British teenager stranded in Rome for six weeks over British passport rule shake-up for dual-citizens

A bureaucratic nightmare has left a teenager stranded overseas for six weeks, missing school.

In April, the unnamed 15-year-old from the UK visited her grandmother in Italy before she found herself stuck because of a newly introduced passport rule, which came into effect in February.

Under the rule, British dual nationals are required to have their British passport on them — current or expired — to re-enter the country.

If they are unable to do so, they risk being denied boarding of planes, ships, trains, or other modes of international transport.

In lieu of a passport, a “certificate of entitlement” can also be presented, but it comes with a £589 ($A1,134) price tag.

The girl’s father, Rowan Somerville, described the ordeal to The Guardian, criticising the British Home and Foreign offices.

“The embassy, the Home Office and the Foreign Office bounced us from one to another,” he said.

“They are playing with people’s lives, a child’s education. It is loathsome.”

The 15-year-old was forced to miss more than a month of education, prompting her school to contact the government as they were “increasingly concerned about her prolonged absence from education”.

Because she had never had a British passport, the Home Office could not issue a temporary passport for the teenager, Mr Somerville said.

The father said the local MP became involved as well, which eventually led to an emergency travel document being issued.

“Despite having a British parent, two valid passports, and having been at school in the UK since nursery, changes to Home Office rules resulted in her being stuck in Rome and missing six weeks of school,” he said.

“Thankfully, we were able to help and she’s now at home and back in school, but unfortunately this was not an isolated case, and it raises serious concerns about how government departments communicate policy changes once they’ve been introduced – and support those who have slipped through the net.”

Mr Somerville said that he had been met by “remarkable kindness” from the frontline workers at the passport office but a wall of “stupidity” was reached once it was escalated higher.

He described the whole process as a bureaucratic nightmare, which came to a head when he was told by a senior official that they could no longer communicate with Mr Somerville as his daughter had turned 16.

“I told them I had spoken to 14 different people in their office and, instead of resolving the complaint, they were phoning me to tell me they couldn’t speak to me. It beggars belief,” he said.

“This is the kind of general circumlocution that goes on, the sheer lack of intelligent use of manpower.

“They should be focusing on real cases, which need effort.

“The frontline customer staff are very kind. But it is not their fault they are impotent.”

According to The Guardian, Mr Somerville’s child is not the first to be left high and dry because of the new rules; with other minors being stuck in Denmark, and a woman in Spain.

The Home Office has been criticised for its poor communication of the new rule.

A spokesperson for the Home Office told the masthead that the teenager “was granted an emergency travel document in May, enabling them to return to the UK”.

“We also remained in contact regarding a passport application, and once the required information was received and checks were concluded, a passport was issued within eight days,” they said.

The spokesperson added that “all dual British citizens have needed to present either a valid British passport or certificate of entitlement when travelling to the UK. Without one, carriers cannot verify British citizenship, which may lead to delays or refused boarding.”

They did not answer questions about a minor being stranded overseas, nor the impact on education.