A British family were left stranded in Italy for 12 days after a "lack of communication" from the Home Office over new passport rules. As of February, dual nationals are only able to return to Britain if they hold a British passport or Certificate of Entitlement.
Marika Verroca, an Italian national with settled status, was turned away from a Ryanair flight this summer because her British-born son only held an Italian passport and no Certificate of Entitlement, LBC reports. Ms Verroca said she was told that the four-year-old was considered a British citizen and had not been made aware that he couldn't travel with his foreign passport in an email from the Home Office.
Emergency documentation required
She was forced to return to the UK, leaving her husband and children behind, to apply for emergency documentation before the four-year-old was allowed to leave Italy 12 days later. Ms Verroca said her husband had lost out on money from his job as a taxi driver and her children had missed school as a result of the confusion, adding that the application process for an emergency passport had been "invasive".
"They were asking how he was born, if it was surrogacy pregnancy, if it was a natural birth," she said. "Why do you need all this information for an emergency document for somebody that you actually consider British?"
Home Office response
She added that the experience as a whole was "mentally exhausting". "When you're stressed, the kids are stressed," she said. "Yeah, it wasn't a great time - it was horrible."
A spokesperson for the Home Office said: "This child was granted an Emergency Travel Document, allowing them to return to the UK. We remained in contact regarding their passport application and, once the required information had been received and all necessary checks completed, their passport was issued in eight days. British citizens should travel to the UK using either a valid British passport or a Certificate of Entitlement."
