The UKVI keeps a record of its service users immigration histories, in a table format.  This record includes details such as visas applied for, when these were refused or granted, and the start and end dates of those visas and their type. 

Immigration history tables are used by the UKVI to record if someone has been complying with or breached (overstaying) the conditions set by their visas and leave to remain status: as such they can be used to take someone in to detention ahead of deportation. 

The tables are a key document used by the Home Office/UKVI in appeals at the Immigration Tribunal as their details often feature centrally in the main case the Home Office makes for a refusal or attempted deportation. These are all the normal characteristics and purposes of Immigration record tables.

However, it is important to be aware that under the Hostile Environment, they have been known from revelations that have emerged from UKVI service to have perceived to have been targeted (more below) by those who make and hold these records,  through demonstrably making/including details which are incorrect Including information known to be wrong/false), particularly this has been known to take place in the most important entry sections.

It is not uncommon for Tribunal judges whose approaches to appeals and particularly important elements and related supportive evidence of appellants appeals, are de-facto very similar on these points to that of the approach of the ‘555 hours to refuse an application and 222 hours to approve an application’ ECOs, will be comfortable with not challenging evidence of false information (such as the Home Office putting in a different visa to that applied for) on the Immigration History records – which means the hearing is destined to be treated in an unbalanced loaded in favour of the provider of false information/the Home Office. We have seen that the office of the President of the Immigration Tribunal alerted to such revelations, was still happy for hearings to proceed on such a basis.

By providing such incorrect/false information the UKVI is able to use this to  refuse LTR or other applications, and or make a legally untenable attempt to deport someone legally in the UK, that would have been impossible to almost impossible to make if the current information had been provided.  

A different Hostile Environment tactical abuse/manipulation of immigration history records includes the industrial scale shredding of Windrush generation British citizens whose original landing cards where shredded, and thereby gave a major assistance to hounding out of the UK citizens who were always in Britain legally.  You can read more about the Windrush landing cards shredding scandal (more below) at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/17/home-office-destroyed-windrush-landing-cards-says-ex-staffer

There is clearly an interconnection with these very serious malpractices that have been drawn to the attention of the Home Office & the Immigration Tribunal at the highest levels (see above), and the shredding of other key documents which prove the legal right to be in the UK (and even in many cases the evidence of British citizenship) that Home Office officials in the case of the Windrush Scandal victims (and doubtless other Commonwealth nations origin British nationals), thousands and thousands of whom had their landing cards shredded. 

Having a landing card would have been mandatory to record on a Home Office immigration history table; and when one existed not recording it on such a table would be clear evidence of purposed/non-accidental conduct on the part of the Home Office officials involved in the shredding of these extremely important documents (once shredded it could have been felt the immigration history records could be retrospectively adjusted — equally the shredding could have been considered essential to cover for the landing card related entries not having been made. 

Whilst is clear that in some cases errors can be made on details on such forms, when the Home Office & Tribunal are alerted to errors, particularly strategically (for seeking to remove someone legally in the UK, from the UK) important ones (as referred to above) and they are provided with externally witnessed incontrovertible evidence of this, and do nothing. This, even when the revelation of such manipulation of the immigration history record table, makes the refusal of LTR for example has not been made on an honest, credible basis. 

When the same immigration history table is produced afresh on a number of occasions and the main error (putting in, in place of the correct visa applied for, a type of visa – LOTR – that cannot be applied for) is retained and there are even other changes that show information to be incorrect, then it demonstrates that this is an unstated policy, manipulating immigration history records, of those implementing the hostile environment at frontline operational to the highest strategic levels (sadly it even appears on direct evidence, including at UKVI Chief Operating Officer level: as evidenced in correspondence of the latter we have seen, with for example MPs). 

It also is one of the major examples of the close interconnection between the Tribunal and the Home Office on delivering the Hostile Environment at any cost to its victims, and even to the name of the Tribunal itself as a fatally compromised non-independent entity.  It is not impossible to allow for a dedicated – in as many words – ‘what to do with immigration history tables and immigration records of targeted for removal or refusal populations groups members’ section of the top secret ‘UKVI Operating Mandate.’

It is quite probable that there is more extensive Home Office bespoke response to this given person, data kept by a more extensive version of the immigration history table: this would give  An Freedom of Information (FOI) request may be able to reveal some of such not in the public eye, records keeping.