EU Settlement Scheme

All resident EU citizens who started living in the UK by the end of the Brexit transition period/ 31 December 2020 may apply to either pre-Settled or settled status under EU Settlement Scheme.

Receiving a pre-settled or settled status decision depends on the duration of your stay in the UK. You will be eligible to apply for settled status, if you have been resident in the UK as of 31 December 2020 and accumulated continuous residency in the UK for at least 5 years. The Settled status also called Indefinite Leave to Remain and it allows you to live, work and access the NHS. If you have been resident in the UK for less than 5 years, you will get a pre-settled Status.

If you receive pre-settled status, you can live and work in the UK for up to 5 years. When you have pre-settled status, you can spend up to 2 years outside the UK. However, if you want to apply for settled status later you need to prove that you lived in the UK for 6 months for any 12-month period during your 5 years stay in the UK.

If you did not make an application under EU Settlement Scheme by 30 June 2021 or later for some people, you may still have right to apply. To make a late application, you will need to have reasonable grounds for not applying EU Settlement Scheme online.

Late application can be submitted by:

– Your child who was born or adapted in the UK on or after 1 April 2021

– Your EEA national family member: You can join your EEA national family member who was living in the UK by 31 December 2021. You can join them on or after 1 April 2021.

– Your British citizen family member: If your family member is a British citizen who you lived with in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein by December 2020 and returned to the UK with them.

The Home Office provides a list to show some reasons as examples to make a late application under the EU Settlement Scheme. However, the provided list is not complete. If you have some other reason not listed, you can still make the application and your reason will be considered.

When you make a late application, you need to show your evidence to support your reason. If you have a valid reason that is not listed on the government website you may still be able to apply for a late application

If you are applying for your child who was born or adopted on or after 1 April 2021, you have 90 days from when he/she was born or adopted. However, if your child was born or adopted in the UK before 1 April 2021, you can make EU Settlement application until 30 June 2021.

However with valid reasons, your child may still be able to submit a late appliction.

 If you joined your family member on or after 1 April 2021, you have 90 days to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme from when you arrive in the UK. However, if you join your family member before 1 April 2021, you can make EU Settlement application until 30 June 2021. However with valid reasons, you may still be able to  submit a late application.

You can switch from pre-settled status to settled status once you have lived continuously for 5 years in the UK. You need to make a settled status application under EU Settlement Scheme before your pre-settled status expires.

Your continuous residence for settled status does not start from the day you had pre-settled status. It starts when you started your continuous residence in the UK.

When you have pre-settled status and you have spent more than 6 months outside the UK in a 12-month period, you may not have right to apply for a settled status under EU Settlement Scheme. In this case you may need to apply to pre-settled status again.

If you have indefinite leave to remain and you correctly apply to the EU Settlement Scheme, you will get settled status under EU Settlement Scheme. When you apply to the EU Settlement scheme you do not have to prove that you have 5 years continuous residence.

Under EU Settlement Scheme you can stay up to 5 years in a row outside of the UK without losing your settled status . If you spend more than 5 years in a raw outside of the UK you will lose your settled status.

Yes you can. If you are a joining family member of EEA national, you can stay in the UK as a family member for 90 days from the date you arrived in the UK. If you want to stay further, you need to submit an application under EU Settlement Scheme.

There are no Home Office fees to apply to EU Settlement Scheme and it is free to apply.

If your EEA national family member started living in the UK by 31 December 2020 and have settled or pre-settled status under EU Settlement Scheme, you can join them in the UK on or after 1 April 2021. You can apply to your EEA national family member if you are married, civil partner or unmarried partner. Your relationship must have started by 31 December 2020 and must still exists.

If you join your family member on or after 1 April 2021, you must apply EU Settlement Scheme within 90 days of arriving in the UK. You have to show your reasonable grounds for applying after the deadline.

If you are married or your relationship started after 31 December 2020, you can not make an application under EU Settlement scheme anymore. In this case Appendix FM Immigration Rules will apply and you need to make a Spouse visa application. There are many different requirements involved in Spouse application such as financial requirements, Home Office fees and Immigration Health Surcharge fees.

Your child who is born in the UK after you got settled status will automatically be a British citizen.

If you have a pre-settled status, your child who is born in the UK will be eligible to apply for pre-settled status.

Yes, you can apply for naturalisation, if you are meeting the requirements. Please contact our immigration lawyer for further information. If you did not hold comprehensive sickness insurance under the EEA Regulations while you were a student or self-sufficient person, you can now meet the lawful residence requirement based on the new Home Office guidance. You simply just show you have been granted settled status under the EUSS and you do not require to explain why you did not hold a comprehensive sickness insurance.

If you did not hold comprehensive sickness insurance under the EEA Regulations while you were a student or self-sufficient person, you can now meet the lawful residence requirement. You simply just show you have been granted settled status under the EUSS and you do not require to explain why you did not hold comprehensive health insurance.

You can not apply for naturalisation (citizenship) if you have permanent residence status. You may apply for settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme and then you can make your naturalisation application with your settled status.