(WHDH) — A government worker reportedly asked a 101-year-old man to get his parents to confirm his identity when he applied to stay in London post-Brexit.
Giovanni Palmiero, a native of Italy and a resident of London since 1966, recently visited the Home Office to apply for the EU settlement scheme but instead encountered a shocking surprise, The Guardian reported.
An official asked Palmiero to fetch his parents to confirm his identity after an apparent computer glitch stated that he was a 1-year-old child, according to the news outlet. When Palmiero’s passport was scanned, the system apparently mistook his birth year as 2019 instead of 1919.
Dimitri Scarlato, a volunteer who helped Palmiero, told the news outlet that the system also “skipped the face recognition section” — something that’s common with those under the age of 12.
Scarlato reportedly contacted the Home Office but says it took about 30 minutes for them to understand that the EU settled status app was to blame for the mishap and not human error.
The Home Office ultimately took Palmiero’s identity details over the home.
Palmiero, who has been married to his wife for 75 years, has raised four children in the United Kingdom.
One of his children told the news outlet that the incident was “humiliating” and “completely unfair on old people.”
Palmiero’s application is currently being processed.
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