EU Settlement Scheme Updated FAQs: July 2021

What are the problems for people who missed the June 30^thdeadline?

EU family members (EEA+ citizens) who missed the deadline automatically fell out of status and rights and became undocumented migrants overnight.

Estimationssuggest this could be tens or even hundreds of thousands ofpeople.
We know that it is the most marginalised – older and disabled people, looked-after children, Roma communities and survivors of domestic abuse – who are the most likely to have slipped through thecracks.
These EEA+ citizens are now subject to a series of policies commonly called the Hostile Environment, which criminalise work, bar them from accessing free healthcare and the public safety net and make it illegal to rent a home, access homelessness assistance, open a bank account or obtain a driver’slicense.

What’s wrong with the guidance on late applications?

The Government has stated that they will take a ‘flexible and pragmatic’ approach towards late applications, but this will not protect people’srights.
The guidancestates that this flexible approach will ‘normally’ but not ‘always’ be applied and will become stricter withtime.
Most concerningly, even where the guidance provides a route back to status, this is not a solution to subjecting EEA+ citizens to the Hostile Environment, even temporarily. Loss of legal status and rights and the risk of criminal liability create huge and potentially life-ruiningrisks.
A person who submits a late application will continue to have no access to their rights until they receive a successful decision.For many, this could take months, and result indestitution.
Many people may not realise they have no status until years later, when the damage could already bedone.

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 betaken.
It is far more likely thatlandlords, employersand other public services will be tasked with understanding and following this new guidance, increasing the likelihood of unlawful decision making anddiscrimination.
Unless the “notice” is accessible, available in EU languages and signposts to free support and legal advice, EEA+ citizens will encounter the same barriers and risk missing this second deadline. Yet the Home Office has only committed to continuing funding for charities supporting vulnerable EEA+ citizens till September2021.
The Government has failed to provide clarity on what happens to people who are unable to apply within 28 days. By default, Immigration Enforcement measures – including detention and removal – should kickin.

As of June 30^th2021 the backlog of pending applications under the EUSS had grown to almost570,000.
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 suchrights.
But EEA+ citizens with pending applications are in a state of legal limbo and feel a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty, especially around employment, housing and crossing the border to see lovedones.
We know that a lack of physical or official documentation leads to discrimination, especially if employers and landlords are unaware of what they are supposed todo.

The Government must scrap the EUSS deadline, reinstate automatic rights for all EEA+ citizens and physical documentation as proof ofstatus.
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.