UK details plan for EU expats to remain after Brexit

The 3.8 million citizens from EU27 nations currently in the UK will have to answer only three “simple” questions online to continue living in the country after Brexit, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said.

Post-Brexit UK settlement scheme

Those questions, Mr Javid told the House of Lords justice committee, would centre on individuals proving their identification, showing they had no criminal record and proving they were legally resident in the UK.“We will not be looking for excuses to not grant settled status,” Mr Javid said, adding that answers would be checked against government databases and that a decision on leave to remain would be made “very quickly”, ideally within two weeks.He said there would be two types of status granted: settled status for those who have lived in the UK for five years or more; and pre-settled status for those who have been in the UK less than five years. The scheme will operate online and via a smartphone app.His comments came just hours after he had said that it was “not good enough” that the rest of the EU had failed to make progress on guaranteeing the rights of almost a million Britons currently living on the continent.“Publishing details of how we will administer our settled status scheme shows we are honouring the commitments made towards EU citizens living in the UK,” he said.“But I am concerned that I have not seen any similar plans on how EU member states are going to support British nationals in their countries.“This is not good enough and I hope both the European Parliament and Commission will exert more pressure for them to do this as soon as possible.”

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Related stories:

• UK "looking outside EU for financial partners"
• May promises EU expats ‘streamlined’ registration system
• Brexit deal reached on EU expats in Britain

For more related news and features, visit our Brexit section.  

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The EU’s response to British expats

Earlier in the week, Mr Javid met with Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, who acknowledged that the EU27 had not done enough to set out what the procedures would be for expat Britons.Mr Verhofstadt said the EU Parliament would “defend the rights of all those affected by Brexit”, adding, “The European Parliament will soon launch an extensive process in order to scrutinise the preparations being made by EU countries for British expats and we continue to believe the unresolved issue of onward movement rights must also be addressed for any deal to be reached.”He also raised concerns about the “high cost” of EU citizens in the UK obtaining settled status. “Why should EU citizens be financially punished for the Brexit referendum outcome, when we don’t even know yet what the future EU – UK mobility agreement will look like?” he asked.Detailing the new immigration scheme for EU nationals later in the day, the Home Office announced that applicants would have to pay a fee of £65 or £32.50 for children under 16. Registration will be free for people who already have permanent residence documents.After an initial trial run beginning in a few weeks’ time with a small number of selected applicants, the scheme will begin a phased roll-out late this year and be fully operational by next March, the Home Office said.Mr Javid said, “Throughout, we will be looking to grant, not for reasons to refuse. I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge, but the Home Office already issues around seven million passports and three million visas each year, and so processing applications on the scale required is not new to us.”

The scheme also establishes: 

• Close family members living overseas will still be able to join an EU citizen with settled status after the Brexit transition period
• Non-EU nationals who meet certain criteria will be able to apply for settled status as a family member after the relationship has ended for such reasons as death or divorce
• Applicants who are refused will be able to re-apply at any point and for as many times they wish, up to the end of June 2021
• Holders of settled status could absent themselves from the UK for up to five years before it lapses.

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