Home Office faces challenge over 1,473 residency error notices
Campaign group the3million is seeking a judicial review, arguing the policy may wrongly revoke rights protected by the Withdrawal Agreement.
The UK Home Office has told 1,473 people who were living in the country before Brexit that their post-Brexit residency status was granted in error. The department says affected people can provide evidence that they qualify or make another valid application; refusals can be appealed.
Campaign group the3million says it knows of at least 50 cases and has put the Home Office on notice that it is seeking a judicial review. It argues some recipients were properly granted status and that the policy may breach rights under the Withdrawal Agreement. No court ruling on the wider policy is reported.
Some notices concerned people who had not submitted passports with their original applications. In other cases, the Home Office disputed whether applicants had Italian citizenship when they applied.
The department recently withdrew its error decision in one case after conceding it was wrong. The case concerned an applicant whose Italian passport was issued after Brexit; the Home Office accepted that this was not when her citizenship began.
The available information does not establish how many recipients were wrongly notified or how many may ultimately lose status. The judicial review could seek a determination for others in similar circumstances.
