Lammy compares Home Office treatment of Turkish businesspeople to Windrush
Refusals of permanent residency for Turkish nationals have risen sharply, and the Home Office says the immigration rules have not changed.
Former Foreign Secretary David Lammy compared the Home Office's treatment of Turkish businesspeople seeking British residency to the Windrush scandal, Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu Agency reported on Sunday.
Writing on the social media platform X, Lammy said the handling of indefinite leave to remain applications under the Ankara Agreement was outrageous and recalled the Windrush case.
"Callous and careless mistakes are being made with devastating impacts," he wrote, adding that "The Home Office must act now."
His comments followed a Guardian report published on Sunday that showed a sharp rise in refusals of indefinite leave to remain applications from Turkish nationals holding European Community Association Agreement visas.
The newspaper reported that hundreds of applicants had been denied permanent residency since the start of 2026, while approvals had dropped from several thousand in earlier years to a few hundred.
The Guardian documented cases involving alleged administrative errors and requirements that do not appear in the immigration rules.
Some applicants, it reported, now face removal even though they have set up businesses and families in Britain.
Home Office figures obtained through a freedom of information request showed that applications sent for administrative review rose from 145 in 2025 to 395 between January and mid-August 2026, the newspaper reported.
The Home Office said the immigration rules governing these applications have not changed.
The Windrush scandal came to light in 2018, when it emerged that people who had lived legally in Britain for decades had been wrongly classed as illegal immigrants.
Many of those affected had arrived from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1973, often as children, to live and work in Britain.