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An arrival card, also known as an incoming passenger card, landing card or disembarkation card, is a legal document used by immigration authorities of many countries to obtain information about incoming passenger not provided by the passenger's passport (such as health, criminal record, where they will be staying, purpose of the visit, etc.) and to provide a record of a person's entry into the country.[1][2][3][4][1] The card may also provide information on health and character requirements for non-citizens entering the country.[5] Some countries require an arrival card for each incoming passenger, while others require one card per family unit, and some only require an arrival card for non-citizens only.
Some countries, such as Singapore and Thailand, attach a departure card to the arrival card, which is retained in the alien's passport until their eventual departure. The arrival card can also be combined with a customs declaration, which some countries require incoming passengers to fill out separately.
Some countries, such as Malaysia,[6] do not require an arrival or departure card. The procedure of compiling information from immigration cards is no longer required by United States authorities following the introduction of the biometric recording system by the United States Customs and Border Protection.[3][7] There is minimal cross-border formality between a number of countries, most notably those in the passport-free travel area of Europe's Schengen Zone.[8]
The requirement to produce an arrival card is usually in addition to provision of a passport or other travel document, and sometimes a customs declaration.
Information on the card itself[edit]
The information requested varies by country. Typically the information requested on the arrival card includes:
- Full name
- Nationality
- Date of birth
- Passport number, place of issuance and expiration date
- Flight number or name of aircraft, ship or vehicle
- Purpose of trip: vacation, education/study, visiting relatives/families, business, diplomatic
- Duration of stay
- Destination (next stop of disembarkation)
- Address in country
- Information on items being bought into the country which may be of interest to customs and quarantine authorities
Travellers are generally required to sign, date, and declare the information is true, correct, and complete.
United Kingdom[edit]
Non-EEA citizens were formerly required to complete a landing card on entry to the United Kingdom. The traveller was required to present the completed form at the UK Visas and Immigration desk at the point of entry. The form was usually supplied by the airline, train or ferry company.[9]
In the UK, the landing card system was governed by the Immigration Act 1971, schedule 2 paragraph 5, which states;[10]
“ | The Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument make provision for requiring passengers disembarking or embarking in the United Kingdom, or any class of such passengers, to produce to an immigration officer, if so required, landing or embarkation cards in such form as the Secretary of State may direct, and for requiring the owners or agents of ships and aircraft to supply such cards to those passengers. | ” |
[11][12][13]
In August 2017, the UK Home Office announced that landing cards will be completely scrapped as part of digital border transformation and modernisation. It was expected this change would come into effect by the autumn.[14] Landing cards were abolished for all passengers effective 20 May 2019.[15]
Notably absent from the landing card was information on the purpose of the trip, destination, or any items brought into the country. Additional information requested from travellers was their occupation and the port of their last departure.[16][17][18]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ abPassenger Cards. Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Australian Government.
- ^cbp.gov, What to DeclareArchived 2016-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ab'U.S. Customs and Border Protection Declaration Form 6059B, CBP Issues New Customs Declarations Form, Features Expanded Definition of Family Members'. Archived from the original on 2016-09-15. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
- ^NZIS431 - New Zealand Passenger Departure CardArchived 2008-10-15 at the Wayback Machine. Statistics New Zealand.
- ^NZIS431 - New Zealand Passenger Departure Card. Statistics New Zealand.
- ^Malaysia no longer require immigration cards
- ^cbp.gov, US Citizens
- ^per Article 21 of the Schengen Borders Code (OJ L 105, 13 April 2006, p. 1).
- ^UK, gov.uk, Entering the UK
- ^International scholarship guide, 7 Things to do before your planes lands and once you alight at a UK International Airport
- ^Children & ImmigrationBy Jeremy Rosenblatt, Ian Lewis, page 88
- ^Immigration Law Handbook, 2013,By Margaret Phelan, James Gillespie, page 50
- ^parliament.uk, Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill, 172.6
- ^Outdated landing cards to be withdrawn as part of digital border transformation
- ^'UK to scrap passenger landing cards'. BBC News. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- ^UK Landing Card, pic
- ^UK Landing Card, pic
- ^go2london.co.uk, Do you need a Visa to go to London?
