Sick and elderly EU nationals struggling to prove residency in UK ahead of Brexit

Record ID: 1433177

  • Title: Sick and elderly EU nationals struggling to prove residency in UK ahead of Brexit
  • Date: 19th September 2019
  • Summary: SWANSEA, WALES, UK (SEPTEMBER 18, 2019) (REUTERS) HUSBAND OF DUTCH NATIONAL AND CANCER SUFFERER SONJA BRAIN, PAUL BRAIN, WALKING OUTSIDE MORRISTON HOSPITAL
  • Embargoed: 3rd October 2019 12:57
  • Keywords: European Union Home Office immigration status
  • Location: SWANSEA, WALES, UK / INTERNET / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION
  • City: SWANSEA, WALES, UK / INTERNET / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: European Union,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001AXBODAF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Sonja Brain, 84, is losing her sight and bed-bound in hospital after a cancerous tumour was removed from her spine. But she also has another nightmare: proving she has the right to stay in the United Kingdom after Brexit.
    Mrs. Brain, who moved to the United Kingdom from the Netherlands 59 years ago, has a British husband, four British children, six British grandchildren, and has resided in the same house in Wales for the last three decades.
    But she is one of four sick or elderly European Union (EU) nationals identified by Reuters who are struggling to secure their right to remain in the United Kingdom after Brexit even though they have been living here for decades.
    British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he wants EU citizens to stay after Brexit but some are now ensnared by competing bureaucratic systems which their families cast as inflexible and unresponsive.
    To process her application for settled status in the United Kingdom, Sonja, who recently had chemotherapy, needs a current Dutch passport but to renew the passport the Dutch embassy says she must travel to London in person, her husband, Paul, said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday (September 18).
    "It's proved extremely difficult to get her recognised as actually having a status," he said. "It's actually made her feel unwelcome."
    Brain's troubles started in May last year when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her passport was due to expire seven months later in November and the couple planned to renew the document once her health improved.
    But instead the cancer spread, she developed cerebral palsy and macular degeneration, which means she is losing her sight.
    After the government opened its registration scheme for registering EU nationals, Brain's husband decided to apply on her behalf.
    But he was unable to complete the application because the registration system refused to accept he expired Dutch passport. He then contacted the Home Office online and wrote to the Dutch embassy for help. But so far there has not been a resolution.
    Until recently, they had even considered trying to travel to London because the situation was weighing on her mind. But they eventually decided she was too ill.
    The Home Office said they want all EU citizens to stay in Britain after Brexit and in exceptional circumstances they will accept alternative documents if applicants do not have a valid passport or a national ID card.
    A spokesman for the ministry recommended Brain's family contact the EU Settlement Resolution Centre, a telephone advice service, to get support with her application.
    The Dutch embassy did not respond to three requests for comment on the case.
    Britain's immigration minister Brandon Lewis told Reuters the registration program is working well. He said 1.5 million of the 3.5 million EU citizens living in Britain have been processed since the program opened.
    Lewis said the main problems he has seen after investigating individual cases are when people have provided incorrect information or if they have not provided enough information to prove they have lived in Britain for five years.
    Around 3.5 million EU citizens currently live in the United Kingdom but as its moves towards the exit, currently due on October 31, EU citizens must apply to Britain's Home Office for so called "settled status".
    Some EU citizens are worried they could lose the right to live in the United Kingdom or access free healthcare or employment, after Brexit.
    The3million, a campaign group set up to protect the rights of EU citizens in Britain, said tens of thousands of EU nationals in Britain may be struggling to secure their rights or are being given the wrong immigration status.
    The European Parliament debated a resolution on Wednesday expressing its concern at the settlement scheme, urging the government to review the current system.
    (Production: Gerry Mey, Ben Dangerfield)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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