A Western Isles girl, who has been denied a passport, should have one by the end of the week, after her plight was raised in Westminster by Angus MacNeil MP.
The 14-year-old has not seen her mother since 2005 and lives with her paternal grandmother as her father is dead.
Despite her grandmother being her legal guardian, the Home Office refused to grant a passport because she could not find the mother’s birth certificate.
The family then tried to apply for a status letter, confirming the girl is a British citizen, but this was also refused as the Home Office would not recognise her right to citizenship through her late father.
Mr MacNeil, SNP, raised the case in the House of Commons and immigration minister Brandon Lewis responded that he would review the case.
Mr Lewis said: “We do have to make sure when we are issuing passports that we go through all of the proper checks and make sure that we are doing it properly and correctly.
“I make no excuses for that, that is obviously a matter of national security, but this is a case I am looking into and I will be coming back to Mr MacNeil in the next couple of days”.
Mr MacNeil said he now expected a status letter showing her entitlement to a passport to be with her grandmother within the week.
He said: “It’s one of those things where the Home Office could have taken a different line to enable them to do something about this girl, but instead they have taken a really stiff interpretation of the rules.
“You would think someone would show a bit of common sense, but that’s not as common as it should be, apparently.
“Brandon Lewis was very reasonable and said he hoped to have it sorted within three or four days, so she should have a passport on the way by the end of this week.”