Why do they ask for a landing card from non-EU citizens at UK passport control?
I read that you have to complete this card, and hand it over to the UK border control along with your passport and visa.
Please explain, what is the purpose of this landing card?
I see that in this 21st Century digital age, they still enforce this paperwork when landing.
Why not just abolish it, to make it easy for frequent travelers?
Even India requires a landing card from foreigners!
2 Answers
Wikipedia gives the reason here.
The Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument make provision for requiring passengers disembarking or embarking in the United Kingdom, or any class of such passengers, to produce to an immigration officer, if so required, landing or embarkation cards in such form as the Secretary of State may direct, and for requiring the owners or agents of ships and aircraft to supply such cards to those passengers.
Hence the reason at the moment is that it's the law, though the form of providing the information could be modified by statutory instrument at any time. The US did something similar with their I-94 forms a few years ago and made them all electronic. However, you still have to fill in a customs form when entering the US so it makes little difference unless you have Global Entry or use the mobile passport application.
You can read the whole act here and the specific section to do with landing cards here.
The purpose of them was explained in a freedom of information request:
Landing cards fulfil the following functions:
- to provide statistical information for use both inside and outside the department;
- to provide a record of the arrival in the UK of persons subject to control; and
- To enable the immigration officer to record what a passenger has said to him/her on his arrival, the circumstances which led to the granting of leave to enter and any information which may be useful to caseworkers if the passenger subsequently applies for an extension of stay.
Almost every country in the world requires a landing card. (Some also require exit cards.) One answer as to why might be 'because it's the law' but an 'ask why 5 times' spirit could ask 'Why is it the law?' You seem also to be asking 'why hasn't it been replaced with something electronic?'
Every country asks slightly different things. Some are questions that are important to protect the agriculture and economy of the country:
- have you been on a farm recently? Are you planning to visit a farm?
- are you coming here for business, tourism, or study?
- what is the value of the goods you are bringing into the country?
Some are questions that can be used for statistical purposes:
- what is your profession?
- are you planning to (list of tourist activities)?
These are not things that can just be looked up in some giant online database of people and cross referenced against the plane's passenger list. If they don't ask you, they won't know. And they want to know.
I suppose you could try asking passengers to install an app and take a survey electronically, but airports especially are full of folks who left their phone behind because it won't work in the destination country, or who used up all their battery during the flight, or other issues that would no doubt require a paper backup anyway. Cards are easy to keep stacks of on planes and at counters in the airport, easy enough to fill out, and officers can add notations to them quite simply. In Canada the way they made it electronic is to write software that scans the cards, not to replace the cards with something electronic.
A tip if you feel pressured filling your card out - take a spare and take it home with you. Before your next trip you can fill out that vast majority of it in advance. When they hand you the blank one, that's for the trip after that - take out your prepared one and just fill in the last bits. I do this for US trips where I have to preclear in Canada - they don't give you the card until you're about to join the lineup so I like having one at home I can fill out in advance.
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American citizens need a current passport to enter the UK, although no minimum validity is required.(Photo: us passport image by Albert Lozano from Fotolia.com )
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Have your passport handy to enter the United Kingdom via a commercial flight into any of the international airports in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. American citizens must show a passport that is valid on the date of entry. Although there is no minimum validity period required beyond that date, it is highly recommended that passports be valid past the intended date of return to the United States.
Valid Passports
When booking a trip to the U.K., ensure that your passport is valid beyond the date of arrival. When booking outbound and return flights, take care to use an identical first, last and middle name as it appears on a current passport. Double check the middle initials as well to ensure consistency, which can avoid questions or delays at check in. Ensure that children also have their own passports.
Airline Ticketing
Decide on departure and arrival dates and whether a few days' flexibility is possible for potentially better pricing. To complete a flight booking online, by telephone or at a travel agent, each passenger should have a current passport, credit card with expiration date and its three- or four-digit security code, a nine-digit Known Traveler Number (if applicable) plus any airline loyalty membership numbers. Expect to complete a roundtrip booking rather than a one-way flight for a maximum stay of six months. When the transaction is complete, an email is issued to indicate the booking confirmation number. Keep this number for any itinerary changes and for flight check-in.
