As of June 30th 2021 the backlog of pending applications under the EUSS had grown to almost 570,000. The Home Office has assured us that EEA+ citizens who applied before the deadline will have their rights protected and can use their “Certificate of Application” as evidence of a continuation of such rights. But EEA+ citizens with pending applications are in a state of legal limbo and feel a great…
The Government must scrap the EUSS deadline, reinstate automatic rights for all EEA+ citizens and physical documentation as proof of status. This is the only way to protect the rights of tens of thousands of EEA+ citizens and prevent this disaster before it is too late.
The Government has outlined that if an EEA+ citizen without status is encountered by Immigration Enforcement they will be issued a written notice to apply to the EUSS within 28 days during which no enforcement action will be taken. It is far more likely that landlords, employers and other public services will be tasked with understanding and following this new guidance, increasing the likelihood of unlawful decision making…
The way the Government designed the EUSS means that EU citizens and non-EU family members (EEA+ citizens) who missed the deadline automatically fell out of status and rights and became undocumented migrants overnight. Estimations suggest this could be tens or even hundreds of thousands of people. We know that it is the most marginalised – older…
The Government has stated that they will take a ‘flexible and pragmatic’ approach towards late applications, but this will not protect people’s rights. The guidance states that this flexible approach will ‘normally’ but not ‘always’ be applied and will become stricter with time. Most concerningly, even where the guidance provides a route back to status, this is not a solution to subjecting EEA+ citizens to…
Download our FAQs on the EU Settlement Scheme, published summer 2019 Download FAQs