Immigration Inspections

Swindon Borough Council is able to offer inspections for immigration purposes to those living within the Borough.  These will be carried out by a Specialist Environmental Health Officer who will provide a report acceptable to immigration authorities for you to include in your application.

From the 1st December 2008 we will charge £80.00 for this service.

We reserve the right to charge for any second and subsequent inspections arising from your application.

Requests for immigration inspections should be made to Swindon Direct, either by telephone (01793 445500) or in person.  Payment is required before any inspection can be carried out.  Once payment is received, we will contact you within 7 working days to arrange a mutually convenient time, within working hours, to visit you and inspect your home.

When we inspect, we will ask to see proof of your ownership or tenancy of the property.

If you own the property, then we will need to see the Title Deeds, Mortgage Statement, or correspondence from your mortgage provider.

If you rent the property, then we will need to see a current Tenancy Agreement, and a utility bill in your name at the address in question.

We will also ask to see details of the person coming into the UK, to include their date of birth and full address in their home country.  It often proves easiest for you to provide a copy of the person coming to the UK's passport so that details can be taken down correctly and further inspections are not required due to errors, in spelling for instance.

We will then inspect the whole of the property at which you live

You will be asked to show us around your property, outlining who occupies the house, and which rooms they sleep in.

During the course of the inspection, we will make a judgement on whether the property is suitable and safe for occupation, and whether it would become statutorily overcrowded by the addition of the person seeeking entry to the UK.

We may ask you additional questions if we are unclear on anything that we have seen or that you have told us, and may ask you to provide additional documentation to support what you have told us.

When we have completed our investigations, you will be supplied with a letter, usually within 3 working days of our visit, that will state:

• Your name and the name(s) of the person(s) seeking entry to the UK.
• The address of the property inspected.
• Who owns, and who occupies the property.
• How the property is occupied, and by whom.
• Whether the property was fit for human habitation at the time of our inspection.
• Whether the property would be statutorily overcrowded by the addition of the person seeking entry to the UK
• The name of the Officer to contact for further information.

The applicant is then responsible for forwarding the letter to the appropriate authority in support of the application for immigration.

Please Note:

• We will not arrange an inspection of your home until payment has been received.
• We will not supply letters unless we have inspected the property.  
• The Immigration Authorities will not accept letters that are greater than 12 weeks old.  
• If your letter expires on this ground, we will not issue another until we have carried out a full investigation again.  You will be charged for this second inspection.
• We reserve the right to make a charge for the supply of copies of the letter at a later date.

It is therefore very important that you do not request an inspection of your home for immigration purposes until you are ready to submit your full application to the relevant authorities.