September 3, 2018 12.11 pm This story is over 66 months old

Lincoln dad: “I’m a prisoner in my own country”

A Lincoln father has been refused a passport for a second time
Dean has roots to Zimbabwe through his grandmother. Photo: Connor Creaghan for The Lincolnite.

A Lincoln father said he feels like a ‘prisoner in his own country’ after he has been refused a British passport for a second time by the Home Office.

Dean Shackleton told The Lincolnite that he was left ‘confused and upset’ by the immigration authority when he was first refused a passport.

He was asked to hand over a copy of his father’s birth certificate to prove his nationality.

But Dean says he doesn’t have a copy of his father’s birth certificate because he died 13 years ago.

Now the immigration authority has told Dean that he can live in the country without a time limit, but cannot have a British passport.

Claire and Dean Shackleton were celebrating their 10 year anniversary when they were told about the Home Office’s decision.

She told The Lincolnite: “It has been frustrating. We were meant to be celebrating when they refused to give him a passport for a second time.

“We have been told that he can live in the country with no time limit but cannot have a British passport.

“They have been trying to prove his nationality through his mother, but she lost her birth certificate and her marriage certificate isn’t good enough.

“So we are being told that we are going to have to pay to get his father’s birth certificate back, but it will probably be next year before Dean can get a passport.”

Forty-one-year-old Dean has roots in Zimbabwe through his grandmother.

His grandfather was born in Bradford and was posted to Zimbabwe for the British Armed Forces, where he met Dean’s grandmother.

The couple married in England, but Dean’s father was born while they were posted back out to Zimbabwe with the forces.

The family returned to the UK, where Dean’s father also took up a position in the Armed Forces. Dean was born in Bulawayo but moved back to the UK with his family when he was three months old.