Home Office U-turn will let some dual nationals use EU passport to enter UK | Immigration and asylum

Dual national Britons who are EU citizens with post-Brexit settlement status in the UK will not have to use a British passport to return to the UK, the Home Office has said, in a major U-turn on controversial dual national border rules.

The change, which critics say was “hidden” on a government web page, comes weeks after controversy erupted over new rules that came into force on February 25. Dual British citizens must present a British passport or authorization for £589 before boarding a flight to the UK.

Thousands of people were affected by these rules; These include EU citizens who have settled status in the UK and have successfully applied for citizenship but have not yet received a British passport. They were effectively driven out of the country, but they are now free Going back to EU passports.

The Home Office’s updated citizenship web page states: “If you have been granted British citizenship after settling in the UK under the EU settlement scheme, you can travel to the UK with a valid passport: your other nationality’s passport; [or] National ID card from the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland.”

Jelena, a dual Latvian-British national who learned about the rule change from a social media post by campaign group the3million, said she was “absolutely devastated and angry” that the rule change was only now being made.

Last September, she and her British husband had booked a “trip of a lifetime” to South America for the end of March, and their plans had already been disrupted at great financial and emotional cost.

A contract researcher, he completed his British citizenship test in November and has yet to receive a passport, but he didn’t want to miss the trip.

The couple decided to continue the holiday after discussing the matter with his firm, where he was an assistant manager, but he would return to Latvia instead of the UK, where he would wait up to 24 weeks for his British passport to arrive.

“I was supposed to be excited about the upcoming vacation, but instead I ended up stressing about it and having to rearrange the trip,” she said.

“I’ve already spent £2,000 on the naturalization process and the certificate costs an extra £600 and in this case I can’t go back to the flat we had after South America in a country where I lived for about 16 years,” he said.

Jelena received an email two days ago saying she no longer needed to produce a British passport to enter the UK.

“I really don’t understand how people should know about these changes,” he said, adding that he was satisfied the Home Office had seen sense but the experience had left a “bitter taste in the mouth”.

The3million welcomed the rule change but criticized the Home Office for not announcing it widely. The campaign group was notified of the change in an email on March 10.

He said the rule change was “hidden” gov.uk site about citizenship but not on Home page detailing new border rules for dual nationals.

“We are really pleased that this change will help those facing an effective travel ban following the naturalization ceremony,” said Monique Hawkins, head of policy and advocacy. “But it is very disappointing that these changes came without any consultation and several weeks late.

“The changes are hidden in the secret pages of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. People are hearing about this from us rather than the government.”

Hawkins noted that the rule change did not apply to British citizens in the EU who naturalized post-Brexit, or EU citizens who naturalized rather than applying for settled status in the UK, or people who hold Windrush standalone permission to retain status.

Another woman, Florence, missed a trip to France to see her elderly and frail father on February 28 because she had been naturalized but was waiting for her passport.

“My husband went to France to see family without me while I was applying for a British passport. The ferry ticket had to be changed and obviously it was more expensive. I stayed here and went to work instead,” Florence said.

“Now, I hear the government has made a U-turn. Why now? There was plenty of evidence on the 25th.” [of February] “People would be stuck,” he said.

Immigration minister Mike Tapp described criticism of the Home Office’s communications as “absurd” during an urgent question debate the day after the dual national change was introduced.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs was contacted for opinion.