Unpaid phone bill in London

[DSB28]

Hi,

I am going to move to singapore in August 2015.

I have an unpaid telephone bill with O2 in London for about 400 Pouds.

Will this be treated as a criminal office if ICA does some sort of background check for my STP application ?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Why is said phone bill unpaid? Is it deliberate knowing you are leaving London? I only ask as if deliberate or for no good reason, it means you will probably do the same thing here when you get ready to leave and that makes it harder on all who follow as the deposits rise directly proportional to the number of expats who stiff the service providers when they leave here.

Sadly, unless it has been treated as an criminal offense in London, it won't be here either.

[DSB28]

I haven't left London yet and I am not intending to runway as well.
I am a couple of months behind on the payment that's all. When I put in my visa application for singapore there would still be some outstanding.
My question was does ICA do a background check like credit card/personal phone bills etc and will this thing come up .

I surely intend to clear it before I leave.

[sundaymorningstaple]

As noted in my previous response, unless it has been treated as a criminal offense in London, it isn't likely to cause any alarm bells over here.

[DSB28]

[JR8]

Hi, I am going to move to singapore in August 2015.
I have an unpaid telephone bill with O2 in London for about 400 Pouds.
Will this be treated as a criminal office if ICA does some sort of background check for my STP application ?

Having an outstanding balance on an account that is paid perhaps monthly in arrears is not an offence. Is that the question or is there more to it?

Is this balance overdue? If so, have you entered into some kind of agreed payment schedule with O2 to clear this balance? Still no offence has occurred at that point, yet.
If however you're trying to gauge whether to do a runner on the debt, I'd caution against it. Next thing O2 will sue you in your absence, get default judgement, and perhaps enforce it giving you a 'CCJ' [i.e. County Court Judgement] on your record. That would be your UK financial profile completely torpedoed for the foreseeable future. Which would be a shame, for the sake of gbp400.

[DSB28]

No, as I said ...will pay it soon but have outstanding now as I am a bit behind on payments.
No question of doing a runner.

The problem is I am not using this O2 thing since the past 6 months as I have shifted to Paris since Jan 2015, yet I am paying the O2 outstanding slowly making me lag on my payments thats all.

[JR8]

No, as I said ...will pay it soon but have outstanding now as I am a bit behind on payments. No question of doing a runner.
The problem is I am not using this O2 thing since the past 6 months as I have shifted to Paris since Jan 2015, yet I am paying the O2 outstanding slowly making me lag on my payments thats all.

The confusion was because you suggested it might be regarded as a 'criminal offence', which clearly it isn't, it's simply an overdue account.

[DSB28]

i hope the same .......would u be knowing what kind of background checks the ICA does ?
do i need to get police clearances from countries i lived in for applying for a singapore longterm pass ?
If u know anything abt it ..pls share so that i can get that ready

[JR8]

No I wouldn't, and ICA intentionally keep their cards very close to their chest, and rightly so, to stop applicants 'tailoring' their application details.

I imagine they do a high level criminal records check. A credit card balance will not appear on that.

I have never been asked for a 'police clearance' by ICA or MoM, and that's during 3 separate applications, and 2 renewals.

But since you're a student why don't you ask the faculty for details of what ICA will require from you? It would seem obvious (to me at least) that you need to know what documentation to bring with you.

For example as I told either you or someone recently in similar shoes to yourself, once you're here you cannot get a copy of your UK 'police clearance' [the actual name for it is a 'Subject Access Notice', or 'SAN']. You can only apply for one by physically presenting yourself at a UK police station with proof of your identity.

Now think about it, as if ran an educational faculty, raking in $international students. And those students had led blameless lives and arrived here not even knowing what a 'police clearance' is. If one was required hey presto they can't apply for them from here, can't attend your faculty, and lose you $$$.

Ask the faculty for the list of what documentation is required for the visa application. A 'SAN' can take up to 2 months to be processed, so you would have thought they might have already alerted you to this requirement, if it exists. But better safe than sorry!

[DSB28]

okay...thanks for the detailed info.

[the lynx]

Singapore only requires you to have police clearance from UK if you are applying for Singaporean citizenship.

At your stage, they are more interested if you had any immigration offence or criminal court case against you.

[DSB28]

Singapore only requires you to have police clearance from UK if you are applying for Singaporean citizenship.

At your stage, they are more interested if you had any immigration offence or criminal court case against you.

Thanks for the advice mate.
Have neither of them. Should be alright then .....Good day

[MikeJones]

Extract of quote for brevity...

...
For example as I told either you or someone recently in similar shoes to yourself, once you're here you cannot get a copy of your UK 'police clearance' [the actual name for it is a 'Subject Access Notice', or 'SAN']. You can only apply for one by physically presenting yourself at a UK police station with proof of your identity.
...

While that used to be true you can now apply for a SAN online from the ACPO Criminal Records Office (https://www.acro.police.uk). You can also apply for a "Police Certificate for Immigration Purposes" from the same site. The latter is required for visa applications for some countries (US, NZ, Australia) but is not required for Singapore.

Mike

[JR8]

'Well well well, what have we here'* - thanks for that MikeJ, I didn't know that, and that might come in very useful in future.


* a classic line from a veeery old UK police drama series - 'Dixon of Dock Green' or similar.