The Home Office has dismissed as “absurd” accusations that it failed to adequately communicate new border rules which have left some British dual nationals unable to board flights to the UK. During a parliamentary session on Wednesday, Home Office minister Mike Tapp defended the department’s efforts, pointing to media coverage as evidence of publicising the changes.
Under the regulations that came into force on Wednesday, dual nationals must present a valid or expired British passport, or a £589 certificate of entitlement, to prove their right of abode before boarding transport to the UK. Labour MP Kerry McCarthy described how two constituents feared being stranded on their honeymoon due to the new requirements. Former Conservative minister David Davis said three of his constituents only learned of the changes through reports in the Guardian and the BBC.
Tapp rejected calls for a grace period but said he would host a drop-in session with MPs next Monday to discuss individual cases. He added that consular services could assist stranded Britons, and that passports could be obtained within four weeks, or nine days in some cases. The Home Office declined to comment on individual cases, including a British Australian man who said the rules prevented him from attending his father’s funeral.
Liberal Democrat immigration spokesperson Will Forster accused the Home Office of a “lack of planning and haphazard communication”. Tapp responded: “I find the framing of this absolutely absurd – it is nonsense. There have been years in planning.” He urged travellers with emergencies to apply for emergency travel documents via the government website.
