Home Office sued over removal of rights from nearly 1,500 EU citizens

Campaign group the3million has lodged papers at the High Court suing the Home Office over its removal of some or all rights to live in the UK from almost 1,500 EU citizens with pre-settled status.

The group alleges the policy breaches the Brexit withdrawal agreement because decisions to remove rights were made without the agreement’s required procedural protections, including a right of appeal and an assessment of proportionality.

According to the statement of claim, those protections would establish whether removal of rights was appropriate given that affected citizens had built their lives in the UK based on the Home Office’s original decisions.

Among those affected was a 33-year-old Brazilian Italian engineer who has lived in London since 2018. He was initially told he should not have settled status and that, while he could stay, his Brazilian wife could not. The decision was reversed in the last few weeks after objections were raised.

Another EU citizen who took her case to the3million works for the NHS and is studying for a PhD in dentistry. She said the Home Office notification had “turned her life upside down”.

In October 2026, the Home Office accepted that evidence of Italian citizenship, together with evidence that it was obtained through jure sanguinis, would be enough for it to accept that a person was Italian from birth. Previously, it had told some Brazilian Italians their status was granted “in error” because they had not submitted an Italian passport with their application and had only stated that they were Italian citizens.

Monique Hawkins, acting CEO of the3million, said: “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.”

The group is asking the court to declare the “grant in error policy” unlawful under the withdrawal agreement and/or common law, and to order the removal of the offending parts of the published policy.

Several cases involved Brazilians with Italian parents or grandparents. Under Italian law, they are Italian by birth, but the Home Office alleged they were not Italian because they did not have an Italian passport when they applied. Some said they could not obtain an Italian passport because public institutions were in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Home Office has previously faced legal action over its implementation of the withdrawal agreement. In 2022, the Independent Monitoring Authority, backed by the3million, accused the Home Office of putting EU citizens at risk of losing their rights to work or rent a home by forcing them to reapply for settled status once their pre-settled status expired. High Court judges ruled in the IMA’s favour, concluding the conditions imposed by the Home Office were unlawful.

A Home Office spokesperson said they could not comment as proceedings were ongoing.

Sources

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