UK Forcing Italian Woman With ‘Permanent Residency’ Card To Leave The Country

The United Kingdom (UK) has been forcing a woman with a ‘permanent residency card’ to leave the country. An Italian woman could be removed from Britain despite having a “permanent residency” card after Brexit.

According to a report by The Guardian, an Italian environmental technology investor lived in the UK for 14 years. She also worked in the UK. After the UK withdrawal from the European Union (EU) in 2020, things changed for her and for tens of thousands of EU citizens.

What happened to Italian woman in the UK?

The Italian woman is married to a British man. They have a baby girl with dual nationality. She applied for permanent residency in 2016. Despite having the card, she can be forced to leave the country under EU settlement rules.

Tens of thousands of EU citizens were unaware that the Home Office changed the immigration rules in 2019 requiring them to apply for a different scheme under EU settlement. Later on, they discovered that their permanent residency card was not valid.

They were asked to apply for the EU settlement scheme, which had officially closed in 2021. Migrants can submit late applications only on “reasonable grounds.”

Before Brexit – the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union – many people were living in the UK, some for decades with children and grandchildren. After Brexit, they are living in fear.

The Italian woman said, “I’ve been treated like a criminal.”

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UK permanent residency card

A person must need to live and work in the UK for 5 years to apply for a permanent residency card. The EU settlement gives migrants the right to live, work and study in the UK. They can also use the card to apply for British citizenship.

If you work in the UK, you can apply for a work visa. If you have family in the UK, you can apply for the visa and permanent residency.

The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and colloquially known as the Tories, views reducing immigration as a significant electoral issue. 

Migrant crisis in the UK

Last year, foreign workers criticized the UK farm labor scheme. They said that workers were living in a miserable condition without bathrooms and running water. They were subjected to “unacceptable” welfare conditions. 

The Bureau for Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and The Independent revealed that the UK’s agricultural workforce faced exploitation, including racism, wage theft and threats of being sent back home. 

Recently, the Home Office, a ministerial department of the British Government, announced that migrants need to earn £29k instead of £38k to bring family members to the UK. 

Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said, “Immigration is too high. Today, we’re taking radical action to bring it down.”