A mother has been left stranded with her two-year-old daughter after a new passport rule that was ‘quietly introduced’ prevented them from flying back to the UK
Tegan van der Merwe and her two-year-old daughter travelled last year with no problems(Image: Tegan van der Merwe/GoFundMe)
A new passport rule left a mum and her two-year-old daughter stranded abroad with no way of getting home.
Tegan van der Merwe, 25, and her toddler were refused permission to fly back to the UK, despite living in Britain for more than two decades. Now they’re trapped in Mallorca and fear they could be there for weeks.
She said: “It’s a terrifying situation to be in with a young child – we’re not safe here. We had to find the cheapest place to stay next to a strip of drunk people because we are completely stranded.”
The mum, from Manchester, had travelled to Palma de Mallorca for a five-day holiday with her daughter. But she said they were stopped at immigration because they both travel on Dutch passports, despite her holding settled status and her daughter automatically qualifying for British citizenship after being born in the UK.
She said they were later told the problem stemmed from a rule introduced in February requiring British dual citizens to prove their right to live in the UK before travelling. Under the changes, travellers can no longer rely on a foreign passport alone and must instead carry a valid British passport or a Certificate of Entitlement.
Left with no way home, Tegan and her daughter were advised to visit the British Consulate in Palma. They have since been forced to leave their hotel and move into a cheaper self-catering apartment close to a busy strip near Magaluf left with no way home.
Tegan travelled to the consulate on Monday, catching buses before walking for more than an hour in the heat with her daughter. But she claimed she was met with a hostile response when she arrived.
She told the Daily Mail: “The consulate wouldn’t even open the door. I was told to speak to someone over the phone and put a Spanish address to get documents to apply for a British passport sent to me.
“We were also told we had to get photocopies of everything – which meant walking even further and getting buses to try and find a post office or library which had a printer.”
Tegan said she then paid 60 euros to send off the forms and feared she could now be stranded in Spain for up to six weeks while waiting for the passports to be processed. She now has little money left after spending much of it on the holiday, and is unable to earn an income while stuck overseas.
She said: “She has her ups and downs throughout the day, we’re just trying to make it as normal as we can for her. I’m just worrying about where the money is coming from, stressing about everything, and worrying that ultimately we could end up on the street if we don’t get help.”
The ordeal has also left Tegan facing problems back in the UK. She said she has been forced to hand in notice on the home she rents in Manchester because she cannot work while stranded abroad, and now expects to move in with her mother once they are eventually able to return.
The experience has left Tegan wanting to “renounce” both her and her daughter’s British citizenship after feeling completely “abandoned by the Government”.
She added: “I don’t want to live in the country anymore, the way we have been treated. It’s like we are criminals – why can a two-year-old not re-enter the country and at least be held and questioned there? It’s terrible.”