Of course it’s possible that they’re right.
But, he is still a human being, and they have destroyed his life.
He hasn’t hurt anyone, he hasn’t killed anyone.
But you are saying that because, having come/been brought/sent to the UK at the age of 14 and having been determined to make himself a good life, and he “allegedly” told a lie to achieve that, it’s OK to completely destroy everything the man has done in the last 20 years.
It would be quite different were he some kleptocratic money-launderer, they would be welcoming him with open arms.
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But if he was 14, then presumably it wasn’t him that created the evidence of being Serbian rather than Albanian? If indeed there is any rather than just another Home Office cock-up.
And if you believe in Human Rights, which the UK government patently doesn’t, then you allow someone to come home and then if need be go through proper channels to deport him. This whole thing reinforces my disgust of UK government.
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If I try and get on a flight tomorrow with an expired passport I’ll be stopped, how is this any different?
The fact that Mr Lala has possibly lived illegally in the UK for 20 years doesn’t seem to matter to those calling for his return which I find bizarre given what many have said regarding the Brit in the Dordogne who has twice been refused nationality.
I fully accept that this is a shit situation for Mr Lala but something about this doesn’t sit right and I’m surprised his wife, friends and other news media haven’t been more vocal.
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I don’t know TBH - it says he came here at 14 but I don’t know what year he applied for naturalisation, could have been later.
But at 14 he is hardly a responsible adult, and once he’s here…
Because you would know your passport has expired? The expiry date written on it so you would need to be pretty dumb not to have spotted it.
This guy didn’t know. His passport hadn’t expired. The Home Office wrote to the wrong address to inform him that they had revoked it. That’s how rigorous they are.
The Brit in the Dordogne has not had his life destroyed. He’s not been chucked out has he.
How many Brits do you think are living in France “irregularly” because they’re not exercising FoM correctly - not meeting the income threshold, not submitting income declarations. Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands even? France has tolerated them up to now.
How many blatant lies has Boris Johnson told over the course of his career, would you guess? And he’s tolerated.
We don’t know Lala’s situation. He has a wife who is clearly entitled to live in the UK. Maybe he would be entitled to reside as her husband?
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The Brit in the Dordogne is in a completely different situation: he doesn’t seem to have arrived in France as a child and nobody is depriving him of the nationality he has, he is simply not being given a second, for the moment.
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The Brit in the Dordogne has been denied French nationality because he didn’t meet the required criteria, Mr Lala supposedly lied when applying for British citizenship so his passport was revoked, in both cases the rules of each country were strictly applied, should they not have been?
When was he naturalised? Was he even an adult? And how legitimate is it to render him stateless?
I think my issue with this is, authorities should take responsibity for their decisions and their mistakes. If they cock up, let them have a limited time frame to go back and sort it out. But not indefinite. There should be a cut off date after which they have to say, We made a wrong decision , we missed a trick, but it’s too late go back on it now.
For instance this draconian French tax thing where they fine you thousands if you ‘forget’ to declare a foreign bank account and they pick up on it - fair enough, but there’s a time limit and after 5 years or whatever it’s water under the bridge.
Same with most tax issues, there’s a limit to how long they can go back.
If the discrepancy (if there is one) had been picked up after a year, or five years, fair dibs.
But 20 years later… everything’s moved on.
Living in a world where the very lynchpins of a person’s life can be changed retrospectively - pension age, citizenship… - is no way to live. It’s horrid.
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The big difference is, the French authorities didn’t grant him citizenship and then come back 20 years later and say, Oops, no you can’t have that.
Surely you see the difference.
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So you think Mr Lala should just be let off if he’s obtained a UK passport fraudulently?
If he’d applied and been refused for a good reason there wouldn’t be an issue.
People often get away with lying to get what they want. Johnson certainly does. And he does it publicly.
Tell me, what difference will revoking his passport make to anyone except Lala and his family? Who benefits?
Yes, if you insist, I think he should be let off at this stage. Call it amesty. I see no point in raising an issue in 2020 that should have been dealt with decades ago. The HO would do better focusing its efforts on today’s applicants.
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Not necessarily.
But he shouldn’t be dumped in an airport concourse without anyway of getting anywhere. He should have been allowed back into the UK under caution, and the matter properly investigated and then, if he is proved to be at fault, deported to whichever country they determine he should be a national of or allowed to claim asylum and start over again.
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I predict that this is all a big mistake and he’ll be on his way back to the UK any time. 
The poor man’s trapped. If he’s any funds he should just fly to Dublin with his British passport, at which they’ll take a cursory glance (or if he’s worried about the cursory glance then take the Cherbourg Dublin ferry). Then take the train to Belfast, passing through the old non existant border. Then the ferry to Cairnryan in Scotland, passing through the new non yet existent border. Then the train back home to London. Simples.
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But they’ve taken the passport away!!
You lot need to keep up with the news, he’s got his passport back
Who took the passport Jane, I only scanned the article,
The UK embassy when he went to ask for help!