by A 34-year-old Spanish woman was forcibly removed from the UK after returning from a Christmas holiday near Málaga despite presenting Brexit paperwork to border officials showing she has the right to live and work in the country.
She was flown back to Spain after being detained overnight at Luton airport on December 26 and told she was “wasting her time” if she thought Home Office documents showing her right to live in the UK is valid.
Alistair Strathern, Labor MP for central Bedfordshire, said he is seeking answers from the Home Office about the situation.
“I went home because my sister had a little girl, and four days later at Luton airport they took me to the holding room, took my things and my phone and told me to stay there. I was left there for the night and then put on a plane,” said Maria, whose name has been changed.
The move sent her into shock but also highlights the danger facing EU citizens whose applications to remain in the UK under the Brexit withdrawal agreement have not yet been finalised.
Maria’s husband flew out to Spain for help after British border officials warned her not to try to re-enter the country for a month.
“I was supposed to be back at work but now my life is gone. All my things are in the UK: my dog, my car. I was doing this veterinary nursing apprenticeship, which was my dream.
“If I try to go back it will be even worse,” she said.
The Spanish designer, who is in the middle of her career working with animals, had applied late for the EU settlement scheme earlier this year and was living with her husband and parents-in-law in Bedfordshire.
Her application was refused in June on the grounds that she did not provide sufficient evidence, but she sought an administrative review of the decision and had a certificate of application (CoA) from the Home Office. It says “you can work in the UK until you get a decision on your application for the EU settlement scheme”.
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“I could tell them I’m a tourist but I’m not and I have nothing to hide and he told them that. I’m waiting for an appeal decision so I keep working,” she said.
She said the border officer, who also stopped her in August at the same time but let her through the controls after consulting her colleague, said the paperwork was not valid.
“She told me I was ‘wasting my time’ and ‘it wasn’t true’ that I could work and I said, ‘well there must be a hole in the system because my papers say I can do that do and now you are telling me. what the Home Office says is not true’.”
Maria lived in the UK from 2014 to 2018 and recently returned after a period in South Africa where her husband was completing his PhD. covid locks meant they couldn’t return during the pandemic.
Under the rules she is allowed to apply late but must show that her break from the UK was not so long as to invalidate her rights under the withdrawal agreement.
The Border Force refused entry on the grounds that “her application for EUSS [EU Settlement Scheme] has been refused” and “you no longer have a right to enter the UK as saved by the Citizens’ Rights (Application Deadlines and Temporary Protection) Regulations 2020”.
Maria, who is now taking legal advice, rejects this version of events, claiming that her application certificate clarifies that she has the right to work in the UK while her case is still under review.
Strathern said: “It is vitally important that if our borders are to be secure and that people have confidence in border officers, that they are empowered to act within the law and in this case it does not appear to be that happened and not. This is a gap and I am more than happy to raise this with the Home Office.”
The Home Office said that the question of those with a certificate wanting to enter the country was not about their right to work but about showing evidence that they had the right to be in the country under the withdrawal agreement.
Those refused entry at the border were “liable to detention pending removal from the port and from the UK”. But he added that “this is not the same as being subject to a deportation order which, although valid, would prevent you from returning to the UK”.
They also said that a certificate of application did not give an EU citizen the right to travel in and out of the country and that border officers were entitled to ask those holding a CoA for further evidence of their residence in the UK before December 2020 at the border. .
“Keeping our borders safe and secure is the main priority of the Border Force, and we will never compromise on this,” they said.
“Officers may stop any arriving passenger for the purposes of further examination if they are not immediately satisfied that they are qualified for entry. This decision is made on the information provided by the passenger, not on their nationality.”
