Uncle Bob Martin denied entry into the UK | Hacker News Reader

Uncle Bob Martin denied entry into the UK

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11 pointsmichaelty7 comments

An earlier tweet said:

    I am off to London tomorrow, to teach
    Advanced TDD, and Clojure.
    -- https://mobile.twitter.com/unclebobmartin/status/140244588609802240

I'm no expert on this, but when someone says they'll be teaching, the immediate impression given (rightly or wrongly) is that they'll be paid for it. If he doesn't have the right visa, there will be problems.

It may be that he was effectively coming to speak at meetings, and my understanding is that doing so should be fine. But if he says something about teaching, it's plausible that the officer will become suspicious, and then it becomes a complete lottery.

This is all speculation, and I wait with interest to see his more comprehensive report.

Similarly, if you travel internationally to attend an open source hackathon, when speaking to customs never use the term "work" or "hack" for that matter. Reprogram your brain to use the word "conference" to describe the event, and describe what you're doing as "hobbyist coding for fun."

Certainly this isn’t Bob’s first rodeo, so I’d be surprised if he was unfamiliar with the paperwork.

It's worth noting that the political climate wrt. immigration into the UK is positively toxic this decade; the government has promised to effectively reduce immigration from outside the EU to zero (they can't do anything about EU citizens, who have an automatic right of residence) and a crack-down on people coming to the UK to work is part of the package. (IMO they're running scared of the hard right/racist vote, but blocking foreign technology gurus is part and parcel of keeping out those hideously dangerous Bangladeshi curry chefs.)

They are protecting their economy for UK citizens (subjects).

This is not a personal vendetta. The topic of the large chuck of unemployed UK versus working immigrants is hot right now. As is the disastrous results of a recent relaxing the border. As is the topic of a semi-healthy UK economy in the midst of the Eurozone meltdown which means immigration is exceeding emigration.

I don't have any links to hand but it was all over the media.

Clearly failed to get the right visa to work. Tourists from the USA are always welcome but lines get drawn at working on a tourist visa. Just like for Brits travelling to the USA.

Strange indeed. Uncle Bob was in the Netherlands not too long ago, also on a teaching gig. I don't see why traveling to the UK for the same type of work would be any different.

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