London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 23, 2025

EU citizens are allowed to visit Britain for a job interview, says minister

EU citizens are allowed to visit Britain for a job interview, says minister

Clarification of rules comes after a Spanish woman was locked in a holding room at Gatwick for 24 hours
EU citizens should not be detained or refused entry to the UK if they are coming to Britain for a job interview, the government has confirmed.

The clarification of post-Brexit immigration rules was issued just days after it emerged that a Spanish woman had been locked in a holding room at Gatwick for 24 hours after telling border officials she was in London for an interview.

After a parliamentary question by Labour MP Hilary Benn, the immigration minister Kevin Foster said that such a reason for a visa-free visit to the UK was within the law.

“A person may come to the UK under the visitor route for a job interview.” He added that “if successful they must leave the UK and obtain an entry clearance under a route which grants the right to work in the UK before starting the role”.

According to the government website, “general business activities” allowed include “attending meetings, conferences, seminars, interviews”.

Alarming stories emerged last week of EU citizens being handcuffed at British airports, made to sleep in parked vans or prevented from accessing medication after being denied entry into the country under Brexit rules.

Benn, who now chairs the independent Brexit body, the UK Trade & Business Commission, said “cases of heavy-handed treatment of EU citizens coming into the UK to seek work will do nothing to help address labour shortages, or build a more constructive relationship with our European partners.”

The intervention by Benn comes amid increasing concern over a looming 30 June deadline for EU citizens already in the country to apply for settled status.

More than 50 parliamentarians have written to Boris Johnson urging him to extend the 30 June cut off date.

They warned that even if only 1% of the estimated 4 million EU citizens resident in the UK failed to apply, tens of thousands of people would become undocumented and vulnerable to hostile environment policies on 1 July.

Neale Hanvey, the Alba party MP who coordinated the cross-party letter, said: “The UK government cannot claim to be extending a hand of friendship to the world when in the early days of Brexit, they remove rights and status from EU citizens who have simply missed an administrative deadline for settled status.”

The Home Office came under fire again on Monday in the House of Lords after a number of long-term British citizens with dual EU nationality expressed alarm at receiving letters from the Home Office, telling them they risk losing the right to work, benefits and free healthcare unless they apply for UK immigration status in the next six weeks.

In an exchange with Brexit minister Lord Frost, Labour peer Lord Faulkner of Worcester asked: “Are you not worried the Home Office database is hopelessly inaccurate, and this is causing quite needless pain and alarm for people whose presence in Britain we really value?”.

Frost said the letter had been sent out as part of a “sensible” proactive drive to remind as many people as possible that the cut-off date was imminent.

While there were no plans to extend the 30 June deadline, Frost told the committee that the UK government would be “extremely understanding if for good reasons, reasonable reasons, individual citizens don’t register. There may be many good reasons why they don’t and are late, and we will be as pragmatic about that as we can. But in the end there has to be a deadline.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×