Ellisons' immigration expert Sohan Sidhu warns that time is running out for EU Settlement Scheme applications

On February 11 this year, the Home Office announced that five million applications had been received to the EU Settlement Scheme.

The Home Office has stated that this included more than 4.5 million applications from England, 250,000 from Scotland, 83,000 from Wales and 81,000 from Northern Ireland, up to January 31, 2021.

The Home Office EU Settlement Scheme is open to European Union, European Economic Area and Swiss citizens who have been living in the UK by 11pm on December 31, 2020, along with their family members.

Such nationals must apply to the EU Settlement Scheme by no later than June 30, 2021, if they wish to continue living in the UK beyond this date. It is important to bear in mind that this also applies to citizens who have lived in the UK for very many years or who already hold a permanent residence document issued under the previous Home Office regulations.

While many citizens have already successfully applied under the EU Settlement Scheme, even according to the Home Office’s own analysis, there are very many citizens living in the UK who have not yet made their application despite extensive media campaigns by the Home Office.

Those citizens who have not yet applied under the scheme would be well advised to apply straight away as failure to do so before the cut-off date could have extremely serious consequences for them including the loss of the right to lawfully continue living and working in the UK.

Applications under the scheme can be made via an app or by completing an online application and currently, applications are taking anything between about three – seven weeks to be processed.

- For advice on this or any other immigration matter, please do not hesitate to contact Sohan Sidhu by email at sohan.sidhu@ellisonssolicitors.com or by telephone on 01284 763333.

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