The Home Office has dismissed as “absurd” claims that it failed to properly communicate new border rules that left some British dual nationals at risk of being prevented from boarding flights to the UK. During a heated session in parliament on Wednesday, Home Office minister Mike Tapp suggested that media coverage in the Guardian and BBC reflected the department’s efforts to publicise the changes.
Under the changes, which came into force on Wednesday, British dual nationals must present a valid or expired British passport, or a £589 certificate of entitlement, to prove their right of abode before boarding a plane, ferry or train to the UK. Labour backbencher Kerry McCarthy described how two of her constituents feared being stranded on their honeymoon because of the new requirements. “They don’t know if they can actually get back into the UK from [their] honeymoon,” she said.
Former Conservative cabinet minister David Davis said three of his constituents had only learned about the changes through media reports in the Guardian and the BBC. Tapp responded: “I’m going to let him into a little secret here – perhaps that media coverage is as a result of the Home Office’s efforts to get this information out there as widely as we possibly can.”
The Guardian’s reporting was prompted by letters from anxious dual nationals abroad. Since publication, hundreds more readers have contacted the paper saying they were unaware of the rule changes until they saw the coverage. Overnight, the Guardian was contacted by a British Australian man who said the rules had prevented him from attending his father’s funeral. “I can’t see my grieving relatives or bury my father for six weeks,” he said, referring to the time it would take to renew his passport from overseas.
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 were available overseas to help stranded Britons, and dual nationals would obtain a passport within four weeks – and in some cases nine days. The Liberal Democrats’ immigration spokesperson, Will Forster, accused Tapp of a “lack of planning and haphazard communication”, calling the situation unacceptable.
