EU free movement law in the UK ended on 31 December 2020. Both UK and EU have to “fulfill its obligations on citizens’ rights”. The United Kingdom has set up a program (the “settlement scheme”), which allows EU citizens who lived in the country before December 31, 2020, to register to keep the same rights allowing them to live, working and accessing social security in the UK after Brexit. The “settlement scheme” is “very generous” compared to existing programs in the European Union, judged denounced British Home Secretary Priti Patel, and it is a “success” with more than 5.6 million requests and around 5 million statuses granted, while the number of EU citizens living in the UK was previously estimated at 3 million.
400,000 cases still outstanding a week before the deadline
The UK Home Office has announced that EU citizens who fail to apply under the settlement scheme will be given a 28-day warning by immigration enforcement officials, with 400,000 cases still outstanding a week before the deadline.
Speaking on Wednesday, Britain’s immigration minister, Kevin Foster, said that individuals who fail to apply for settled status by the June 30 deadline will not immediately lose their rights, which are protected by law.
Instead, immigration officials will begin to issue 28-day warnings to those who are eligible for the scheme, advising them to submit their application, which gives them security of residence, travel, employment, and access to the healthcare and benefits system.
Those who still fail to submit their application within the 28 days could be given indefinite opportunity to apply if they can show they have reasonable grounds for having failed to do so.
Family members who arrived in the UK before 31 December 2020, and who intend to stay in the UK, must apply for pre-Settled Status or Settled Status under the EU Settlement Scheme. They must have applied for pre-Settled Status or Settled Status before 30 June 2021 to continue lawfully living in the UK after that date. If you missed this deadline, you could make a late application.
Britons living in the EU deprived of access to employment and benefits?
The British Home Secretary Priti Patel called on the EU to “meet its obligations” as some national’s face disruption since Brexit. Some Britons living in the European Union have been denied access to employment or benefits, denounced Priti Patel on Wednesday, June 23, calling on the EU to “respect its obligations” to the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Brexit referendum. “We are aware that some UK nationals in the EU have faced disruptions on entry into the EU, and there have been a number of cases of UK nationals in the EU who have been asked for residence permits which they do not need to have, who have been prevented from accessing benefits and services and who have problems (in asserting) their right to work “, writes Priti Patel in the conservative daily The Telegraph.
