A computer error has made a staff of the British Home Office department request that a 101-year-old Italian man confirm his identity from his parent as he wanted to apply for settled status so he can stay in the UK after it leaves the EU.
Mr Palmiero was trying to apply for settled status so he can stay in the UK after it leaves the EU but the computer misinterpreted his birth year as 2019 instead of 1919.
Giovanni Palmiero – who has been in London since 1966 – made his application for the EU settlement scheme at an advice centre in Islington, north London.
According to the Guardian when a volunteer who helped Palmiero scanned his passport into the EU settled status app to share the biometric data with the Home Office, the system misinterpreted his birth year as 2019 instead of 1919.
It then asked for his mum and dad to confirm his identity.
The volunteer believe it was a “computer glitch”.
EU migrants living in he UK can live and work freely until 31 December 2020 – but they need to apply for “settled status” to stay afterwards.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “When Mr Palmiero’s case was raised our dedicated EU Settlement Scheme team contacted him and those supporting him to assist with his application.
“Over 2.7 million people have now been granted status and there is a wide range of support in place online, in person or over the phone.”
The Home Office have said that other applicants who are over 100 have successfully used the app.
