This is not the first occasion the government has faced litigation regarding its implementation of post-Brexit treaties, following a 2022 legal defeat against the Independent Monitoring Authority, which was supported by campaign group the3million when High Court judges declared unlawful the requirement for EU residents to reapply for settled status. Building on that legal victory, the advocacy organization lodged formal papers at the High Court on Friday to launch a new challenge against the ministry. The action aims to protect nearly 1,500 European Union citizens who have been stripped of their full rights to live in the UK after authorities claimed their initial legal permissions were granted in “error”.
Among those impacted by the administrative decision is a healthcare worker in the NHS pursuing a PhD in dentistry, who described how the official notification had “turned her life upside down”. Another affected individual is a 33-year-old engineer with Brazilian and Italian heritage who has resided in London since 2018. Officials initially informed him he lacked entitlement to settled status and declared that his Brazilian spouse could not remain, a stance the department reversed in recent weeks following formal pushback. Many of those targeted are individuals of Italian lineage who faced difficulties acquiring physical passports when public administrative centers shut down during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the statement of claim, government officials revoked or reduced resident entitlements without implementing the mandatory “procedural protections” stipulated in the Brexit deal. These essential guarantees require an independent right of appeal alongside a formal evaluation of “proportionality” to determine whether canceling legal permissions is justified when individuals established their lives in Great Britain relying on original official approvals. Consequently, the legal petition requests that judges declare the “grant in error policy is unlawful, by breach of the WA and/or common law” and issue instructions to “excise the offending parts of the published policy”.
In October 2026, the Home Office conceded that individuals submitting proof of Italian ancestry alongside documentation of jure sanguinis would be formally recognized as Italian citizens from birth. Monique Hawkins, the acting chief executive officer of the3million, highlighted that this reversal demonstrates the department’s ability to adjust rules when faults are exposed. Criticizing the ministry’s posture, Hawkins stated: “The Home Office is putting the cart before the horse. It denies people the safeguards the withdrawal agreement guarantees – a fair assessment and a right of appeal – because it says they are ‘clearly’ not covered by the agreement. That’s like saying someone doesn’t need a trial because they’re ‘clearly’ guilty.” She added: “This is a simple matter of providing proper due process. Despite our advocacy efforts since early 2025, the Home Office refused to change course, so we have no option but to challenge the policy in court.”
Legal advisers argue that the current complications were compounded by the UK’s decision to structure its post-Brexit residence system with lower evidential thresholds than the baseline treaty requirements. Hawkins explained that “Grants were also made through processes involving evidential flexibility and, in some cases, discretionary decision-making.” Elaborating on the systemic confusion, Hawkins noted: “As a result, many status holders cannot know, and are given no means of knowing, whether their status was granted because they satisfied the substantive requirements of the WA, because they satisfied the requirements of Appendix EU as a matter of domestic law, because a caseworker exercised evidential flexibility or discretion in their favour, or because the grant was genuinely erroneous.” A spokesperson for the Home Office stated that the department could not provide remarks while court proceedings were actively underway.
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