Of the ~50 countries I've been to in the past 10 years, The UK is the only one I remember which I did not need to show any ID when leaving. I thought it was strange because this is just one way countries catch overstays.
But what’s the point of catching an overstay if they’re leaving already? It’s more important to catch them when they try to re-enter (at which point you could have collected data from airlines to estimate whether they previously overstayed).
Exit checks are pretty pointless if there’s no violation that would lead to enforcement other than deportation (since the traveler is already self-deporting).
So you keep them from leaving and imprison them in your country (essentially paying for their upkeep and rendering them useless for your economy).
And you do that to solve the problem of illegal immigration.
It’s so stupid it sounds like a policy some right wingers in my country might actually want to make reality.
It tends to be the opposite. The UK is so strict about overstays that it doesn’t need to fine anybody to enforce the rules.
The countries that fine people are usually (not always) more open to allowing them back in again.
I’m not aware of countries that imprison overstayers, although I’m sure there must be some. Detainment awaiting deportation yes, but usually if you show up at a border and try to leave after overstaying most countries will not interfere with your exit (with or without a fine).
It tends to be the opposite. The UK is so strict about overstays that it doesn’t need to fine anybody to enforce the rules.
The countries that fine people are usually (not always) more open to allowing them back in again.
I’m not aware of countries that imprison overstayers, although I’m sure there must be some. Detainment awaiting deportation yes, but usually if you show up at a border and try to leave after overstaying most countries will not interfere with your exit (with or without a fine).
Britain has a fairly unique attitude, it must be left-over from the empire - best summed up as "this is the garden of Eden, and the worst punishment is exile'
When the 15 year old girl joined Isis, and then subsequently re-appeared in a refugee camp with a newborn, there was little desire to arrest her and figure out if she is guilty or a victim. We just took away her British passport and washed our hands of her. I thought the government would at least rescue the baby, but apparently nobody cared and it perished in the inhumane conditions of the refugee camp.
This is somewhat unique - for example Russia could come after you, or arrest you on entry, but they don't have this idea of exile as punishment.
As in, 'you have 2 days to GTFO, or we'll land you in prison for a few years to think of your actions'.
Happened many, many times since the start of this horrific war and many times before.
Source: I'm one of the lucky ones who managed to GTFO from Russia and find a job abroad.
Also, Russia is [contemplating](https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/04/25/russia-reportedl....) stopping issuing passports abroad - to try and catch the 'undesirables' again. Which would leave many people de-facto stateless. This is what Belarus did quite a while ago, by the way.
Well, they can immediately charge a fee (personal experience) and also it may be applicable for other matters in-flight.. let's say you're applying for a visa but have overstayed the current one. If they don't check until re-entry, they wouldn't catch this
Sure (and I'm not sure if that's actually how it works), but the border control also physically stops someone from leaving after they've overstayed. If someone has overstayed, they just go to the airport and hop on a plane with no consequences.
Some countries do fine overstayers, but UK is quite happy for people to leave with no penalty, it just doesn’t want them to come back again afterwards.
If someone overstays without a good reason then they are probably not entering the UK again for a long time.
The consequences are almost worse without the exit controls because overstayers will waste money on a flight only to get turned around at the border - assuming they don’t need a visa or ETA.
