Britain’s Home Office said on Thursday that more than 6.5 million EU citizens had applied for a permanent residence permit in the UK by the end of March this year. The British had already left the European Union on January 31, 2020, but EU citizens were given a delay until the end of the year to settle in the island nation. All they had to do was apply for an indefinite-term residence permit last year, which is an official status.
In principle, they had until June 30 last year to do so, but the UK government continues to encourage claimants to submit their applications in any case, as authorities will accept and process legitimate applications for incorporation despite the deadline.
Only 4 percent of applications processed by the end of March were rejected. Applicants withdrew 2 percent of applications, and another 2 percent were invalid for some official reason.
Currently, statistics from the UK Home Office include applicants’ nationality data up to the end of last year: The number of applications submitted by Hungarians by December 31 reached 161,600.
At the top of the list were the Romanians with 1,184,370 applications for settlement, followed by the Poles, with 1,375,570 of whom had applied for settlement status in the United Kingdom by the end of December.
Nearly half of all applicants came to the UK in the last years before Brexit
In 51 percent of applications screened and approved by March 31, 2022, applicants were granted permanent applications—that is, without a deadline—and in 41 percent of cases they were previously settled. The latter is available to those who arrived before 31 December 2020 with the intention of establishing themselves but have not yet lived in the UK for five years at the time of application. They can also wait until the five years have passed and then obtain a final residence permit. In the period until then, they are also entitled to the full enjoyment of the acquired rights.
