Tegan van der Merwe, 25, and her two-year-old daughter are trapped in Mallorca after being refused permission to fly back to the UK, despite living in Britain for more than two decades. The pair travelled on Dutch passports but were stopped at immigration because of a rule introduced in February requiring British dual citizens to prove their right to live in the UK before travelling.
New Passport Rule Causes Chaos
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. Tegan, from Manchester, had travelled to Palma de Mallorca for a five-day holiday with her daughter. She said they were stopped at immigration and later told the problem stemmed from the new rule.
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.
Consulate Response Criticised
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.”
She added: “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.”
Financial and Emotional Strain
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.”
Impact on Life Back in UK
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.”
