Settled Status Scheme for EU National and Family Members in the UK
UK officials have unveiled the process EU citizens must go through to remain in Britain after Brexit. EU citizens will be able to apply for settled status in 3 easy steps for less than the price of a passport, under plans outlined by the statement of intent published by Home Office on Thursday, 21st June 2018.
EU citizens and their family members resident in the UK before the end of the implementation period on 31 December 2020 will be able to apply for UK immigration status status under the EU Settlement Scheme.
People considered to be ‘resident in the UK’ will include those here before midnight on 31 December 2020. It will also include those previously resident in the UK who are outside the UK on that date but who have maintained continuity of residence here, generally as set out in current free movement rules for those who have not already acquired EU permanent residence rights, and up to five years’ absence for those who have continuously resident. So, for example, those who are continuously resident in the UK but who happen to be abroad on business or holiday or living overseas temporarily on 31 December 2020 will still be protected.
Otherwise, those applying under the EU Settlement Scheme will not be required to show that they meet all the requirements of current free movement rules, such as any requirement to have held comprehensive sickness insurance or generally to detail the exercise of specific rights (e.g. the right to work) under EU law. The UK has decided, as a matter of domestic policy, that the main requirement for eligibility under the settlement scheme will be continuous residence in the UK.
In addition, the settled status scheme will also be open to close family members resident overseas on 31 December 2020. Under the agreement on citizens’ rights reached with the EU, an EU citizen resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 will be able to be joined after that date by close family members3 resident overseas, if the relationship existed at that date and it continues to exist when the person wishes to come to the UK.
The settled scheme will also be open in certain circumstances to a non-British citizen child born in the UK or overseas after 31 December 2020 to (or adopted by) a parent or parents eligible for status under the scheme.
Irish citizens enjoy a right of residence in the UK that is not reliant on the UK’s membership of the EU. They will not be required to apply for status under the scheme (but may do so if they wish), and their eligible family members (who are not Irish citizens or British citizens) will be able to obtain status under the scheme without the Irish citizen doing so.
What requirements must be met for status to be granted under the scheme?
The UK has decided that the main requirement for status to be granted under the EU Settlement Scheme will be residence in the UK, generally in line with current free movement rules on the continuity of that residence.
The person will also need to make a valid application under the scheme and not fall to be refused because of serious or persistent criminality or other public policy reasons, as set out in the agreement on citizens’ rights reached with the EU.
Otherwise, where the EU citizen or their family member has been continuously resident in the UK for five years or less than 5 years, they will be eligible under the scheme for settled status under UK immigration law, which is referred to under the Immigration Act 1971 as indefinite leave to remain or ILR (and which will be granted under Appendix EU to the Immigration Rules.
Where the EU citizen or their family member has been continuously resident in the UK for less than five years, they will be eligible under the scheme for pre-settled status under UK immigration law, which is referred to under the 1971 Act as limited leave to remain or LTR (and which will also be granted under Appendix EU to the Rules).
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