British authorities have acknowledged that permanent status was granted in error to an Italian engineer who has been living in the country since 2018, as a result of which his wife has lost the right to remain in the UK with him, The Guardian writes.

The 33-year-old Fabio came to London to complete his doctoral dissertation, after which he built a career in the energy and climate change sector. After Brexit, he obtained settled status under the scheme granting status to EU citizens who had been living in the UK before the country left the European Union.

However, in April the Home Office informed him that the status had been granted “in error.” The department said that the documents Fabio had submitted were insufficient to confirm his Italian citizenship before the Brexit cut-off date of 31 December 2020.

At the same time, the British authorities did not deprive Fabio himself of the right to reside. However, they stated that he is no longer considered an EEA citizen entitled to sponsor family members. As a result, his wife, who has been with him in the UK since his arrival in the country, lost the grounds to live there as a family member of a settled status holder.

“We did everything by the rules and always felt welcome here,” Fabio said. According to him, the situation became especially difficult at the moment when the couple were planning to start a family and buy their own home.

Fabio, whose name has been changed, is one of at least 100 people who received notices from the UK Home Office stating that their status under the EU Settlement Scheme had been granted in error. A review of his case reportedly began after his wife, a Brazilian citizen, applied for status under the same program.

Fabio himself was born in Brazil but has held dual citizenship — Brazilian and Italian — since birth. When submitting his application, he provided a document issued by the Italian consulate confirming his Italian citizenship. British officials now require him to prove that he was already an Italian citizen before the end of the post-Brexit transition period.

Cambridge University professor of EU law Catherine Barnard called the case surprising and suggested that the Home Office’s actions could lead to the creation of a two-tier system of rights for EU citizens.

According to her, such a practice may contradict the UK-EU withdrawal agreement, which provides for the protection of citizens’ rights. Barnard stressed that the state cannot preserve one set of rights for a person while simultaneously depriving them of the related family rights.

The rights group the3million also warned about the consequences of revising previously made decisions. The organization’s acting chief executive, Monique Hawkins, said that such actions could affect entire families and lead to an abrupt loss of rights without the necessary proportionality assessment.

The Independent Monitoring Authority for citizens’ rights under the Brexit agreement also expressed concern over the Home Office’s actions. The body received a request with questions about the review of previously approved applications and the possible incompatibility of such a practice with the UK-EU withdrawal agreement.

Fabio’s lawyer, Mala Savjani, said she does not understand why the authorities are paying special attention to EU citizens with dual nationality. According to her, when considering such cases, the Home Office is sometimes forced to draw unverified conclusions about the complex citizenship laws of other European countries.

The UK Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases, but rejected claims that the withdrawal agreement had been breached. According to the department, people who were granted the above-mentioned status in error are not persons whose rights are protected by that agreement and must independently prove that they meet the requirements for obtaining status.