The_Guardian_-_2016-12-29

supported by their spouse, they may not meet the selection criteria.
Our obsession with ‘good immigrants’ breeds intolerance
The Home Office said: “The rights of EU nationals living in the UK remain unchanged while we are a
member of the European Union. EU nationals do not require any additional documents to prove their
status.”
It said Hawkins’s application could not be progressed because the original ID was missing. It said
since October, applications could be submitted online and it had also launched an express passport
check-in service in 58 local councils around the country, including one 10 miles from Hawkins’s
home.
Hawkins’s case is just one of many similar experiences of EU citizens panicked into applying for
permanent residency. German aerospace executive Lars Graefe, who has lived in the UK since 1998,
and is married to a British woman, said he received a similar “make-preparations-to-leave” letter
from the Home Office.
He couldn’t surrender his passport because he travels every week and made a complaint because he
too thought he satisfied the provision for not including original documentation.
“The point I raised in my complaint was about the process. Even if they couldn’t verify I was
German, I still qualify to remain. Clearly the Home Office don’t know how to deal with EU citizens.
If you were in the private sector and treated customers like this you would be sacked,” he said.
This article was downloaded by calibre from https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/28/dutch-woman-with-twobritish-children-told-to-leave-uk-after-24-years
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