Joao Rocha Goncalves Da Silva, a 45-year-old man from Portugal who has worked as a plumber in the United Kingdom since 2001, risks being deported after almost 20 years of living in the country, with the reason for his potential deportation being related to issues filing an application for the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS).
According to the Guardian, Da Silva’s lawyer has said that Da Silva’s case can serve as evidence for the hostile environment policy that the UK has towards EU citizens.
I’m scared the Home Office will send me back to Portugal. My parents are dead, and I have nobody left there now. I consider the UK to be my home, and my boss is my family.
His boss, Domenic Tomeo, who hired Da Silva in 2007, says the Portuguese plumber is like family to him.
Da Silva tried to apply for EUSS through the Hom Office app in 2019, but his Portuguese ID card was not scanned; regardless of the fact that he applied for a new ID card, he still was unable to scan his documents.
He also tried to apply online, but he was unable to do so because he did not have the correct devices, prompting him to contact the Home Office for more information. However, due to his speech impediment, Da Silva was not understood by the people at the Home Office.
After finally finding a community organisation to help him submit an application, he did so on November 7, but it was rejected just over two weeks later.
Despite Da Silva explaining that he had submitted the late application because of issues related to his speech impediment, this reason was not considered a reasonable ground for the delay by the officials, who listed 11 points of measures that awaited Da Silva, as he is considered to be staying unlawfully in the country.
Some of the things that can happen to Da Silva include fines, detention, imprisonment, or even being banned from the UK. In addition, he cannot appeal against the rejection.
Naga Kandiah, Da Silva’s lawyer, has started a legal challenge against the rejection, saying that it does not align with the EU withdrawal agreement. She also called on the Home Office to accept her client’s application and allow a right of appeal for specific cases such as this one.
Mr Da Silva is a long-term resident of the United Kingdom with a clear entitlement to remain here under the withdrawal agreement. His case shows the risk that EU citizens who have been lawfully resident for many years may suddenly find themselves stripped of their rights overnight. The Home Office needs to carefully consider its approach to avoid another scandal comparable to Windrush.
The Home Office made criteria more stringent for what is considered reasonable grounds in late applications.
During August, there were 9,470 applications deemed “invalid,” marking a threefold increase compared to the monthly average of 2,943 in previous months. In September, the number of invalid applications surged to 13,930, nearly quintupling the previous monthly average.
