All Articles: settled status

The EU Settlement Scheme promised convenience and efficiency for those required to secure their immigration status in the UK after Brexit. Yet statistics retrieved from the Home Office indicate that at least 36,000 applications had faced delays of over three months by October 2019. In this post, we explore what...

2nd June 2020
BY Joe Tomlinson

There is no way of telling how many EU citizens will be left living illegally in the UK because of Brexit, a new report has concluded. The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford says that the government doesn’t collect or release the data needed to work out how many...

16th April 2020
BY CJ McKinney

The government continues to keep us immigration lawyers on our toes, and everyone else completely flummoxed, with yet another statement of changes to the Immigration Rules. Thankfully, many of these changes are welcome as they plug gaps in the EU Settlement Scheme. But it is difficult to keep up with...

13th March 2020
BY Chris Desira

The Home Office has been concealing important data about the EU Settlement Scheme, an independent inspection report suggests. While the department refuses to release the number of “disguised refusals”, or to disclose gender breakdowns relevant to its equality law obligations, it appears to have had that information at its fingertips...

28th February 2020
BY Kuba Jablonowski

The years since the EU referendum have been an emotional rollercoaster for European citizens in the UK.   Initial shock and disbelief were followed by months of uncertainty and tension as the British government negotiated a transitional agreement – which failed to get parliamentary approval for over a year – and...

27th February 2020
BY Karma Hickman

See this article on applying for settled status after the deadline, which was on 30 June 2021. On 31 January 2020 at 11pm, the United Kingdom left the European Union and entered a transition period, due to end on 31 December 2020. During this transition period, Europeans can continue to...

4th February 2020
BY Nath Gbikpi

French chef Claude Bosi, holder of two Michelin stars for his Chelsea restaurant, published his Home Office refusal letter on Instagram today:           View this post on Instagram                   I have been in England for 23 years and today they have send me […]

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24th January 2020
BY John Vassiliou

An incorrect decision under the EU Settlement Scheme could impact the terms by which EU citizens and their family members are able to reside and access services in the UK after Brexit. Statistics we have retrieved on administrative reviews of Settlement Scheme decisions show that 89.5% of initial decisions reviewed...

4th December 2019
BY Joe Tomlinson

We’ve received the following enquiry about the rules on settled status for EU citizens and their families after Brexit: Can the third country national spouse of a dual EU/British national apply for the EU Settlement Scheme? “Third country national spouse” is immigration lawyers’ jargon for a non-European husband or wife....

26th November 2019
BY CJ McKinney

Another statement of changes to the Immigration Rules (HC 170) was laid on 24 October 2019. The changes relate to Appendix EU of the Rules and their functioning in a no-deal Brexit scenario. This is somewhat surprising given recent events. Jacob Rees-Mogg said in Parliament on the same date that...

25th October 2019
BY Chris Desira

The Home Office released a new set of EU Settlement Scheme statistics in early October. While this update again showed a rise in applications to the scheme, it also suggests re-applications to it are counted towards the total. This raises questions over the quality and transparency of statistical reporting about...

21st October 2019
BY Kuba Jablonowski

An EU citizen, or their spouse or civil partner, is entitled to have his or her dependent parent continue to live with them or join them in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme. This has always been the case since the scheme began. But one particularly confusing aspect, even...

16th September 2019
BY Chris Desira

A few weeks ago I analysed EU Settlement Scheme stats released in August. I argued that the Scheme is not working as well as the Government claims it is. While it might be performing well from the point of view of its administrators at the Home Office, it surely seems to...

13th September 2019
BY Kuba Jablonowski

Yesterday afternoon the government dropped statement of changes to the Immigration Rules HC 2631. This is a formal change to the Immigration Rules and there is a lot to it: the full version weighs in at 102 pages. We’ll deal with other changes in another post (or posts) but here we’re...

10th September 2019
BY Chris Desira

The Johnson ‘government’ has reaffirmed that free movement rules will continue if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October. A new voluntary (Ed. – !?!) immigration scheme will be introduced called the European Temporary Leave to Remain Scheme, or “Euro TLR” to its (few) friends. From...

9th September 2019
BY Colin Yeo

Three years after the referendum, the more than three million EU citizens living in the UK still have no clarity on what their legal status will be after Brexit. It is uncertain whether the Brexit deal negotiated by Theresa May’s government (formally known as the Withdrawal Agreement) will ever be...

9th August 2019
BY Stijn Smismans

Over 900,000 people have applied for EU settled status so far. By the end of June 2019, the Home Office had processed 806,000 applications, granting full settled status in 65% of cases and pre-settled status in 35% of cases. The department says that nobody has been refused status outright. There...

23rd July 2019
BY Chris Desira

In the fraught context of Brexit, the need to register EU citizens already resident in the UK presents a major conundrum of policy, law, and administration. The government’s answer is the EU Settlement Scheme. It is expected that millions of people, from a wide variety of different backgrounds, will apply...

16th July 2019
BY Joe Tomlinson

The government should guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK through legislation to back up the flawed EU Settlement Scheme, an influential committee of MPs has said. In a report published today, the Home Affairs committee invokes the Windrush scandal, says that “lessons must be learned to...

30th May 2019
BY CJ McKinney

The 2016 referendum sent shockwaves through the European community in the UK, but now that the dust has settled, the picture is far less alarming than appeared at first. Various groups who seemed particularly vulnerable in the wake of the vote, including European spouses of British citizens, no longer need...

