Visa Company Witholding Passport - Legal Rights?

4743hudsonj

heretolearn wrote: »

What the visa company has is right of lien. We do the same thing with documents we hold for clients if they are getting funny about paying the bill, no money, no return of documents. It's a legal right.

'When goods are delivered to a tradesman or any other, to expend his labor upon, he is entitled to detain those goods until he is remunerated for the labor which he so expends;'

But the passport is not the property of the debtor(the company) so surely this will not apply.

Hintza

.......and the OP's company is trying to play hard ball when it is in fact the OP that is losing out.

OP needs to put pressure on her company to either pay up or buy her another passport if they want to take the visa company to court.

Equaliser123

arenaman wrote: »

It's not a police matter, it's a civil dispute, a trip to the police station would be a waste of time.

Not 100% convinced it is not a criminal matter. Not sure but unlawful interference with a document such as a passport may well be an offence.

Persuading Plod is another matter.

DVardysShadow

Equaliser123 wrote: »

Not 100% convinced it is not a criminal matter. Not sure but unlawful interference with a document such as a passport may well be an offence.

Persuading Plod is another matter.

I agree. The dispute between the employer and the visa company is a civil dispute. But holding a third party's property in that dispute goes outside of the civil dispute.

But as people here are not on to it in a flash, then Plod certainly won't get it.

vikingaero

Equaliser123 wrote: »

Not 100% convinced it is not a criminal matter. Not sure but unlawful interference with a document such as a passport may well be an offence.

Persuading Plod is another matter.

So what happens when you're staying in a foreign hotel and they ask to keep your passport for your stay, as is common in many Euro countries?

Then you want to leave because the service is poor or you want to wangle out of paying... what happens?

Equaliser123

vikingaero wrote: »

So what happens when you're staying in a foreign hotel and they ask to keep your passport for your stay, as is common in many Euro countries?

Then you want to leave because the service is poor or you want to wangle out of paying... what happens?

I think it is a totally different situation. When was the last time you saw Manuel saying he is taking a lien over your passport?

They are probably approaching things from the position of possession being 9/10's of the law.

looby-loo_2

What no one knows is why the visa application was referred.

I applied for a visa though a third party in June, they checked the form and sent it off. (The checking service is a charity and the money went to help build a school in India so I was happy with this) I collected it from them 8 days later. It cost about £40 for the visa and £10 for the checking service. I think it has gone up now.

It does say the following on the form:-

IMPORTANT NOTE: Suppression of facts or furnishing misleading/false information will result in denial of visa without assigning any reason. Visa fee once tendered is non-refundable and subject to change without notice. After receipt of visa ensure name, spellings, passport number, type and validity of visa are given correctly. Also visa bears round stamp and is duly signed by the Visa Officer.

In this case I would have thought the passport would still be returned even without the visa.

peachyprice

The fact that it was reffered I think is irrelevant here as it sounds from the OP that the trip was cancelled before the application process was complete.

But yes, whether the visa was refused or the application cancelled before completion the gf's company are still liable for any fees incurred, and as it isn't the 'company's' passport I don't think the visa agent has any rights to keep the passport.

BaldacchinoR

DVardysShadow wrote: »

She really needs to separate her personal capacity as passport owner from her business capacity as contract contact for the visa deal. And she needs to make this clear to the visa company. They have no right to hold her passport, they have no dispute with her personally.

I agree with DVardysShadow - perhaps she could get a solicitor's letter sent to Visa pointing out the above. Assuming the solicitor agrees with DVardysShadow too.
That may be the quickest way of getting a result.

You can try the police but I bet they will say its a civil contract and not a criminal matter - of course theft of a passport is a criminal matter. I wonder what other crimes the police will wash their hands from once the economy measures are put into practice?!?!?!

MothballsWallet

MrC_Beds wrote: »

I'd have thought passports were Crown property which the agency would have to surrender to the IPS if pressed.

They are - Notes page, item 6 states, and I quote the first sentence from it in mine:

"This passport remains the property of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and may be withdrawn at any time."