The Home Office has insisted a deputy director of Ofsted hasn't been 'denied settled status' under their scheme for EU nationals.
Daniel Muijs, who is Deputy Director of Research and Evaluation for the education watchdog, said he had been “rejected” in a post on Twitter .
He wrote: “Have just found out my application for settled status in UK has been rejected.
“I now need to find evidence of residence since 2013. Not a good feeling.”
EU citizens wishing to stay in the UK permanently after Brexit have until June 30 2021 to apply for settled status under the scheme - or December 31 2020 in a no-deal scenario.
But the scheme has faced criticism for forcing people who have lived in Britain for decades to register themselves.
The Home Office insisted Mr Mujis application had not been denied.
A spokesman said: “This case has not been refused. We would encourage the applicant to make contact with the Settlement Resolution Centre, who will be able to assist him with his application.”
The automated system implemented by the Home Office performs automatic checks against some data held by the Government.
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But in some cases more information is needed.
While this does not mean the application has been rejected, some have complained the system is unclear and causes unnecessary anxiety for long-term residents of the UK.
The spokesman added: “Over a quarter of a million EU citizens have already successfully been granted status under the EU Settlement Scheme and we received over 50,000 applications in the opening weekend.
“We are looking for ways to grant status and automatic checks against government data are making it simple for many people to apply successfully. In 79% of concluded cases during testing, applicants did not need to provide any further evidence of residence themselves.”
