A long-serving Ipswich councillor who has lived in the UK for almost 40 years has had her application for a British passport rejected.
Inga Lockington is a familiar face to locals in her adopted town, having served as a Liberal Democrat councillor for 19 years and spent 2007/2008 as mayor of Ipswich.
Born in Denmark, she married a British doctor and moved to the UK in 1979, where she has lived ever since. Still active in politics, she is currently Suffolk County Council’s spokesperson for Adult and Community Care.
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Until a change in Danish law two years ago, applying for British citizenship would have required her to give up her Danish passport.
The repeal of the law against dual citizenship and the Brexit vote convinced Lockington the time was right to get a British passport, even though she had been given “leave to enter the United Kingdom for an indefinite period” on her arrival in 1979.
She was astonished when the Home Office rejected her application in January on the grounds that her lack of permanent resident card meant “we cannot be satisfied that you were permanently resident in the United Kingdom on the date of your application”.
“When I got the letter I felt so rejected and upset,” she told The Guardian.
The rejected application cost the veteran councillor £1,282.
She claims that she was never informed that she required a permanent residency card as an EU national with indefinite leave to remain.
Lockington says the Windrush scandal pushed her to come forward with her experience.
“I just felt I’ve got to tell my story because it’s so sad how the Home Office seems to try to refuse people if they can,” she said. “I think most people applying are doing it for the right reasons but the Home Office assumes we’re all bad. It’s the hostile environment Theresa May has created.”
Richard Thompson, of Ipswich Liberal Democrats, said that the situation was “ridiculous”.
“If someone who has been a councillor for 19 years can’t get the paperwork right, it suggests there is something wrong with the paperwork,” he said.
Across the political aisle, former Ipswich council leader Liz Harsant, a Conservative, also expressed her dismay.
“Whatever is the Home Office thinking of?” she told the Ipswich Star. “No one has contributed more to Ipswich life than Inga. I feel so sorry for her - she doesn’t deserve this.”
Immigration lawyer Solange Valdez-Symonds said on Twitter that Lockington did not fall under a 2016 change in the law which requires EU nationals to obtain a permanent resident card in order to naturalise.
The Home Office has said it will be in touch with Lockington to discuss her “routes to citizenship”.
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