Published 14 August 2020. Written by Francis Churchill
More than two million EU citizens have so far been granted settled status, official figures have shown. Numbers from the Home Office revealed that out of the 3.8 million applications received by the government’s EU Settlement Scheme up to 31 July, more than two million have been granted settled status, giving them the permanent right to remain in the UK after the Brexit transition period ends.
Almost 1.5 million were granted pre-settled status. This allows recipients to remain for five years, after which they become eligible to apply for full settled status.
However, the figures, which include all applications since the scheme opened, showed that 4,600 applications were refused, 36,500 were withdrawn or void and 34,900 were invalid.
There are some concerns that the EU citizens who failed to apply for the scheme in time could find themselves subject to a set of immigration policies designed to make staying in the UK difficult for individuals who don’t have leave to remain.
Jonathan Beech
People Management spoke to Migrate UK’s managing Director Jonathan Beech. Jonathan has over 25 years experience working with immigration regulations.
He said there had definitely been a sharp increase in the number of applications voided or refused when compared to previous figures. But, he said, it was unlikely that this was due to a change of policy by the Home Office.
Instead it was likely that the Home Office was working through its backlog of more complicated cases that needed attention from caseworkers. “Being more complex means there is a higher chance of there being problems with the case, hence refusals or voided applications,” he said.
“Maybe the Home Office is closing a lot of cases where there has been no response.”
Migrate UK can help with all aspects of the EU settlement and pre-settled schemes.
Contact us on 01235 841 568 or email info@migrate-uk.com
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