A 95-year-old Italian man who has been in the UK for 68 years has been asked to prove he is resident in the country by the Home Office in order to remain after Brexit, despite receiving the state pension for the past 32 years.
Piergue_EU 68 anni in UK e non ha voluto prendere la cittadinanza? bravo...
guyverhofstadt Why would he ever want to stay there. Horrible regime.
guyverhofstadt Common sense flashed down the toilet.
When we are born in this country we HAVE to be registered. When we die, we are again registered. If people are living in this country & through no fault to themselves, they have to prove they have right to be here-and registered, it’s no different to us native people.
DeniseDoris59 Well if he’s lived here that long it should not be difficult. Drivers license, council tax bills, electric and gas bills, BT bills rent or mortgage there’s many ways so what’s the problem ?
We never joined Schengen. Passports have been required since........... always.
guyverhofstadt Bloody right too. Don’t care how long he’s been here, he could be here illegally, in which case, deport him. Sorry. Firm but fair. 🇬🇧👍🏻
Same happens to me. Every time. Because I was born in India, as an Indian Citizen. Moved here as a child, and subsequently - in my 20s - aquited British Citizenship. Seems very fair to me to verify entitlement to free treatment.
guyverhofstadt Guy, please let Scotland have a referendum, you could include it in your brexit negotiations.
guyverhofstadt Don’t see the pb! This is administration.
guyverhofstadt Guy again stones and glass houses come to mind ! Look after your own door step and butt out of the UK 🇬🇧
And this is what Brexit and Boris Johnson are all about - xenophobia and racism. Putin, Donald and Boris - almost unbelievable, but unfortunately too real.
What is happening to our country?
guyverhofstadt Shouldn't be a problem for him then eh, I bet you won't report when the EU start deporting British ex-pats.
Prove it old boy!
Shameful.
guyverhofstadt Nothing wrong with proving who you are !!! If he has then no problem, authorities are allowed to ask.....or are they?
zananeichan 😢
guyverhofstadt Should be the easiest thing in the world if he has been here that long. I don’t see the issue here. Simple request that can be settled immediately!
A resident for 68 years and he never applied for citizenship? Being asked to prove his residency is hardly an outrage. Do you think every government official at every level is aware of this individual man's life story?
Can the entire staff of the Home Office prove they have a brain cell, between them?
guyverhofstadt Just proves what a bloody mess GB government is in, the English government took 3 weeks to send my birth certificate because I needed that in Germany. My husbands birth certificate from Scotland took 5 days from payment to delivery to us in Germany and half the price.
Welcome to the Tory Government.
What is wrong with this country
guyverhofstadt I have been living in the UK for 20 years and also had to prove. I am glad I did and I am proud of it. I have always worked my way and did my best to integrate with the natives. I have nothing to hide or fear. Buckle up guyverhofstadt .
And
guyverhofstadt Any doubts that the WA does not protect at all EU27 citizens rights?
These ignorant comments on this post. Embarrassing.
If the government wants him to prove it then let him just prove it. As far as I know application for a 'Settled status' is pretty straightforward. Anyone who is not British should have to prove their right to be in the UK - simple. It's not in any way discriminatory or racist..
guyverhofstadt
guyverhofstadt What’s exactly the problem about that?
guyverhofstadt Look, I had the same problem, I proved it, I was granted settled status. I’ve been her 24 years. This country has been wonderful to me, that’s why I hate to see it divided and going backwards because a bunch of ppl choose to believe a bunch of lies.
We all have to prove who we are when its required , whats the problem !
guyverhofstadt
guyverhofstadt Welcome to Little Britain. It’s getting just a little bit smaller each day!
guyverhofstadt He has proved it, so what is the problem?
guyverhofstadt Absolutely disgraceful 😡
guyverhofstadt That's a depressing meatball :(
guyverhofstadt 'Home Office app' - that's the problem right there. Government IT is notoriously poor; and I've seen a lot of it in 30+ years in the industry.
guyverhofstadt This isn't the grave injustice the libtard fools are making it out to be. He is only being asked to prove who he is. We all have to do that when we pick up a parcel from the post office. It's not like he's being deported. The remoaners and libtards are just being hysterical again
And our idiots thought we were capable of taking back control.
guyverhofstadt Well if he’s been a resident for 68years he’ll not have a problem will he? Not sure why this is newsworthy. He’s obviously emigrated prior to the EU/EEA so will have his immigration papers...
guyverhofstadt 95! He looks in better nick than the one toothed Donkey Verhofstadt.
guyverhofstadt Should be very easy so I don’t see the problem
guyverhofstadt I call bullshit on this one.
guyverhofstadt 37 year old British man applies for a new bank account giving his address, told to prove it.
This man is 95 yrs old - had an immigration cert, has paid taxes & been in receipt of state pension. Must be costing more in admin to pursue additional proof (how much do you need), than to take a pragmatic view - save time, cost & negative press - saving this man undue stress.
