More than two million EU citizens face a fresh hurdle to living and working in Britain — and could even face deportation — after a decision by Priti Patel to make them reapply to stay in the country permanently.
Under the Brexit withdrawal agreement, the government agreed to let all EU citizens living in Britain to remain either through granting them “settled status” or “pre-settled status” if they could not prove they had been continuously living in Britain for five years.
Now, however, the Home Office has ruled that the 2.3 million people who currently have pre-settled status will need to reapply for settled status at the end of the five-year period for which they have been granted a right to remain. Anyone who fails to apply in time would lose rights to work, access housing and benefits and could be liable to removal from the country.
The decision has led the Independent Monitoring Authority, which was set up under withdrawal agreement to protect the rights of EU citizens in the UK, to take the Home Office to court.
In a submission to the High Court the IMA warned that Patel’s move was unlawful and in breach of the government’s agreement with the EU.
The move is likely to inflame tensions with EU countries over one of the most sensitive areas of the Brexit deal.
The IMA said it had raised concerns with the Home Office and warned that it was in breach of its obligation but did not get a satisfactory response.
In its submission to the court, it said that Patel’s failure “to correctly implement the United Kingdom’s obligations” meant that individuals who had a right to remain in the UK under the withdrawal agreement could lose it in a way that it “simply (does) not permit”.
“The issue is that the secretary of state [Patel] maintains that those qualifying citizens who successfully applied for pre-settled status may subsequently lose it entirely if they later fail to make a second application,” the claim for judicial review states. “If they fail to apply, the secretary of state will consider them to be unlawfully present in the UK by reason of that failure.
“The result is that they will be exposed to considerable serious consequences affecting their right to live, work and access social security support in the UK. The claimant [the IMA] contends that this is incompatible with the agreements, which do not provide for loss of status in such circumstances.”
The IMA added that the five-year period would become due for the first of those who applied for pre-settled status in 2023 and urged the court to rule that the government’s plan was illegal.
Embarrassingly for ministers, under the withdrawal agreement, the UK courts could refer the case to the European Court of Justice for its interpretation. The matter could potentially also end up directly at the ECJ should the UK courts rule against the IMA.
Dr Kathryn Chamberlain, IMA chief executive, hoped the action would provide “clarity” for those affected.
A Home Office spokesman said so far 247,010 people had moved from pre-settled to settled status. It added that there remained “scope” for people to make a late application to the scheme “where there are reasonable grounds for having missed the deadline”.
“We take our citizens’ rights obligations very seriously and have implemented the arrangements we agreed under the Withdrawal Agreement in good faith.
“The government does not agree with the Independent Monitoring Authority’s analysis of the Withdrawal Agreement. It has been the UK government’s longstanding position that people with pre-settled status will have to apply for settled status before their pre-settled status expires to stay in the UK.”
Oliver Wright, Policy Editor
Wednesday December 15 2021, 12.01am, The Times
Pritler at it again. This will fester nicely with her backward fan base.
“Priti Patel pushes legislation that allows British citizens to be executed without trial”
Isn’t this consonant with both Brexit (which at the time 49% had identified immigration as the primary driver of their vote,) and with the UK’s move towards skills-based immigration?
If at the end of five years it turns out that there are many pre-settled people who have not reapplied, or there are pre-settled visa holders which do not have skills the workforce requires, then why should the UK bear the brunt? And isn’t that the legal duration of their stay anyway?
Those are honest questions. I simply don’t know the full contours.
But it is a small island, a crowded island, and in the middle of a housing crisis that has no end in sight (just to name one issue affected by immigration).
So making EU citizens feel like crap to the point that many left and there is now a shortage of workers in certain sectors wasn’t enough. We have to make tax-paying well-integrated people feel like that over and over and over again, because they had the audacity to be born in another country.
All of us applied and sent the documents needed already, if anything pre-settled status should automatically become settled status after 5 years. They have our names, locations, national insurance numbers, date we arrived,… But no, let’s make sure we can lose our right to live in our own homes and do our jobs instead. British exceptionalism and xenophobia is alive and well.
I knew this was going to happen, so we got my wife British citizenship at the cost of a couple grand we couldn’t really afford.
Then Priti decides that she can revoke British citizenship whenever she wants.
This horrible cunt of a bigot sympathiser makes Theresa May look like Florence Nightingale.
Hang on! These are exactly the same rules that applied when I came over in 2002.
What’s Priti got to do with them?
Secondly, are you guys seriously arguing for a two tier legal system where rules are applied selectively?
So let me get this straight:
They’re desperate for EU citizens to come back and work in The UK, but are also making it harder for EU citizens to stay in The UK?
What contradictory nonsense is this?
I think this article is exaggerating this quite a lot. Applying for settled status was super straight forward and simple, it takes like ten minutes. Expecting the people that could only get pre-settled status to reapply for settled status once they meet the requirements is completely acceptable.
They’re right when they say that people who don’t apply could lose access to housing and benefits, but why would someone not apply? If you’ve been here for less than five years and could only get pre-settled status, just get full settled status once you hit five years. As long as you do it before your right to remain time ends, you’ll be fine.
Next: Priti Desperate revokes her parents’ citizenship to prove a point.
The Principle is not wrong i.e to apply for permanent residence status.
What worries me is the application of it by some petty Home Office functionary who is ‘following orders’ from above.
We could well have the situation as we had with the West Indians.
We are going to tell Poles and Rumanians who have more or less settled in the UK, with children in schools and what not, to bugger off because they don’t fulfil some criteria like a minimum income job because of personal child minding or other reasons?