21st May 2019
BY Karma Hickman

On 2 May 2019, the Home Office published updated guidance on “derivative rights of residence”, which includes the rights of Zambrano carers. Buried in the 63-page document is a fundamental change of policy: potential Zambrano applicants must first make a human rights application under British immigration law. In other words,...

15th May 2019
BY Nath Gbikpi

The settled status scheme for EU citizens to stay in the UK after Brexit is about to complete its last test phase and will be fully open on 30 March 2019. We have talked about how the Settlement Scheme operates here: How to apply for “settled status” for EU citizens....

22nd March 2019
BY Gabriella Bettiga

A new statement of changes to the Immigration Rules was published today, 7 March 2019. It is 294 pages long and covers a lot of ground. The main changes are to Tier 1 entrepreneur and investment visas, and to the EU Settlement Scheme. This requires, inevitably, a new appendix to the...

8th March 2019
BY Nath Gbikpi

The EU Settlement Scheme scheme has been set up by the UK government for European residents to apply for “settled status” after Brexit. It is considered necessary because most citizens of European Union countries will lose their existing legal status in this country after it leaves the EU. EU citizens who...

18th February 2019
BY Colin Yeo

In this research piece, the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association makes the case that the Home Office is subject to certain legal duties relating to the EU settled status automated data checks. These legal duties are: the public law duty to give reasons for the outcome of the checks where requested;...

1st February 2019
BY ILPA

The OISC, the regulator for immigration advisers who are not solicitors, barristers or CILEx qualified, has launched a new, light touch Brexit scheme. It will enable charities and not-for-profit organisations to qualify to give immigration advice on the EU Settlement Scheme without breaking the law. The scheme launches on 1...

29th January 2019
BY Colin Yeo

The Home Office report on the second phase of its EU Settlement Scheme pilot revealed this week that nearly one in five applicants did not receive sufficient evidence of UK residence from automated checks alone. Of the 27,000 decisions issued during Phase 2 of the scheme some 4,500 applicants for...

25th January 2019
BY Phil Booth

The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (the OISC to those who know it well) has quietly published guidance outlining when it considers it will be illegal to provide advice to EU citizens and their non-EU family members under the settled status scheme. The guidance barely mentions the scheme itself and...

5th December 2018
BY Colin Yeo

1.1. The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) drafted the following report as a joint commentary by experienced immigration practitioners on the EU Settlement Scheme. We hope this expertise assists in the development of the scheme and to achieve its intended purpose of safeguarding the rights of EU citizens living in...

15th November 2018
BY ILPA

Mass confusion following the immigration minister’s evidence (full transcript here) to the Home Affairs committee yesterday: this was a terrible appearance by Caroline Nokes @CommonsHomeAffs yesterday. Sajid Javid needs to go back as a matter of urgency; give clear answers and put out the govt’s No Deal advice on citizens asap...

31st October 2018
BY CJ McKinney

A new statement of changes to the Immigration Rules was laid on 10 October 2018. There is some very welcome news, including more flexibility given to caseworkers on whether and when they can write to applicants to ask for missing documents. (Whether they will in practice or still refuse for minor...

12th October 2018
BY Nath Gbikpi

The Home Office will have no idea how many EU residents are left undocumented by Brexit because it does not collect or release the necessary data, a leading immigration policy expert has warned. Madeleine Sumption said yesterday that the government has no plans to find out how many of the...

10th October 2018
BY CJ McKinney

On 14 February 2018 the Home Affairs committee of MPs published a rather critical report on the Home Office delivery of Brexit, which Nick promptly summarised in a post at the time. The government’s response to the report was published on 25 May. A lot of it is not news, but rather a...

5th June 2018
BY Nath Gbikpi

An EU citizen with indefinite leave to remain in this country has taken the drastic step to leave the UK because of Brexit. You might have seen the story on Twitter, where it went viral. 24/ So my mum has taken the decision to return to the country of her...

11th April 2018
BY Chris Desira

On 19 March the European Union and the UK published the impressively named Draft Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community. In other words, a draft Brexit divorce agreement. This blog post will focus...

26th March 2018
BY colinyeo

The European Commission has published a draft legal text for a Brexit “Withdrawal Agreement”. It includes the all-important issue of citizens’ rights for EU nationals already living in the UK or arriving here before Brexit is finalised. This draft is not a final treaty or necessarily the version that EU...

28th February 2018
BY CJ McKinney

The UK government’s policy paper on EU citizens’ rights in the UK after Brexit, released in June 2017, offered reassurances about “safeguarding” rights, while leaving substantial question marks hanging — in particular about what kind of residence would be required to qualify for the new category of “settled status”. After...

19th February 2018
BY charlotteobrien

Some EU citizens now living in the UK will find themselves committing criminal offences after Brexit. That much is certain. How many people exactly will become unlawfully resident is probably impossible to calculate, and here at Free Movement we do not have the resources to do so, but the number...

13th December 2017
BY Colin Yeo

The government has put a little flesh on its promise that EU citizens living in the UK will be able to apply for settled status in a way that is “new”, “streamlined” and “low cost”. A “technical note” – not all that technical, and only four and a half pages...

7th November 2017
BY CJ McKinney
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