On 21st of March, the European Union and the UK published a draft agreement on Brexit. Although not finalised, this draft agreement gives us the best idea on how EU citizens rights will look after the UK leaves the EU.
The main points are, according to Free Movement website:
+ EU citizens who have been living in the UK lawfully for five years before 31 December 2020 (the cut off date) will be entitled to “settled status” to continue to be able to live in the UK.
+ This settled status will not be automatically given; all EU citizens, including those with permanent residence documents, will have to apply for it.
+ Those who arrived in the EU before 31 December 2020 but who have not lived in the UK for five years will be allowed to apply for temporary status (also being referred to as “pre-settled status” by the Home Office) to enable them to acquire five years of residence. At that point, they can apply for settled status.
+ EU citizens who lived in the UK as self-sufficient persons or students will not need to show that they had comprehensive health insurance in order to qualify for the new settled status.
+ Those that do not apply before the application deadline will, without serious and good reasons for not doing so, be residing without permission and will be subject to removal.
+ EU citizens and family members who acquire new criminal convictions or issues affecting their character from 31 December 2020 will be subject to assessments under UK immigration rules and could see their documents revoked and, if not removed from the UK be banned for a period from applying for British citizenship.
+ Family members will be allowed to reside in the UK under these proposals so long as they were already residing in the UK before 31 December 2020. However, specific family members may be allowed to join EU citizens after 31 December 2020. All other family members will be excluded from protection under the Draft Withdrawal Agreement.
+ After acquiring “settled status” EU citizens will be allowed to be outside the UK for five consecutive years without losing these rights, which is longer than the two year period currently allowed.
+ Certain other rights currently enshrined in EU law would be preserved, including benefits entitlements and access to healthcare.
East European Resource Centre is working with the Home Office regarding the new settled status and have been consulting them on how to make it more accessible to disadvantaged Eastern Europeans. The Home Office stated that the application process for the new settled status will start at the end of this year.
Lately we have been spending a lot of time going around London in Eastern European shops and churches and have been explaining new settled status to people and hearing their concerns. We found out that many Eastern Europeans are not convinced yet that they would need to apply for some sort of documentation to be able to stay in the UK after Brexit. For example, some believe that as long as they are law abiding citizens (paying their taxes, not breaking the law), they will be able to stay here without applying for any papers. Others believe that this status will be awarded automatically. Some are frustrated that they need to apply for anything and are thinking about leaving the UK. Others are worried about friends or family that have an uncertain status at the moment ( for example working cash in hand) and whether they will be able to apply for this new status.
We cannot stress this enough, to be able to stay here, Eastern European citizens will have to apply to settled status documents. Even though we don’t know exactly how the application will look like, the Home Office stated that it would be an easy application process.
We fear that many people will fall through the cracks regarding the application process, some people will either don’t know that they have to apply, some people won’t be able to for different reasons.
Our aim for this year and the next is to amplify our work around raising awareness about the settled status and reach marginalised Eastern European communities and individuals from across the UK and support them through the process of applying.
Do you have any questions? Please call us at: 020 8741 1288 or email us at voice@eerc.org.uk , we speak Romanian, Polish and Bulgarian.
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