At least many people have applied for an indefinite residence permit.
The British Statistics Office announced on Wednesday that the number of EU nationals living in England and Wales exceeds 3.5 million.
According to a summary based on last year’s census data, since the last census survey conducted in 2011 – that is, within ten years – the number of people who have moved from EU countries to England and Wales has increased by 1.1 million to 3.6 million. They make up 36.4 per cent of the non-British-born people living in these two countries from the UK.
The United Kingdom left the European Union on January 31, 2020. However, EU nationals who are settled legally and in a way of subsistence by the end of 2020, until the end of the 11-month transition period that began after the termination of British EU membership (Brexit), can continue In order to remain in the country, while retaining all their acquired rights, but to obtain a residence permit indefinitely – they must apply for settled status with an official legal name (EU Settlement Status).
In principle, the application deadline ended on June 30 last year. However, the British government continues to encourage those who are entitled to submit their application anyway, because the authorities will accept and assess legitimate settlement applications that meet the criteria despite the deadline.
According to the British Statistics Office on Wednesday, 59.6 million people were living in England and Wales at the time of last year’s census. Of these, 49.6 million (83.2 per cent) were born in the UK, meaning the number of permanent residents born abroad was only 10 million (16.8 per cent) in 2021.
Indians top the top ten foreign-born people living in England and Wales with a population of around 920,000, followed by Poles with a population of 743,000.
Romanians are also among the top ten who have moved from the EU countries in Central and Eastern Europe: they are in fourth place with about 540,000 people.
Irish, Italians and Germans are also in the ten most populous groups of the population of England and Wales born in the European Union.
