According to the latest figures released by the UK Home Office on Thursday, nearly a quarter of a million EU citizens have applied for a long-term residence permit in the UK since the end of June, for a total of 6.3 million by the end of October.
The United Kingdom formally withdrew from the European Union on January 31 last year. However, EU citizens who have legally and habitually settled in the UK by the end of 2020, at the end of an 11-month transition period after the end of British membership in the EU (Brexit), can remain in the country with all their acquired rights, but indefinitely. Named, they must apply for a residence permit, i.e. settled status. Its deadline in principle has expired on June 30, but the UK government has previously indicated that it will accept applications submitted late for an indefinite period for justified reasons.
Since then, London has consistently encouraged claimants to submit their applications in any event, as authorities will accept and process legitimate applications for incorporation that meet the criteria, despite the deadline.
According to a new summary released by Britain’s Home Office on Thursday, 236,840 EU citizens to 27 countries living in the UK applied for settled status between June 30 and October 31, four months after the deadline. As of the last day of October, 6,287,700 creation requests were received from EU citizens, 5,908,400 requests processed; 463850 after the June 30 deadline.
In 52 percent of applications examined and approved by October 31, applicants were granted permanent status, that is, pre-settled status in 42 percent of cases. The latter is available to those who arrived before 31 December 2020 with the intention of establishing themselves but have not yet completed five years of living in the UK at the time of application. They can also wait until the five years have passed and then obtain a final residence permit. In the meantime, they will also have full entitlement to the acquired rights.
According to Thursday’s information, the UK Home Office had rejected 3 per cent of applications examined by the end of October. Current median monthly statistics do not include a breakdown by country, as the department typically presents these detailed figures in comprehensive quarterly statistics. According to the latest quarterly data collected in September, 155,490 Hungarian citizens have applied for a British permanent residence permit by the June 30 deadline.
The UK Home Office has previously indicated that the rights acquired for those who have submitted their applications for established status by the deadline but have not yet been notified of the outcome of the assessment will remain in full effect. Meanwhile, the ministry has extended the same guarantee to those who have submitted or will submit their applications after June 30.
(via MTI)
(Cover Photo: London 2012. Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
