Proving status
EU citizens do not have physical proof of our immigration status.
Instead, consider what happens if someone wants to prove their right to work to a prospective employer:
- They first need to access their status via a website, by providing their passport / ID number and some security questions.
- They then fill in the employer’s email address, the system attempts to send an email with a code to the employer.
- The employer then needs to find another website, enter the code along with some security information, and finally sees a screen with a photograph and proof that the citizen has a right to work - not very simple right?
We argue this is unacceptable, see our briefings:
What has been the government's response?
A petition to demand physical documents as proof of settled and pre-settled status was rejected by the Government, with their main argument being “The EU Settlement Scheme protects the rights of EU citizens in UK law and gives them a secure digital status, which unlike a physical document, cannot be lost, stolen, damaged or tampered with”. We provide a lengthy solid rebuttal of their response here, for those of you interested in the detail.
We all know the risks of digital-only systems, almost daily we experience and read about systems being temporarily unavailable, hacked, records breached. But even more shockingly, we have already seen specific problems with settled status.
There is the case of a Dutch woman whose settled status photograph was swapped for a different photo, without her knowledge or consent. Her status was tampered with.
There is the case of a German citizen who checked their settled status one day and found the photograph had completely disappeared. Their status was damaged.
This citizen then tried to check that they would still be able to access their right-to-work check – it failed! Their status was lost for all practical purposes.
The error message stated that they need instead to use their backup physical proof – EU passport or national identity card, or biometric residence card. After 2020, this will no longer be an option.
A digital only status is a recipe for disaster, which will cause widespread discrimination and anxiety. There are many in our society who struggle with digital skills - these government approved statistics show 22% of people do not have the Essential Digital Skills needed for day-to-day life in the UK. Some citizens are being helped to get status, but are then not able to access that status when they need it without needing further help.
We want a status that is ours - with proof that we can hold in our hands – not a status that could disappear or be altered or tampered with by the Home Office or malign agents without our knowledge or consent.
