EU news: UK plan for EU citizens rebuked as it doesn't work on iPhone
The chair of the Brexit Steering Group hosted a meeting with Home Office officials in Brussels, where he told the British representatives the Windrush scandal had created “additional anxiety” for EU citizens hoping to make the UK their home after Brexit. Britain has been working on a smartphone application in order to create an easy way for EU citizens to apply for settled status within the UK after Brexit However, after the meeting between MEPs and Home Office officials, it was revealed the application has presented a list of further concerns for Mr Verhofstadt and his parliamentary colleagues. The European Parliament has a formal veto over the final withdrawal agreement between the EU and UK, and will use the threat to demand maximum rights of EU citizens living in Britain.
EbS EU news: Post-Brexit application for EU citizens in UK doesn't yet work on iPhone
We have seen people in the UK for 30, 40, 50 years who have been treated appallingly Sophie Int Veld
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Verhofstadt said the EU Parliament is still pushing the UK to provide a “cost free” process of registration and only one registration per family. Mr Verhofstadt said: “A number of questions, requests and recommendations will be sent by the European Parliament to the UK authorities so to be sure that when the system will be in place in the end of 2018 it will be an easy system.” One of the question was surrounding the smartphone application, which has a serious flaw in the way it processes biometric data from new generation passports. Lib Dem MEP Catherine Bearder, who attended the meeting, raised the point the application will not fully work on Apple’s iPhone and EU citizens would have to borrow a device if they don’t use Android.
She suggested a Home Office representative had told MEPs in the meeting “some of it works on iPhone but you can borrow someone else’s Android to complete the registration”. Labour Party MEP Claude Moraes said Apple devices would not read the biometric chips in newer passports, with users instead having to photograph their documents instead. He added the “problem has been acknowledged” and the UK will have to “find a way around it”.