A woman legally settled in the UK for eight years was left stranded at a Spanish airport after the country's eVisa system mixed up her digital identity with that of her identical twin sister. Nidia Webb was trying to fly back to the UK when border control could not validate her status.
Webb said her digital settled status had become linked to her twin sister's details rather than her own, meaning the system could not match her documentation to her actual identity. She was told it was a known technical issue affecting some twins within the Home Office system.
By her own account, Webb spent hours on the phone trying to sort out the problem before she was finally allowed to board. The email confirming the issue had been fixed was mistakenly sent to her twin sister's inbox instead of her own, so Webb only learned her case had been resolved when airport staff let her onto the plane.
"I had no idea the issue had been corrected until I was allowed to board my flight home," Webb said. "Had I not spent hours on the phone trying to resolve the matter, I have no idea how long I could have remained stranded abroad."
A Home Office spokesperson said more than ten million people have already used the eVisa system without incident, and that errors are rare and mostly resolved within 24 hours. Migrant advocacy groups have nonetheless questioned the reliability of the digital system, which replaced the older physical residency permits.
Monique Hawkins of the3million called the eVisa rollout rushed and warned that up to 200,000 people could be at risk of problems resembling the Windrush scandal, alongside disputes over compensation between airlines and the government for passengers stranded abroad.