Thousands of EU citizens could lose legal status in UK after Brexit

Think tank the Migration Observatory said there are currently no precise figures on how many EU citizens are living in the UK and planning to stay, making it impossible to know how many people are failing to apply for settled status.

“How many EU citizens and their family members secure settled status will depend not just on how many applicants are rejected, but also on how many people know that they need to apply. A whole host of factors, from lack of awareness to fear of rejection to simple disorganisation mean that some eligible EU citizens will not apply,” said the body in an analysis of the situation.

The UK government laid out its plans for settled status last month. It said citizens from the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA) applying would have to prove their identity and that they have been living in the UK for the past five years, and to declare that they have no serious criminal convictions. EU citizens who have already obtained permanent residence status or indefinite leave to remain in the UK will be able to exchange this for settled status.

The cut-off date for applications will be 30 June 2021 and the scheme will be available to those in the UK for five years before 31 December 2020.

The new status will not be granted automatically and every EU citizen who wants to live and work in the UK will have to apply. Those who have not yet lived in the UK for five years will be able to apply for ‘pre-settled status’, which will be converted to settled status after five years.

Employment law expert Euan Smith of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said the settled status process would put “real strain” on the Home Office and its back-office infrastructure, even if not all those who are eligible apply.

“The government will need to communicate with EEA nationals to ensure that they are aware of the importance of the need to apply before expiry of the application window at the end of June 2021,” Smith said.

Smith said companies employing EU and EEA citizens could help support their employees through the process, at the same time minimising any disruption to their businesses caused by losing staff.

“There is a need for employers to be aware of the importance of this process for their EEA employees and not rely just on government communication. It is an opportunity for employers to help retain their current EEA workers by ensuring that they apply before the deadline and also make sure that EEA nationals arriving before 31 December 2020 are aware that they also have a route to settled status in the UK through this process,” Smith said.

“Employers may regard it as a sensible investment in their EEA workforce to provide support through communication, workshops and application support,” Smith said.

The Migration Observatory said tracking the number of EU citizens living in the UK was not “entirely straightforward”. It said the number of EU citizens currently in the country was imprecise, and not all those in the UK would apply for settled status. This could be because they were planning to leave, or because they arrive in the UK on new residence or work permits implemented as part of a post-Brexit immigration system.

The think tank recommended that the government develop and release detailed administrative data gathered as part of the application process, as well as collect new data from EU citizens on whether they have applied for and secured settled status.

Migration Observatory suggested the government could collect far more data than it currently holds on EU migrants, enabling deeper analysis of the demographics of those moving to live and work in the UK.

This week the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released migration data for 2017. That showed that net migration into the UK from the EU fell to 101,000 last year, the lowest level since June 2013.