Who gets paid to do this
Well, that will be easy...bills, rent, and rates, mortgage, employment and wages, bank accounts, GP, neighbours, children, etc. But I agree, disgraceful Mr B! Guardian
Does he speak English?
For crying out loud
Yes?
On this occasion (there are plenty of others that aren't) it sounds more like a 'computer says no' problem than anything more sinister. A large amount of people have signed up to the scheme relatively easily and it remains far, far easier than any application from outside the EU.
And?
That’s what we get after fighting ID cards for decades.
Deport him . Brexit
Shouldn't be hard then I guess?
Thank you for publicising this. It's appalling. SonoAntonio UK68 LifeDuringWartime
Because I can, I WILL make people prove they have a right to live in my country!
Surely with his National Insurance No and a quick look on their searchlight system or through their clerical records, if not on computer, the DWP would flag up his residency and state pension in minutes avoiding the need to antagonise this gentleman!!
I never knew the home office even questioned anyone who wasn’t from the Caribbean islands..
Rules are rules.
Simon_Pegg Appalling
It's poor administration and not Boris = Hitler. He's been paid a state pension for 32 years so this record should have been cross-refetenced.
alan_matts Shameful UK! Vergogna !
Wonder how many of these people asking why he never applied for citizenship have looked up the expensive and convoluted application process for doing so.
Simply ridicolous....
robmacksmith ....
Can he? Prove it?
Surely with his National Insurance No and a quick look on their searchlight system or through their clerical records, if not on computer, the DWP would flag up his residency and state pension in minutes avoiding the need to antagonise this gentleman!!
This man has probably put more taxes into this country than a lot of born and bred Englanders who claim benefits and are on their arse.. this country is officially a cess pit
The replies here just show what the hell us wrong with this country lately, if someone has contributed to society trouble free for 68 years they shouldn’t need proof of how they got here on the first place.
Wow
Weird. I could swear a few days ago you basically posted the same story about a 100-something year old italian man. Are we going to make stories about every single person the system mistakenly flags? All in the aim of firing people up against the government?
I was born here but still have to give details of national insurance number etc... so it's just more fake news.
The English government is really poisoning the well of civilisation. Burning all their bridges for the future. Idiots
He needs to register like anyone else end of.
I've been me for 44 years and still get asked to prove it occasionally. Bloody liberty I tell you!
Surprised that Finelli didn't have any hyper-realistic portraits of his late parents at hand.
I would have thought being white gave him a free pass. Show them two fingers, Sir! What’s the worst that can happen? May you live long and content in this beautiful country with a rapidly growing ugly xenophobes.
Sounds like the Indian NRC in Assam. The UK has become a third world state concerning the human rights. But hey, half of the British public who voted for Brexit doesn't really care about that.....until they wake up one day finding that their rights have been taken away from them!
Well brexit has consequences...
this is a joke why not just kick out these damn so called refugee's freeloading from us we don't need it
If my 86 y.o. mother had to go through this rigmarole it might give her another stroke. And I see from some dismissive/spiteful comments on this that the 'consider the impact on someone's mental health' stuff has already fallen by the wayside. Didn't take long, did it?
Shouldn’t be a problem the as would have records with HMRC. Payslips, mortgage, NHS records etc.
The number of numpties that comment without reading the full article always amazes me. Shame we cant deport all numpties. Wait a moment isn't that what Downing St is advocating now eith its Eugenics advisors?!!!
How does one prove that? He's been here a lot longer than I have been alive. I have a jaunty British accent and can recite the first line of God save the King. 😬 can I stay now?
What is this shit? The tories aren't even hiding they're xenophobia and racism. Disgusting.
In these days of who can and who can't, wouldn't it have been a good idea to have a Resident ID system, like other progressive countries.... Unfortunately the days of 'trusting' people to do the right thing have long gone.
I'm gonna take a wild guess and assume the ignorant / Heartless replies are from Conservatives
Just incredible...is this what “taking back our country” means? Shameful.
Surely a bit of joining up of Government/local authority records would solve all this. He gets a state pension, he probably pays income tax, probably pays council tax, probably attends a surgery etc etc and will have done all this for years.
He's probably been in the UK longer than the people asking him to prove how long he's been in the UK.
Brexit is a big JOKE! The Brits will find out soon!
Who'd believe it
Convenient that the Home Office cannot find records. WTF are they playing at? - does this Gov get off on destroying lives? - ah yes, that's exactly what they do, and have been doing for years!!
In 2006 Home Secretary John Reid said that the Home Office was 'not fit for purpose'. Looks like nothing has changed on that score in the past 14 years. They need to hire people with some common sense, not just those who can pass exams.
That's why governments/organizations should adopt a more progressive approach towards cross-departmental information sharing and cooperation. If they succeed in doing that, they will save everyone a lot of time for administrative stuff, thus make everyone happy.
