How odd.

My missus has lived in this country for 36 years and was granted "Indefinite
Leave To Remain in the UK (Permanent Residence)" long before Bert Weedon
became a member of the EU (EEA), been married to me - a Brit - for the
majority of that time and has been working, complete with National Insurance
number for a number of different companies during this time. She's never
been asked the following question before.

She's worked for the last one for about 4 years and today she was asked
........ "Have you got a work permit and a visa?"

We don't know whether to laugh or laugh louder.

She qualifies for being here and working without a work permit on three
separate points. The letter we got from the British Consul giving her
indefinite leave to remain, her being wed to a Brit and the fairly simple
expedient of being in the fucking EU.

How do the people who asked her this question ever stay in a fucking job?

 

That question is a standard arse covering question and will be used by
most interviewers.

 

So she is still actually a fucking foreigner then and not British?

It is their job and folks like me demand they do it.

 

Companies are damned if they do damned if they dont. Its a legal
requirement when employing anyone to cheque the immigration status
and right to work of any potential employee , failure to make the
checks and employing someone without the correct paperwork can result
in a heavy fine .


Unfortunatly this can mean because of accent , skin colour , style of
dress even religous convictions some sections of the community are
more likely to be asked such questions .

 

I've been asked that before when an employer has found out I have dual
Maltese/British nationality. I have a British passport that I've shown
them and still they ask to see a work permit.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

She's worked for this company for 4 years. It's a bit late to be worrying
about something they could've checked if they had any Google mojo.

 

I like fucking furriners.

They should've done it years ago though.

 

We're not particularly arsed about her being asked, we're astounded that her
HR bod has only just asked. A quick look on Google would have shown that she
doesn't need any visa or work permit and she's already got a National
Insurance number so "someone" at some point made the necessary enquiries.

 

But Malta isn't part of the EU (is it?). Sweden is, so *anyone* coming here
from there doesn't have to get a visa or ask permission to work. But like I
say, we're not arsed about being asked, we're more amused that it's taken so
long for anyone to bother.

 

Malta is EU.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

Just show them your maltese one as the work permit, innit.

 

As long as they are of the female variety.

It sounds as though Her Glorious Majesties Immigration Officers or
similar may have pointed out a certain lack of attention to her employer
and better late than never.

She should count herself lucky, if I had my way she would be wearing a
peckham ankle bracelet as long as she insisted on being here and being
foreign.

 

The oddest question I've ever been asked was several years ago
when DWP or similar contacted me and asked that, since I hadn't paid any
NI contributions in 1997 and 1998, would I like to make a one-off payment
to take up the deficit? Rather odd, since I didn't start working in the
UK until April 2000!

Actually, I tell a lie. The oddest request I've ever been asked
was when the Swiss insisted that I had to have my pension and superannuation
funds paid out after I left, because they had no reciprocal agreement with
Australia (ignoring the fact that I was actually moving to the UK, with whom
they do have reciprocity):

"Prove you have never been married."

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

On a slightly related subject, The Mother Of Them All used to work for the
DHSS and a part of her job was to interview incoming spouses and offspring
of foreigners to establish entitlements and stuff.

She had to have a special course about rural Chinese Tea making
ceremonies. As one form of marriage from those parts apparently involves
serving tea to your in-laws and was considered a legal marriage for our
purposes but it had to be done just right.

 

....because a lot are now in right funk as they need to demonstrate their
workforces are legitimate.

Some of the railway companies are insisting all their staff bring in a
passport and birth certificate to prove it - no matter if they've been
employed by them for 40+ years.

 

With the company asking the question they have fulfilled their obligation
to ask should someone come checking.

I doubt that 'Google said it was okay' would suffice.

 

So there I am, in the middle of the arse end of Dutch nowhere's town
hall, attempting to sign myself into the local system, as one must do.
At this point, I've only been in the country a few weeks, so I speak
precisely zero Dutch. Cunningly, I took along a colleague to help me
with translation issues. What could possibly go wrong?

The first indicator that we were in for a fun ride was when I
approached the counter and described my reason for being there, and was
presented with a blank stare. Despite the fact that everyone I know
keeps telling me "it's okay, everyone in NL speaks great English", it's
simply not true. This chick didn't. Or had a touch of French blood in
her and wouldn't. Either way, we had this covered, so colleague steps
up to the glass and explains in Dutch. The chick behind the glass
nodded and then replied in a manner which confused us both equally -
Frisian.

And so it continued - her asking questions in Fries to a non Fries
speaking cloggy, doing her best to translate into English and then
feeding the answers back in Dutch. Not just simple multiple choice or
even closed questions, but pages of the type of information usually
requested by immigration officials.

In the end we got stuck only just to points:

1) "Please provide a certificate to state you are not married".
2) "Please provide a recent birth certificate".

This chick absolutely could not grasp the concept of another country
having different ways of doing things to the Dutch system. "Just go to
your local council and request these documents" was met with "The local
(UK) council doesn't hold these documents". "Well how do you get a
passport then?", "Through the UK goverment Passport agency". "Oh, what
about your driving licence?", "Through the UK government DVLA", "Oh,
well why can't you get a recent birth certificate", "Because my birth
certificate is approximately 3 days younger than I am, and doesn't get
any more recent than that. I can get you a *copy*, but I have the
original here". etc etc.

Finally she checked the books and point 1) was declared unecessary, and
for point 2) I had to fly back to blight and get my original short form
certificate legalised by the govt. (by way of apostille).

What a palaver.

 

No, but Google might just find a .gov.uk site that says "Look, you
mucking fuppet, of course Scandiwedish people don't need work permits..."

 

Or just ask the employee and then the answer sits on file should someone
come looking.

As Sweller has pointed out, employers can face hefty fines if they have
not checked the visa status of any of their employees. It's been this way
for several years now.

 

She'd still need to demonstrate she's Scandiwedish and not just putting
on a funny voice.