Airline Check-In
Passengers normally receive an email 24 hours before scheduled departure to indicate that online check-in is open. Print or save the boarding pass on a smartphone. Alternatively, use a self-service check-in kiosk to produce a boarding pass by entering the confirmation number and scanning a passport. Otherwise, provide a passport at a staffed airline check-in counter. Once the boarding pass is issued, display it with a passport at security control prior to entering the departure hall. One or both documents may be asked for again at the gate or upon embarkation.
Landing Cards
Non-EU transatlantic visitors are required to fill in a white landing card distributed by all airline carriers prior to touchdown. The card requires personal identification details, an address in the U.K., purpose of trip, items being brought into the U.K., and a signature to be submitted to Border Control together with a passport. Anyone who fails to get a landing card inflight will find one on desks near customs. In 2017, the Home Office announced the possible elimination of the landing cards, in use since 1971. A replacement digitalized program is being designed to minimize cost and cut back on waiting times that affect more than 16 million non-European visitors to the U.K. annually.
Boarding Cards
Following a flight, a printed boarding card should be disposed of with care and not left in the seat back pocket. Nor should it be photographed and shared via social media. To the trained eye, a boarding card is filled with a good deal of personal information that could be used in identity theft as well as the dates you're traveling and where.
References
About the Author
Based in San Francisco, Laurie Jo Miller Farr is career-long destination and hotel marketing specialist. She contributes to CBS Travel, Where, Frommers, Foodie Travel USA and We Blog the World. She is editor of The Travel Vertical, a weekly newsletter for digital travel marketers. A former tourism director for NYC, Laurie Jo is a dual UK/US citizen who covered the 2012 London Olympics for 'Best of Britain' and received the 2013 Yahoo Contributor of the Year Award.
Leaf Group is a USA TODAY content partner providing general travel information. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.
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The Home Office destroyed thousands of landing card slips recording Windrush immigrants’ arrival dates in the UK, despite staff warnings that the move would make it harder to check the records of older Caribbean-born residents experiencing residency difficulties.
A former Home Office employee said the records, stored in the basement of a government tower block, were a vital resource for case workers when they were asked to find information about someone’s arrival date in the UK from the West Indies – usually when the individual was struggling to resolve immigration status problems.
Although the home secretary, Amber Rudd, has promised to make it easier for Windrush-generation residents to regularise their status, the destruction of the database is likely to make the process harder, even with the support of the new taskforce announced this week.
What is the Windrush deportation crisis?
Who are the Windrush generation?
They are people who arrived in the UK after the second world war from Caribbean countries at the invitation of the British government. The first group arrived on the ship MV Empire Windrush in June 1948.
What happened to them?
An estimated 50,000 people faced the risk of deportation if they had never formalised their residency status and did not have the required documentation to prove it.
Why now?
It stems from a policy, set out by Theresa May when she was home secretary, to make the UK 'a really hostile environment for illegal immigrants'. It requires employers, NHS staff, private landlords and other bodies to demand evidence of people’s citizenship or immigration status.
Why do they not have the correct paperwork and status?
Us Landing Card Form
Some children, often travelling on their parents’ passports, were never formally naturalised and many moved to the UK before the countries in which they were born became independent, so they assumed they were British. In some cases, they did not apply for passports. The Home Office did not keep a record of people entering the country and granted leave to remain, which was conferred on anyone living continuously in the country since before 1 January 1973.
What did the government try and do to resolve the problem?
Us Landing Card Pdf
A Home Office team was set up to ensure Commonwealth-born long-term UK residents would no longer find themselves classified as being in the UK illegally. But a month after one minister promised the cases would be resolved within two weeks, many remained destitute. In November 2018 home secretary Sajid Javid revealed that at least 11 Britons who had been wrongly deported had died. In April 2019 the government agreed to pay up to £200m in compensation.