A community organiser says they feared they would miss their flight home from Chicago when airline staff challenged them over their eVisa for more than an hour.
Marzena Zukowska’s ordeal at Chicago O’Hare airport is the latest in a series of worrying episodes involving foreign nationals resident in the UK using visas after the switch to a digital system at the start of this year.
Holders no longer have physical immigration documents to show airline staff. Instead, they are dependent on carriers digitally verifying their immigration status.
Marzena, 35, told The Independent that Tap Portugal staff in Chicago insisted on seeing physical proof of their visa status - and when they could not get it, asked they apply for a visitor’s visa, despite Marzena living in Liverpool as a settled UK resident.
Marzena, who has dual Polish and US nationality and is non-binary, said they remained locked in discussions with staff for more than an hour, and feared they would miss their flight back to Manchester and a booked appointment for egg-freezing treatment.
Have you been impacted by the change to eVisas? Contact Holly Bancroft by emailing holly.bancroft@independent.co.uk
They told The Independent: “I turn up at the Tap Portugal desk, I give them my Polish passport. The person at the desk and her manager were looking at the computer, and said ‘we need to see proof of your visa to the UK’. I told them that I have settled status, and that it is digital only.”
Marzena said that the airline staff told them to apply for an Electonic Travel Authorisation, a visitor’s visa to the UK that is only available to certain non-EU nationalities - and ended up trying on their mobile to show they did not qualify for one with a Polish passport.
They said: “It just became a circular conversation. The manager was questioning me, and because the airport was quite empty all the other employees were watching this happening. I kept trying to tell them, it’s not your fault, the UK government has given really mixed information.
“I actually work for an immigration rights organisation but it just kept making things worse and worse. I was genuinely worried that they would not let me board the flight.”
The airline manager at the airport tried to call the UK Home Office hotline, which is supposed to be open 24 hours a day, but was unable to get through to anyone, said Marzena, who then said they were asked for other proof of UK residency, such as a drivers licence or tenancy agreement.
Marzena, who is co-director of POMOC, a rights group for Eastern European migrants, was worried that they would miss the flight and miss crucial egg-freezing treatment that they had scheduled for their return to the UK.
They said: “You have a very small window of time when you have to take medication and administer the shots. I was scared that if I wasn’t able to get back to Liverpool, then that treatment would be delayed.”
Finally, after Marzena showed the UK visas and immigration website on their phone and their eVisa share code, the airline staff allowed them to board the plane to Manchester on 15 January.
Marzena said the experience showed them that “the UK government doesn’t want to take responsibility for the eVisa system they’ve set up”. They added: “They’re forcing airlines and landlords to police people’s rights, and decide who they accept and who they don’t.”
“It is such a massive accessibility issue. If I can barely get through and I have so much knowledge, how about someone with a language barrier, or who is less able to use technology?”
Also impacted by the introduction in eVisas was one Indian national working in the UK who told The Independent that he was travelling back from Las Vegas to Newcastle on 1 January when he faced airport staff unaware of the changes.
He said he was allowed on his British Airways flight after staff said they would take his word for it that the visa process had changed.
An Australian citizen with indefinite leave to remain in the UK said he also encountered difficulties on his trip back from New York in early January.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are listening to concerns people might have, provided additional support and processes for people’s status to be proved and checked when travelling, and are working closely with carriers and international stakeholders to ensure the rollout of eVisas is smooth.
“eVisas bring significant benefits. They cannot be lost, stolen, or tampered with, unlike a physical document, and also increase the UK immigration system’s security and efficiency.”
UK Border Force are running a 24/7 support service for carriers to deal with enquiries about passengers travelling to the UK, and there is also a 24/7 passenger support helpline.
The Independent has contacted Tap Portugal for comment.
