EU citizens living in the UK have until midnight to apply for settled status.
Millions of EU nationals were given until the end of this month to get residency rights in a post-Brexit UK. They have to apply under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS), which was introduced in 2019.
Since then the Home Office has sifted through about 5.6 million applications, suggesting there are far more EU nationals living in the UK than the previously estimated population of 3.7 million.
Whilst the predicted 3.7 million does not include Irish citizens, the 5.6 million applications are unlikely to include many Irish inquiries as people with Irish passports have a right to live in the UK regardless of its relationship with the EU.
But millions from other European countries still need to ensure they will have a legal right to live, work, study and claim welfare benefits in the UK.
Half of the 5.6 million applicants, mostly from Poland and Romania, have been granted settled status while 2 million have been told they have not lived in the country for long enough and should apply again after being here for five years.
This has left about 400,000 people in limbo, who will still be unsure if they have a legal right to live in the UK tomorrow after the scheme has closed.
Campaigners and the Labour Party have urged the Government to extend the scheme’s deadline but ministers have refused saying they ‘believe the vast and overwhelming number of people who are eligible to apply have done so’.
The Government has also promised to take a ‘practical and compassionate approach’ to late paperwork.
There are worries that older EU citizens living in the UK do not know about the scheme as only 2% of applicants so far are over the age of 65.
On the other side of the spectrum, campaigners are concerned European children will slip through the cracks because many parents do not know their kids may need settled status even if they were born in the UK.
On top of this, there are thousands of EU children and young people who were or are still currently in British social care.
Just 39% of them had applied for settled status at the end of March, according to The Children’s Society.
Social care workers and their employers are also thought to be vulnerable to falling behind, along with European communities working in rural farms and warehouses.
Minister Kevin Foster urged people to get their paperwork in today, saying ‘if you’ve got any concerns on your position on July 1 then our position is simple: Don’t delay, apply today.’
On late applications, he said: ‘What we’ve said is we’ll take a practical and compassionate approach to those who haven’t applied, particularly where there may be vulnerabilities or obvious reasonable grounds such as children whose parents may not have applied for them.
‘We will take a practical and compassionate approach where people need to make a late application. And we’ve already confirmed, for example, when we come across in our immigration enforcement work who could have applied but have missed the deadline, we will give them 28 days to make a late application.’
You can see if you need to apply for settled status on the Government’s website.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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