Statutory body expresses ‘serious concerns’ over difficulties faced by some applicants taking short trips abroad
EU citizens waiting for the Home Office to decide their pre-Brexit residency status should not be removed from the UK if they make a short return visit abroad for business, leisure or family matters, the statutory body for EU citizens’ rights has said.
The Independent Monitoring Authority for Citizens’ Rights Agreements (IMA) has written to the Home Office to express “serious concerns” about the difficulties applicants on the waiting list face if they leave the country.
Some have gone home to visit relatives, others have gone on holiday but found they were refused entry on return.
The IMA said on Monday that citizens who held a valid “certificate of application” (CoA), issued by the Home Office, could use their document to present to border force officials at airports or ports to show they had the right to travel.
