The fate of EU nationals with temporary status in the UK will go to judicial review, a High Court judge ruled on Thursday (30 June), in a legal case with significant implications for around 2.5 million EU nationals living in the UK with five-year residency.
According to Home Office statistics, 6,648,700 applications had been made by EU nationals to live in the UK by the end of May. Some 596,500 were received after 30 June 2021, when the EU Settlement Scheme officially ended. Over 245,000 cases are still pending a decision by the Home Office.
While around 50% of applicants have received ‘settled status’, which gives them permanent resident status, over 40% have been awarded ‘pre-settled status’, giving them residency rights for five years, at the end of which they must apply again.
If they do not apply in time, they will automatically lose rights to work, access housing, education, and claim benefits and could be deported.
The Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens’ Rights Agreements (IMA) launched judicial review proceedings against the Home Office, arguing that the government’s position that citizens who fail to apply for Settled Status before the expiry of their Pre-Settled Status should automatically lose their rights is unlawful.
The IMA contends that having already proved their right to remain in the UK, EU citizens should not face such risks. Judicial review allows claimants to determine whether government actions or laws are lawful.
In a ruling on Thursday, Justice Saini stated that the case raised “a real issue as to the potential application of EU law in the interpretation of the Withdrawal Agreement. Resolution of these issues is a matter of public interest given the potentially large numbers of those with pre-settled status.”
The judge added that “the claim should be resolved well before any such individual is exposed to potential risks of a failure to apply for settled status. That date is, I understand, the start of 2023,” five years after the launch of the EUSS.
An IMA spokesperson described the court decision as “an important milestone as we hope to provide clarity and certainty for the millions of citizens with Pre-Settled Status.”
Since the launch of the EU Settlement Scheme, which was introduced because the UK ended freedom of movement upon leaving the EU, campaign groups have warned that vulnerable groups such as the elderly, homeless and those with limited paperwork risk falling through the cracks.
The IMA, which exists to protect the rights of EU nationals in the UK, was set up as part of the Brexit agreement that took the UK out of the EU in 2020. It is guaranteed to exist until at least 2028, after which it could be wound up but only with the agreement of the EU.
[Edited by Alice Taylor]
Source: euractiv.com
