More and more Europeans are being stranded at the airport when they arrive in the UK and are sometimes being sent back after being held for hours, if not days, for inspection. If in the first three quarters of 2019, that is, before Brexit, just over 2,200 people from the European Union were rejected at the border, in the same period in 2023 this number rose to 11,600, according to Home Office data. In fact, the number of rejected German citizens increased fivefold from 80 in the whole of 2019 to 411 in the year ending September 2023. During the same period, the number of French citizens rejected at the border increased from 92 to 426.
This data shows the impact of the end to free movement following the divorce from Brussels, but also raises some questions about the seriousness of border enforcement officers, given that the agreement between the EU and the UK still allows all citizens to travel freely for six months. visa-free to the island and up to 90 days within a 180-day period to Britons in Europe. The freedom for EU citizens to enter the UK to work, live, study or retire ended on 1 January 2021, following Brexit.
As The Guardian recalls, in the summer of 2021 it became clear that border authorities’ discretion to refuse entry to EU citizens was being enforced so harshly that travelers were locked up or deported. Many travelers admitted they were confused about post-Brexit rules but had suffered traumatic experiences: A Spanish woman was sent to immigration detention for three days because she thought she could come to the UK to look for work, as she used to do. .
Following mounting criticism of the Home Office, Border Force has been given revised guidance to grant special permission rather than detention where possible. Thanks to the deposit payment, citizens are allowed to enter the country, provided that they leave within the allowed three months. One of the reasons why people are often turned back at the border is that since October 2021, EU citizens have had to show their passports and ID cards are no longer as valid for travel as they used to be. The only exceptions to this can be made for immigrants with “settled” status, which is permanent residence, or “pre-settled”, which is granted to those who entered the country to work before Brexit. However, this exception will expire by the end of 2025.
According to the British newspaper, Romania is the country whose citizens are rejected the most at ports and airports. Border forces denied entry to 1,376 Romanians in 2019; Then, in 2021, the year following Brexit, the number of rejections rose to just under 10,000, falling to just under 8,000 in 2022. Bulgaria recorded the second highest increase in rejections. Since 2019, it has increased from 143 in 2019 to 1,345 in the year to September 2023.
Continue reading at Europa.Today.it
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
