Why do they ask families questions at passport control when retiring to the uk?

[blackbirdsinginginthenight]

It's usually things like - where have you been? For Xmas? How long were you there for? Where are you going next? Etc- like small talk but today I answered a question for where we had been, and then didn't hear his second question about how long we had been away for and he asked it again very seriously with some more follow up questions.

What sort of things are they looking for or to find out? If you'd smuggled a child back into the country then the questions aren't enough to suss that out, and if you weren't allowed in the country surely that would flag up on your passports?

Always wondered and thought a mumsnetter would know!

Sorry that title should be 'returning'

I often wonder the same especially when the queue behind us is horrendous. No wonder it's so long with the chitchat. There must be a reason for it!

They are looking for signs that you may not be who you say you are. We got the 3rd degree when we came back from France last year. Border Force chap started asking how long it would take us to drive back to Cheshire, which roads we were going to take and that sort of thing. They are asking for information which most people would be able to answer without thinking if it were true but which people may hesitate to work out if it is not.

No idea.
I asked one of the Border Control Officers when returning from a family holiday and the kids got asked the usual questions (is this your mum, where have you been etc), and he couldn't answer me.
Surely the risk for British kids being trafficked is when they LEAVE the country, not return.

There are international kidnappings both way.

You are assuming that children from other countries aren’t smuggled into the UK . They are.

I'm sure he knew exactly why, he just didn't think you needed to know @ToBeOrNotToBee. I do things in my job that I don't explain to random questioners. If they really wanted to know they could go and do the training!

I don’t drive and no nothing about routes a booked taxi would take. The DH doesn’t drive either but knows roads/geography

Last time we came back into the UK my husband and I were asked if we're related, and about our towns of birth. I never get asked anything when I'm on my own, thinking about it.

Given the publics number one priority by a country mile is people sneaking into the UK, then how else can it be policed ?

I got asked a lot of questions when I came back from France. We were all tired from travelling and still had more travelling to do. They insisted on waking my toddler to check her eyes looked the same as the passport photo. I wasn’t thrilled about this. Better that it’s an inconvenience for me than any child gets smuggled I guess.

We got asked (family) about our trip home from the airport to hometown (3h drive) by the passport guy. Tbh I just thought he was being nice and chatty. Makes sense that there's a security reason for it I suppose. Nowt to hide, so happy to chat.

British kids, with British passports, returning to Britain aren't being trafficked.

There may be parental kidnap or they may have fake papers and not be british. Drpends how well they can talk

They have to ask the same questions to everyone; if they didn’t, they would be accused of ‘profiling’, the eight deadly sin.

We were in a car and about to board a ferry to Dover so it may have been a little more relevant to our situation.

Of course not, unless they are being removed from the custody of another parent. But it is possible to bring a child / young adult into the country on another persons passport for familial reasons, trafficking, domestic slavery.

I am always reminded of the case many years ago about the case where a young child’s torso was discovered and it was believed he had been smuggled into the country for horrific reasons. They called him Adam, but no one has ever identified him.

It’s not small talk. It’s just framed that way so they can judge how quick and natural your responses are.

I’ve no idea but a few years ago 18yo Dd was taken into a room and questioned about possible child smuggling on the way back to England. She had gone on holiday with her 17yo friend and I hadn’t realised her friend was only 17. So I guess there was an unaccompanied (by a relative) minor. But I always thought it was odd they got stopped on the way back and not on the way out!

They might be being kidnapped or on a false passport. My friend was kidnapped by her father aged 8. From Hungry to the UK she had a British Passport. He wasn't allowed access to her.

Since getting UK passport I get 0 questions at boarder control.. but before oh god!

It's a box ticking exercise most of the time surely? Can be a bit galling at times when you consider tens of thousands cross the Channel each year in dinghies and decide they can be whoever they want to be when they reach the UK.

It's about flexing muscles. Reminding the average guy who's boss. Another example is police cars going through the streets of London with their sirens blaring at 5am. They don't need to do that at that time of the day. It's for show.

Thats really toddler level thinking. Could be legit passport but other children. There’s some kind of weird egotism to believing that identities are fixed and known in this way. Are you assuming everyone in this story is white? Because I can assure you that POC Travellers get asked intrusive questions all the time even returning to their natal country with a legitimate passport.

Congrats on wrongly assuming the ethnicity of my family.

congrats to you!