Where should we put "do not lie to immigration"?

Question

So now we have someone who did not omit detail but outright have lied about their travel purpose (because their business deal was so "top secret" they didn't want to disclose it to the government).

We should have a something just I do not know what. A canonical question/answer? Question: "I lied to the government, my visa application was rejected / I was turned back at the border / I was thrown out of the country, now what?" Answer: "Forget that country at least for the short term, possibly for the rest of your life depending on how serious your lie was." Or something like that?

Answer 1

Not necessarily. Sometimes the lie can be remedied, it just might require more evidence or a stricter test / interview with the immigration agent. I think each case is still individual enough to be looked at on their merits.

Answer 2

When somebody shows up asking a question where they got caught lying and now they want to unwind the situation, the main points are...

• using the internet is not going to work that well
• the chances are pretty good the internet is the wrong tool altogether
• deception cases become complex and require a lot more information than can be exchanged here
• advice from random strangers is not valuable when they are just shooting from the hip, it can do more harm than good
• The OP probably posted the same question on [insert immigration forum here] where there's not only just random strangers, but also bottom feeders looking for some easy money (i.e., a person who got done for deception is vulnerable!).

It's not like questions about air miles or taking a train, how many TSE regulars have been caught out in deception? How many had first hand experience with somebody in detention or received a refusal? Not many I suspect. The same thing goes for all over the net.

So whatever else you put into an answer, the main point is to explain that the net is about the worst tool you can find. The same thing goes for questions like this one: Schengen visa refusal on threat to public policy, security, health (Germany) The consulate wasn't even involved in the decision and most likely do not have any details, they got a cold hit and end-of-story.

The other thing I can mention is that an OP cannot just ring the consulate and sort things out over coffee, it doesn't work like that. If there was any chance of sorting something out, they would ask the OP to get in touch, not the other way-round. Once they decide not to trust the person, game over. So there's really no point in leaving comments or answers suggesting they contact the consulate (even if you think they are innocent).

As to remedies the only case I have ever seen where deception got remedied was a refusal/ban for two Russian women who had applied as domestic servants. Their employer filled out the applications and lied on it. The two women were refused and given 10 year bans for deception. The JCWI got involved and lodged a perversity judicial review and the case was appealed all the way to the floor of the House of Lords! The whole thing took almost two years. Those women had an experienced legal team who had the time and resources to chase a perverse decision and take it all the way to the supreme court. So consider what an OP is up against before suggesting an appeal or suggesting they call the consulate and sort it out on the phone.

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Having said all of that and returning to your question about a canonical, I think it's too early because there's only 1 question tagged with 'deception'. When there's a lot of questions with that tag we can be sure that a canonical is needed.

Answer 3

I think it would be hard to create a canonical, as the answer depends a lot on the circumstances. For some it's "you're never going to go tehre" for some it's just "give up for now, apply again in a year or two", for others its "get a lawyer". Answer questions as they come up, duplicate flag when they are duplicates.