I Have Lived in the UK Since 2018 and Built a Life Here With My Family, but a Message From the Home Office Has Left Us Devastated

A 33-year-old Italian engineer who has lived in London since 2018 is now involved in a difficult dispute with the Home Office after officials told him that his settled status was granted by mistake.

The man, whose name has been changed to Fabio to protect his identity, first moved to London to complete his doctorate. Since then, he has built a successful career working in the energy and climate change sector.

Fabio said he was shocked by the Home Office’s decision because he believes he has followed every immigration rule and has done nothing wrong since Brexit.

He was granted settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme. This status normally allows eligible EU citizens who have lived in the UK for at least five years to remain in the country permanently.

However, the Home Office has now written to Fabio saying that officials made an error when they approved his application. Although they have told him that they will not remove his settled status, they have also said he cannot use that status to support his wife’s right to remain in the UK.

His wife, who is Brazilian, has been with him since he arrived in Britain. She applied to remain in the UK as the family member of someone with settled status, but the Home Office now says she does not qualify.

Fabio said the news was devastating for both of them. They have lived in the UK for many years, followed the rules and always felt welcome. He believed Britain was a place where he could continue building his career and future.

The couple had been planning to start a family and buy a home, but Fabio said those plans have now been placed on hold because they do not know whether his wife will be allowed to stay.

Fabio is reportedly one of at least 100 people contacted by the Home Office and told that their status under the EU Settlement Scheme was granted by mistake. The true number of people affected could be much higher.

The Home Office contacted Fabio in April after reviewing his case. The review appears to have started when his wife applied for status under the same scheme.

Fabio was born in Brazil but has both Brazilian and Italian citizenship. He said he was an Italian citizen from birth and submitted a certificate from the Italian consulate as evidence when he applied for settled status.

However, officials later said the evidence he provided was not enough. They asked him to prove that he was already an Italian citizen before the Brexit deadline of December 31, 2020.

The Home Office told him that, based on the information available, his settled status had been granted in error. Officials also said he was no longer considered a qualifying European Economic Area citizen and could therefore not sponsor his wife’s application.

Legal experts have raised serious concerns about the case. Catherine Barnard, a professor of European Union law at the University of Cambridge, said she was astonished by the Home Office’s position.

She argued that the Government appeared to be creating two different levels of settled status. Fabio is being allowed to keep his status, but he is being denied some of the important rights that normally come with it, including the right to have an eligible family member live with him in the UK.

Barnard said this could go against the Brexit withdrawal agreement, which protects the residence rights of qualifying EU citizens and their families.

The Independent Monitoring Authority, which was created to protect the rights of EU citizens under the withdrawal agreement, has also expressed concern. It warned that the Home Office’s actions may not be compatible with the agreement.

The organisation has written to the Home Office about caseworkers reviewing old decisions and changing the way original applications are treated. It has encouraged EU citizens experiencing similar problems to contact it for assistance.

Monique Hawkins, acting chief executive of the3million, warned that removing important rights in this way could affect entire families. She said people could suddenly lose their rights without receiving the careful and fair assessment required under the withdrawal agreement.

Mala Savjani of Wilson Solicitors, which is representing Fabio, said it was unclear why the Government appeared to be focusing on EU citizens who also hold another nationality.

She said Home Office officials were making decisions involving complicated nationality laws in other European countries, sometimes relying on claims that had not been properly confirmed. She also questioned what the Government hoped to achieve through the reviews.

The Home Office said it does not normally comment on individual cases. However, officials argued that its actions do not break the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

The department said people who were mistakenly granted status are not protected by the agreement unless they can provide evidence showing that they met the requirements of the EU Settlement Scheme.