Post-Brexit Britain is no country for very old Italian immigrant, Antonio Finelli, asked to prove he is a resident after living almost 70 years within its shores

Antonio Finelli, who is 95 years old and came to Britain 68 years ago in 1952, when he was 28 years old has now, in post-Brexit, been asked by the Home Office to give proof of his residency or face deportation. He came to Britain in answer an appeal for immigrant labour as part of the post- Second World War reconstruction effort and remembers that he was welcomed with one week’s advance wages and a sandwich when he arrived at Folkestone Harbour.

It is not as if Antonio has lived below the state radar : he has paid his taxes and has been drawing his state pension for 30 years. He has now been asked to prove that he had been in the country for five consecutive years when he applied for the 'EU Settlement Scheme' and the Home Office app said it could not find any record of him. He said : “It was a surprise because I have had the Aliens’ Certificate,” referring to the document given to immigrants who came to the country between 1918 and 1957.

This has necessitated him supplying 80 pages of bank statements. It perplexed him because “I’ve been receiving the pension and working all my life so I don’t understand why I have to provide these bank statements.” Antonio's case highlights concerns over stress and anxiety being caused to old and vulnerable men and women, many of whom do not understand why they are being asked for paperwork at this stage of their lives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=Q6GJ2T-Jesc&feature=emb_logo

Dimitri Scarlato, a volunteer at Inca CGIL, an advice centre for Italian citizens in Islington, North London said : "He is a good fellow, a good citizen and came before freedom of movement, but still has the burden of providing proof of residence. He has been here all these years but the system treats him as if he doesn’t exist. Why?” Antonio himself said : “It is wrong.” Of his family, his wife and only son have died, but he is worried about the security of his grandchildren. “Will they be OK?” he asked the volunteer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=Q6GJ2T-Jesc&feature=emb_logo&t=0m41s

Dimitri said he has had more than 100 applications where records cannot be found. “I’ve processed around 500 applications and half of them are for elderly people. Half these people have not been found by the system and it asks them to prove their residency even though the Department for Work and Pension has been sending out pensions and have been here since the 1950s and 1960s. Imagine an elderly person who doesn’t have his name on any bill and has no proof of residence and they have been here all these years and they get to their 80s and 90s and are asked to prove they have been here for five years. Mr Finelli will be fine because he has come to the centre, but what if you are living alone and vulnerable or in the middle of nowhere and don’t know where to go?”

Antonio is not alone in facing this ordeal. Last week it emerged that a 101-year-old, Giovanni Palmiero, who coincidentally knew Finelli as a child in Italy, had been told to get his parents to apply on his behalf because the Home Office system thought he was a one-year-old.

Dimitri thinks the problem arises because DWP records are not digitised and said : "We have tried to raise this with the Home Office because we are seeing many elderly people come in whose records cannot be found.” He said he has had more than 100 applications where records cannot be found. “I’ve processed around 500 applications and half of them are for elderly people. Half these people have not been found by the system and it asks them to prove their residency even though the Department for Work and Pension has been sending out pensions and have been here since the 1950s and 1960s. Imagine an elderly person who doesn’t have his name on any bill and has no proof of residence and they have been here all these years and they get to their 80s and 90s and are asked to prove they have been here for five years. Mr Finelli will be fine because he has come to the centre, but what if you are living alone and vulnerable or in the middle of nowhere and don’t know where to go?” 

Alberto Costa, a Member of Parliament and longtime champion of EU citizens, said he had, in the past, repeatedly “raised with ministers the expected problem with digital records for vulnerable and elderly people who may need to prove their residence even though they have been here for 50 to 60 years”.

In response to and enquiry by the Guardian newspaper, a Home Office spokesperson said : "That the vast majority of applicants don’t have to provide additional evidence, but when it’s needed there is a vast range of evidence people can submit, including doctor’s notes, payslips and letters from charities.” By "vast majority", read 75%. Antonio is just one confused old man in the remaining 25%

Post-Brexit Britain : hard, bureaucratic and unloving.