The UK has failed to learn lessons since the Windrush scandal, campaigners say, after a UK-born toddler was denied a British passport and asked to prove she has the right to free NHS treatment.
Three-year-old Zharia-Rae’s mother, Tracy Ann Dunkley, has been a British citizen since 2024 and the child’s older brother, born to the same parents in 2020, was given a British passport in 2022.
But Dunkley, from the Caribbean island of Anguilla, a British overseas territory (BOT), was told her daughter was not eligible for a British passport and was classed as a BOT citizen, which differs from full British citizenship and limits her rights and privileges in the UK.
Dunkley has also been sent letters demanding proof that the child – who was born in Birmingham with hip dysplasia, is non-verbal and is being assessed for autism – is entitled to free NHS treatment.
The latest letter, received on Thursday, states that the investigation into the child’s eligibility is based on the answers to questions asked about Zharia-Rae’s nationality and immigration status and adds that an invoice will be prepared and issued.
Dunkley, who is a stay-at-home mother and a carer for Zharia-Rae and her four-year-old brother, who is also thought to be autistic, said the letters had left her scared and distraught as she has no way of paying for the treatment.
She said this was not the first issue she had encountered since migrating to the UK from Anguilla. After attempting to return to work from maternity leave after having Zharia-Rae, she was told she was not eligible to work in the UK.
“My manager told me that there’s a new feature at work. You have to upload the documents on to an app. And that needs to be done before you can return to work. After uploading the same documents that I used to get hired initially, my manager then calls me back and tells me I’m not eligible to work. So I could not return to work,” she said.
The weight of having to deal with two young children with additional needs and manage immigration and NHS questions had become unbearable, she added.
“You know you have to deal with it. But you just feel like there is no fight left in you to do anything because you feel like you’re the only one that’s fighting.
“I don’t think a lot of people understand what it’s like when your child is in pain and can’t tell you something is wrong. When they need something and they can’t express that to you, the only thing they know is anger or throwing themselves against the wall or something like that. I don’t think people understand what that’s like to go through on a daily basis for 24 hours a day,” she said.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We do not comment on individual cases. A child born in the UK will acquire British citizenship if, at the time of birth, at least one parent is either a British citizen or settled in the UK.”
Euen Herbert-Small, a Windrush activist and nationality researcher, said lessons had not been learned since the Windrush scandal, when Caribbean people were wrongly detained and deported, and he said immigration policies were still deliberately discriminatory and confusing.
“It’s striking that if Zharia had been born in Anguilla, she would automatically be a British citizen – yet being born in the UK, under the same circumstances, disqualifies her from that status,” he said.
“This exposes the absurdity of British nationality laws and the urgent need for reform. Her brother, born in the UK just two years earlier to the same parents, and in the same circumstances, holds a British passport, while she is being denied one. This case draws clear parallels with the Windrush scandal and highlights the government’s continued failure to right historical wrongs.”
Last week the Guardian reported on the case of Cherry Brown, 69, a BOT citizen from Montserrat who was sleeping rough in a park in Swanley, Kent. Brown had been funded by the Montserrat government to travel to the UK to receive treatment on the NHS, which is not available on the island, but ended up receiving letters from the NHS demanding payment for her care.
Donaldson Romeo, a Montserrat MP, accused the UK of treating the people of BOTs as second-class citizens. “It is clear that UK policy toward British overseas territory and Caribbean citizens often falls short of compliance with both UK and international human rights laws, treaties and even the most basic principles of fairness and logic,” Romeo said.
“The Windrush scandal stands as a stark example of this failure. Despite the shame it brought and the ongoing injury, hardship and loss of life resulting from such systemic neglect and violations, little meaningful reform has taken place. While journalists can raise awareness, real change requires decisive legal action. Both governments and the affected communities must now turn to the courts to compel justice and policy reform.”
