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I registered for fabrics exhibition in the uk next month. I immediately got a pass in my email. I have not applied for a visa yet. If I don't attend the exhibition will this go to the immigration or something? I mean is the registration part of the immigration in UK?

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    You do not reveal who (or what entity) is putting on the "Fabrics Exhibition." Then you ask if the organizer will share your pass application information with UKVI. Without knowing the identity of the Exhibition organizer, your question is impossible to answer...and it may remain impossible even if we know the identity of the organizer.
    – DavidRecallsMonica
    Commented Nov 25 at 20:17
  • Remember too that your UK visa application will ask why you're planning to come to the UK, which may require you to reveal to UKVI the identity of the organizer, and UKVI may then ask the organizer to confirm or reveal your information.
    – DavidRecallsMonica
    Commented Nov 25 at 20:22
  • Not sure but the website says partners are turkey and taiwan . Its the london textile fair.. i havent applied for a visa anyways .if i dont apply so i wont be sharing the details on the exhibition for visa.
    – Mohd
    Commented Nov 25 at 20:28
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    Note however that if your intent is to use the exhibition as a cover story to get a visa when you actually have no intention of going to that exhibition, that will end badly for you. You have a very weird history of questions here, I’m not quite sure I understand your situation or goals.
    – jcaron
    Commented Nov 25 at 21:49
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    @Mohd I'm not sure I understand. If you don't apply for a UK visa, you're not going to the exhibition (because you're not going to the UK in the first place) and no one will care at all... If you do want to apply for a visitor visa, do it without specifically mentioning the exhibition as a purpose of your visit. That way you'll be free to decide whether to attend the exhibition or not.
    – Johnnyjanko
    Commented Nov 26 at 14:47

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It's very unlikely that the organizers of an exhibition will proactively share your registration with UK immigration. It is even less likely that they will share the fact of whether you attend or not. In any case if you decide not to attend and don't apply for a visa this will not impact future immigration. There are many reasons why you might decide not to attend an exhibition you have booked, and if you have not applied for a visa immigration does not care about them.

If you do apply for a visa, immigration will want to know the reason and you should tell them you want to attend the exhibition. Immigration may at that time check with the exhibition that you have in fact booked, and may possibly check that you actually attended after the fact. If you apply for a visa on the basis of attending the exhibition and travel to the UK using that visa but don't attend the exhibition that can definitely have a negative impact on future applications.

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  • For a short term visa attendance checks are unlikely, but if you have e.g. a student visa in the UK, the university is required to report it, if you get a visa and then don't show up. So the mechanism definitely exists.
    – Marianne013
    Commented Nov 26 at 9:22
  • @Marianne013 for student visas (and many work visas), the organisation charged with reporting is a registered sponsor of the visa, that isn't going to be the case here for a visitor visa. I do have a slight reservation about the first paragraph. Failing to follow a "reasonable" variation of the plan outlined in a visa application might have an impact if it was presented as the primary driver for the trip, and was discovered, since that can be viewed as an attempt at deception.
    – origimbo
    Commented Nov 26 at 11:25
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Not sure why this question is being asked, but there's two possible reasons OP could be worried about this:

  1. OP is planning to go, but worried about it appearing as work in the UK - the UK standard visitor visa allows conference or trade show attendance, so this is fine.
  2. This is part of a cover story - you are applying for a visa, and don't plan to go to the exhibition. This is arguably a terrible idea. While it's extremely unlikely to be checked up on for a short term visitor visa, I suspect "attending an exhibition" is a pretty insignificant factor in visa approval or denial, unless you're a high profile speaker or similar. However, in the process of increasing your odds by a tiny amount, you've opened yourself up to being caught out in a lie by immigration officials, which will be a significant factor in getting future visas (i.e, they probably won't give you one)

Somewhat anecdotal evidence is that I've helped to organize a bunch of academic conferences. We've had issues with people not being able to get visas, for sure, suggesting it's not a major factor in getting approved for one. We've never been contacted by Immigration to confirm attendance, though we'd have a substantial amount of evidence to show a person was or wasn't present - everything from sign in sheets to door swipe card logs or security footage.

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    There's also of course the innocent "I applied for this I'm not sure I'm going maybe I won't". But I have a hard time navigating OP's many questions.
    – jcaron
    Commented Nov 26 at 14:30
  • @jcaron - I'd just looked at the history, too, and the answers seem consistently to be "Just be honest with what you're planning to do" - Like, here, for sure, if you get a ticket for an exhibition, UK immigration won't care. If you get a visa to go to an exhibition, and then don't travel, UK immigration won't care. It is very strange
    – lupe
    Commented Nov 26 at 15:59
  • I havent applied for the visa yet and if i do i will not be using it as a purpose to visit
    – Mohd
    Commented Nov 26 at 21:01
  • @Mohd you should be really fine then - I'm not sure what UK immigration would care about here? I'd basically follow the rule of "keep your answers truthful but brief" - "I'm here for a holiday, and thinking of going to see insert name of event while I'm here" is about as wordy as I'd be unless they question me further. I'd honestly stick with "I'm here for a holiday"
    – lupe
    Commented Nov 27 at 9:05
  • Thanks for the replies. So no exhibition is connected to the ukvi. I dont have to worry abt the pass i got
    – Mohd
    Commented Nov 27 at 11:32

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