Point being we voted to Leave the EU 4 years ago so it was on the cards wasn't it? So he (or whoever looked after him) might have put some evidence together. Some poor Home Office person just had to follow the law & now you're blowing it up cynically
How things are in this country right now I’d happily be deported to Italy.
The government is wrong to treat him this way
If he’s been here for 68 years he should have enough evidence. Everybody needs to calm down.
Should be quite easy to do then?
So he thought sending the Home Office a copy of his pension book was too much trouble but not arranging an interview and photo session with the Guardian ? Chippy left wing activist
Why is he not a UK citizen? Should become mandatory if you’ve lived here longer the five years.
A great number of us, if asked to 'prove it' beyond ANY doubt, would fail You have a birth certificate, prove it's actually you You were married, prove it, and prove the ancestry of your spouse You worked here for 40 years, prove it was you who turned up each day......
lisaocarroll what a complete mess all this is - it would be funny if it wasn't so serious
Got to question every one. Was he here legally
In NZ for five years. Got work visa. Got permanent residence. Going for citizenship next year. Why can't non Brits do the equivalent same in Britain?
🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Utility bills
TiernanDouieb It’s not unfair to ask anyone who who doesn’t hold a British passport to prove they have the right to live here.
Just to add, surely it took more time going to the press, than filling in a simple form and providing basic proof, which if he had lived here for soooooo long he would have easily to hand! Why the outrage remainiacs?
But this is what every Leaver voted for, to get rid of anyone whose family tree has links to any other country or who came to live here, however long ago.
What’s the problem? Send them a council tax bill / or other utility bills......don’t see the issue.
Would have thought after 68 years the guy would have applied for citizenship, no?
ouch thats not good
Regardless of ages you need to go through the same hoops, that's only fair. The problem here is that he had his pension for decades but the 'computer says no' mentality from the civil service, with no common sense applied is the real issue. Just tick the box and let him in.
I need to renew my passport. Form takes about 10 mins to fill in and I have to prove that I previously held a passport. Imagine my outrage!!!! And Im British! Bloody Tories making people fill in forms and submitting proof.
So?
So if he has been here for that long, it will be pretty straightforward to produce evidence required... whats the problem? Oh yeah buthurt remainiacs!
Welcome to Conservatives Britain. No respect, care, empathy or gratitude. BorisJohnson only cares about himself and the vested interests he represents
It takes a few mins on the website so can’t see what the big deal is. In fact the home office will even arrange for someone to do the leg work (such as it is) for him. So next item of non news?
This just in from The Guardian: An immigrant man was asked to provide his residential status.. Shock horror. So he shows them some paperwork and they say 'Ok great, thanks.' end of. They try so hard to frame this as some heinous injustice bless their little cotton socks.. 😂
Bureaucratic error triggers corporate slime machine.
Seems fair 🙄
Tory fascists.
Stories like this make me sad 😔 hope he’s ok
And?
And why not?
Who voted for the crap?
Britain More like America 2.0 🤮
rmholdsworth Wow!
How can a government be this stupid!!
I feel this is more to do with the quality of civil servant than the Government. Let’s be honest, there is very little chance of somebody who has lived in the UK for 70 years to be deported.
I'm glad my mum's not here to see this - I'm afraid she would've had to do the same despite having been a legal resident here since 1946. If we judged someone eligible for a state pension more than 30 years ago, and paid it to them, we must have enough proof already, surely?
He needs to arrive on a beach landing
I wonder if Dippy Patel is getting coached by the BJP
Most the these issues will be dismissed quickly I expect but I understand that for the elderly it will cause duress. Being asked to ‘apply to stay’ after living and contributing for decades is nefarious.
He been a here a long a time.
Absolutely disgusting. Vile that this should happen to this man.
Do you remember when you were innocent until proven guilty? When it was the prosecution’s job to prove you guilty, not the defence’s job to prove you innocent. 🧐
I had to do that in California too! Now I have a real ID and am free to move about the country.
Crazy . No care or compassion for a 95 yr old . Vile.
The backlash of a sad country
Why hasn’t he applied for Citizenship if he’s been here that long?
I'm not really sure what the problem is... my parents get the pension and they haven't lived in the UK since the 70s. Sure, filling in paperwork is a pain but this is hardly an outrage. 'Old man has to fill in form.' *shakes fist*
Brexiteers are ignorant, anti-human fools who've been duped by lies and propaganda of Tory's and UKIP. This sort of nonsense will only get worse until Tory's are shown the door.
The world is going crazy.
Yeah prove it Italian man
The humane face of the Tories. Bless them.
Every day we get more & more evidence that BorisJohnson BrexitShambles administration does not care one little bit about millions of people that live & work in the UK, nor do they care about how dysfunctional the Home Office is. A disgrace, like so much else in the UK.
A British officer using a Bengali woman to carry him. Photo from sub-continent dates 1940 That’s brits for you
oh here it comes
So prove it.
Supply the evidence and stop whining.
Well the things are kinda same in india
The injustice . How did he cope?
Welcome to Tory Britain.
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