Today we’ve had a TRAUMATIC experience .
We where looking forward to do a pet sit in the UK with our dog.
We are from BELGIUM.
We were planning (as always) to take the boat from CALAIS to DOVER.
We were at the boarder honest about why we were visiting the UK : PET SITTING.
Previous times (also a few this year) it wasn’t a problem.
TODAY : we were taken in COSTUDY, got fingerprinted, interviewed,…
It took 6 hours and at the end we were taken by the French police back to France.
End of pet sitting.
Also we had to cancel the sit.
We felt terrible towards the HO that we had to let her down due to the unexpected circumstance.
She was (thanks for that) very empathetic.
The HO was planning a trip to Denmark.
Luckily her son can now take care of the cat. SO THS … PLEASE ANNOUNCE THIS TO PEOPLE WHO WANT TO PET SIT IN UK.
Even if it is via THS and you don’t get paid AND STUPULATED ON THS THAT IT IS A TOURISTIC TRIP … the fact that you use the house and the facilities is AGAINST THE LAW BORDERCONTROL SAID THAT YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PERMIT VISA
I’m sorry this has happened to you @LOVEANIMALS. It would also appear that your glowing experience in another thread you posted is now not so glowing!
THS won’t solve it as their stance is covered in their updated T & C which you have agreed to. Sitters are on their own.
I am most surprised that once you had been finger printed and taken in to custody that they didn’t make notes against your records but actually let you re-enter the country.
Re-enter the country? They never left France. The border checks are done on the departure side. So they will just be turned around and sent in their way afterwards.
What a horrible experience and I’m so sorry that you had to deal with this.
Re: THS solving this issue - They can’t even solve basic tech, communication and other “simple” issues. Asking for their help here is useless. Further, they have no control over border control which is entirely understandable.
That said, NONE of us should EVER mention petsitting at any border ever. While this will not eliminate problems, it will greatly reduce the potential of experiences like yours.
It’s not just the UK, most countries do this. Never mention pet sitting, you are there for tourism. THS now make you tick a box saying you are going abroad for tourism. New rules.
Even if they never did leave France, I am also quite astonished - given that they were fingerprinted, interviewed, turned back at the border etc - that they were just waved on to the UK several hours later, simply by re-declaring themselves tourists.
In the latest version of the THS terms and conditions that you would have agreed to this month, THS state they are not responsible for any trouble you get in to and that you have to comply with immigration laws. Basically, you are on your own so don’t expect any help from them. I’m sorry you had to go through this but you need to lie to border officers and say you are a tourist or risk what you have just gone through.
Thank you for informing forum members so that sitters can make informed decisions about whether to risk applying for sits in countries where they do not have a right to work .
Have you informed THS member support ? (They don’t read or reply to comments on the forum ) use the email:
THS have added a new tick box when confirming an international sit to say that you must abide by immigration rules . Hopefully this will prompt more members to check out the rules that apply before confirming sits in another country.
It seems that border controls are getting more strict everywhere. This is the first time that I hear of this kind of entry refusal at the UK border. (There was a case of a young woman travelling from Mexico I think with a history of global travel who intended to stay for many months.) It is very sad.
But it is how the rules can get interpreted, and what seems to have become policy now, all because of anti-immigration sentiment. And you won’t get a work permit for pet sitting. So when I took the ferry over last year I was just a tourist. I took the risk, because taking the ferry back is not as horribly expensive as when one would be put on a plane. And not as terrible as ending up in an ICE camp in the US.
There is an agreement between the UK and France that the French will do border control. So that saved them the cost of the ferry I think.
(There is a second thread that they tried a second time, as tourists. Then they were admitted. Apparently, they had not gotten a five-year entry ban or something like that.)
The ferry terminal is a bit like the “no man’s land” between border controls. For example the woman who had been petsitting in the US, then was refused entry to Canada. Then returned to the US border control, and got taken by ICE to one of their detention camps.
@LOVEANIMALS This must indeed have been a horrible experience for you but, for years, THS has advised sitters not to say they’re house/pet sitting but a tourist. You could also say you’re visiting friends as, after video calls and messages, home owners are likely ‘friends’. It seems you haven’t been keeping abreast of things and, as @temba says, that is in the terms and conditions.
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SO THS … PLEASE ANNOUNCE THIS TO PEOPLE WHO WANT TO PET SIT IN UK.
!!!
, stay positive 
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