Britain told EU citizens to trust its settled status system. Then it mixed up identical twins.
An EU citizen living in the UK was stranded at a Spanish airport when the Home Office's eVisa system confused her with her identical twin sister, mixing up their digital immigration records.
Intelligence analysis by Llama
UK's post-Brexit eVisa system confused identical twin sisters, linking one woman's settled status to her sister's records. She was denied boarding in Spain and left stranded for hours while the Home Office tried to untangle the mix-up — a known technical issue.
After Brexit, people from EU countries living in Britain got a digital 'pass' on a computer instead of a paper card. But computers sometimes get confused by people who look exactly alike — like identical twins. One woman was stuck in Spain because the computer mixed her up with her sister, and it took hours of phone calls to fix the mistake.
Analysis
Nidia Webb's Madrid airport ordeal
The story centers on Nidia Webb, an EU national who has lived in the UK for eight years and holds settled status. Earlier this month, she tried to fly home from a holiday in Spain but was stopped at the boarding gate because her settled status did not appear in the Home Office system. Her flight departed without her.
According to Webb, her digital settled status had become linked to her identical twin sister's details rather than her own, meaning the system could not properly match her status to her identity. She was told this was a "known technical issue affecting some twins within the Home Office system." After hours on the phone with a Home Office helpline, the issue was eventually corrected — but the confirmation email was sent to her twin sister. She only learned the problem was fixed when she was allowed to board a replacement flight, which she had to pay for herself. Her travel insurer told her to seek reimbursement from the Home Office.
The 76,000-record problem
Webb's case is not isolated. The Guardian reported in 2024 that more than 76,000 people have their names, immigration status, or photographs mixed up in the UK's immigration database — a figure that includes other nationalities subject to the eVisa system, not just EU citizens. The eVisa database stores a person's full name, date of birth, nationality, and a facial photograph, meaning identical twins — whose details are by definition near-identical — are especially vulnerable.
The Home Office defended the system, noting that over 10 million people have successfully used eVisas to prove their immigration status, and that in the rare cases where errors are identified, the majority are resolved within 24 hours. But the experience of Webb and others contradicts that assurance, and the "rare cases" framing understates a problem that affects tens of thousands of people.
Monique Hawkins and the3million
Monique Hawkins, acting CEO of the3million — a campaign group representing EU citizens in the UK — said the group has seen "many cases where someone else's immigration status is entangled with another person's eVisa account." She criticized the digital-only system as "rushed" and warned that the failures often come at the worst possible moments. "We regularly see people not only denied boarding, but also compensation, as carriers and the Home Office play a blame game shifting responsibility between each other," Hawkins said.
The UK case comes alongside POLITICO's reporting that the EU's own digital border system, EES, also struggles with identical twins. Rafi Cooper of Twins Trust urged technology designers to "consider twins' individuality," noting that "too often twins are considered as one as opposed to as individuals." As Europe moves toward more digitalized border and identity systems, these twin-confusion cases are likely to multiply unless biometric matching and identity verification improve.
Key points
- An EU citizen with UK settled status was denied boarding in Spain after the Home Office eVisa system confused her with her identical twin sister
- The Home Office described the identical twin mix-up as a 'known technical issue' affecting the eVisa system
- More than 76,000 people have had their names, immigration status, or photographs mixed up in the UK's immigration database, per the Guardian
- Campaign group the3million says cases of entangled eVisa accounts are common and often leave people stranded or denied compensation
- The UK issue comes as POLITICO also revealed the EU's EES border system sometimes struggles with identical twins
If the Home Office treats the twin-mix-up as a catalyst for redesign, it could harden biometric matching against near-identical records and improve the eVisa system's reliability. The fact that the issue has been formally acknowledged as a 'known' problem suggests a fix pathway already exists within the department.
The Home Office's defense — pointing to 10 million successful eVisa uses while minimizing the 76,000 affected records — suggests institutional complacency. Without a physical fallback document, travelers like Webb will continue to be stranded, and the blame-shifting between carriers and the Home Office will keep compensation out of reach.
