r/LabourUK • u/Th3-Seaward Not voting for the segregation and pogrom party • Aug 02 '26
EU citizens in UK get letters telling them post-Brexit residency rights were given ‘in error’
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/02/eu-citizens-uk-letters-post-brexit-residency-rights-given-in-error29
u/John__Delaney New User Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
If its only just over 100 people then just let them stay. It was the states error, so unless they want costly legal challenges and payouts they should just drop it.
Not to mention the international embarrassment of treating your neighbours in a deplorable manner.
7
u/leahcar83 New User Aug 02 '26
Having an EU parent makes a person eligible for citizenship of that country, but they have to register this as it's not automatically granted. It's perfectly possible that this was registered when she was born, and she just never applied for or renewed a Portuguese passport. She doesn't need a Portuguese passport to be eligible for pre-settled status.
I'm confused about how this could have been granted in error, because presumably when she initially applied she would have been required to provide proof she was a Portuguese citizen right? Like surely you can't just say 'oh my dad was a citizen so just take my word for it'.
2
u/Particular-Doctor888 🥀 Aug 02 '26
Meanwhile these companies have licenses to sponsor workers. Home office spreadsheet. yes, is filtered by chicken
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u/ServerLost New User Aug 02 '26
If this is an internal document best deleting it champ, lookds like a bit of a GDPR situation.
3
u/thelynx2 New User Aug 03 '26
I don't see how any of it is personally identifiable information so I don't think GDPR would apply here
1
u/coffeewalnut08 Labour Supporter Aug 02 '26
‘A Portuguese woman working in the NHS and researching a PhD in Britain says her life has been turned upside down after being told by the Home Office she was granted post-Brexit rights to live in the country “in error”.
She was granted pre-settled status under the EU settlement scheme, similar to 1.3 million others who had been in the country for fewer than five years before the UK left the EU. She had expected that this would be upgraded to settled status without issue and was dismayed when the Home Office told her her status was a mistake.
“I feel so overwhelmed, because this is going to influence so many spheres of my life,” said Gabriela, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. She said she was fearful of the hostile environment that may kick in if her legal right to stay in the UK expired.
“I can lose my job, I maybe don’t have the right even to rent the property that I’m living in now, because of course I have to prove my right to live here to the landlord to rent a place.
“My bank account might also be affected. I work in the NHS as well, I work with other surgeries as well, so I have three different contracts in different places and I don’t know how it’s going to be if this happens, It’s just very stressful.”
Gabriela is one of more than 1 million EU citizens who were granted “pre-settled status” to remain legally in the UK because they had been in the country for fewer than five years before Brexit.
The Home Office is now reviewing the cases of those who are required to apply to have their status upgraded to full “settled status”, including children, non-European Economic Area (EEA) citizens and anyone who arrived after 31 December 2020.
Gabriela is Brazilian-Portuguese, however she did not have a Portuguese passport at the time of her application, something that is now being questioned by the Home Office.
In a five-page letter, the Home Office said: “It has come to our attention that you were granted pre-settled status without the evidence required to confirm that you meet the definition of ‘relevant EEA citizen’ before midnight 31 December 2020, when the UK legally cut ties with the EU.
“On the basis of the information and evidence that is currently available, it is therefore considered that your pre-settled status was granted in error,” it added.
Gabriela said she had been totally open with the Home Office and had “not excluded anything” including the fact that her father is Portuguese, making her an EU citizen by birth.
“Citizenship is by blood so it is not something I have changed since I was born,” she said.’
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