ID card rollout begins

[Ian Batten]

On 29 Sep 2008, at 19:48, ken wrote:

> Ian Batten wrote:
>
>> So they arrived at the French border, presented a UK passport, and  
>> were refused entry?  How did the French border police know that  
>> they were Zimbabwean (presumably dual nationality)?
>
> No idea. Presumably because one of them is black and has an African  
> accent. Not that I suspect any immigration officials of racism. As  
> noble as the day is long they are.

That was my first thought, but where does the process go after that?   
I didn't think that within the EEA there was any discretion about  
passports: if you present a genuine EEA passport which genuinely  
refers to you, there's no room for manoeuvre.  Sure, a racist passport  
officer could deny that the passport is genuine, or deny that it  
relates to the bearer, but once that is established one way or the  
other by the issuing passport office, that should be the end of the  
matter.

This isn't the same as rocking up at the French border clutching a  
Zimbabwean passport.  Then the passport officer probably has  
essentially limitless powers of discretion, and no matter how genuine  
the passport, the French state has no obligation to let you in.   
Racist, probably, but a fact nonetheless.    But I don't see how, once  
a UK passport has been vouched for by the UKPA, France has any  
discretion in admitting you, and I don't see how any sort of visa  
could change that (ie if the only grounds for refusal is ``that's not  
a passport'' or ``that's not your passport'', a visa won't affect the  
issue).  And another thing: what visa could you apply for, as a  
British citizen, that France could issue?

I suspect there's some vital fact missing from your account that will  
clarify it, but I simply don't follow it...

ian