Way to go Cruella De Patel!
Back then I played an pen and paper RPG called “Paranoia” which was set in a distant future where an fragmented and insane “Computer” had seized control of society and everyone had to try and survive under the often contradicting and usually hazardous rules.
It was hilarious – as long as it was fiction.
Right now the UK is giving off faint “Paranoia” vibes…
As an EU Citizen who left in 2018 after the Brexit vote, I never regretted that move. And feel sorry for the ones that are still there… As this shows we are not welcome.
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Article contents:
More than two million EU citizens face a fresh hurdle to living and working in Britain — and could even face deportation — after a decision by Priti Patel to make them reapply to stay in the country permanently.
Under the Brexit withdrawal agreement, the government agreed to let all EU citizens living in Britain to remain either through granting them “settled status” or “pre-settled status” if they could not prove they had been continuously living in Britain for five years.
Now, however, the Home Office has ruled that the 2.3 million people who currently have pre-settled status will need to reapply for settled status at the end of the five-year period for which they have been granted a right to remain. Anyone who fails to apply in time would lose rights to work, access housing and benefits and could be liable to removal from the country.
The decision has led the Independent Monitoring Authority, which was set up under withdrawal agreement to protect the rights of EU citizens in the UK, to take the Home Office to court.
In a submission to the High Court the IMA warned that Patel’s move was unlawful and in breach of the government’s agreement with the EU.
The move is likely to inflame tensions with EU countries over one of the most sensitive areas of the Brexit deal.
The IMA said it had raised concerns with the Home Office and warned that it was in breach of its obligation but did not get a satisfactory response.
In its submission to the court, it said that Patel’s failure “to correctly implement the United Kingdom’s obligations” meant that individuals who had a right to remain in the UK under the withdrawal agreement could lose it in a way that it “simply (does) not permit”.
“The issue is that the secretary of state [Patel] maintains that those qualifying citizens who successfully applied for pre-settled status may subsequently lose it entirely if they later fail to make a second application,” the claim for judicial review states. “If they fail to apply, the secretary of state will consider them to be unlawfully present in the UK by reason of that failure.
“The result is that they will be exposed to considerable serious consequences affecting their right to live, work and access social security support in the UK. The claimant [the IMA] contends that this is incompatible with the agreements, which do not provide for loss of status in such circumstances.”
The IMA added that the five-year period would become due for the first of those who applied for pre-settled status in 2023 and urged the court to rule that the government’s plan was illegal.
Embarrassingly for ministers, under the withdrawal agreement, the UK courts could refer the case to the European Court of Justice for its interpretation. The matter could potentially also end up directly at the ECJ should the UK courts rule against the IMA.
Dr Kathryn Chamberlain, IMA chief executive, hoped the action would provide “clarity” for those affected.
A Home Office spokesman said so far 247,010 people had moved from pre-settled to settled status. It added that there remained “scope” for people to make a late application to the scheme “where there are reasonable grounds for having missed the deadline”.
“We take our citizens’ rights obligations very seriously and have implemented the arrangements we agreed under the Withdrawal Agreement in good faith.
“The government does not agree with the Independent Monitoring Authority’s analysis of the Withdrawal Agreement. It has been the UK government’s longstanding position that people with pre-settled status will have to apply for settled status before their pre-settled status expires to stay in the UK.”
Oliver Wright, Policy Editor
Wednesday December 15 2021, 12.01am, The Times
Pritler at it again. This will fester nicely with her backward fan base.
“Priti Patel pushes legislation that allows British citizens to be executed without trial”
Isn’t this consonant with both Brexit (which at the time 49% had identified immigration as the primary driver of their vote,) and with the UK’s move towards skills-based immigration?
If at the end of five years it turns out that there are many pre-settled people who have not reapplied, or there are pre-settled visa holders which do not have skills the workforce requires, then why should the UK bear the brunt? And isn’t that the legal duration of their stay anyway?
Those are honest questions. I simply don’t know the full contours.
But it is a small island, a crowded island, and in the middle of a housing crisis that has no end in sight (just to name one issue affected by immigration).
So making EU citizens feel like crap to the point that many left and there is now a shortage of workers in certain sectors wasn’t enough. We have to make tax-paying well-integrated people feel like that over and over and over again, because they had the audacity to be born in another country.
All of us applied and sent the documents needed already, if anything pre-settled status should automatically become settled status after 5 years. They have our names, locations, national insurance numbers, date we arrived,… But no, let’s make sure we can lose our right to live in our own homes and do our jobs instead. British exceptionalism and xenophobia is alive and well.
I knew this was going to happen, so we got my wife British citizenship at the cost of a couple grand we couldn’t really afford.
Then Priti decides that she can revoke British citizenship whenever she wants.
This horrible cunt of a bigot sympathiser makes Theresa May look like Florence Nightingale.
Hang on! These are exactly the same rules that applied when I came over in 2002.
What’s Priti got to do with them?
Secondly, are you guys seriously arguing for a two tier legal system where rules are applied selectively?
So let me get this straight:
They’re desperate for EU citizens to come back and work in The UK, but are also making it harder for EU citizens to stay in The UK?
What contradictory nonsense is this?
I think this article is exaggerating this quite a lot. Applying for settled status was super straight forward and simple, it takes like ten minutes. Expecting the people that could only get pre-settled status to reapply for settled status once they meet the requirements is completely acceptable.
They’re right when they say that people who don’t apply could lose access to housing and benefits, but why would someone not apply? If you’ve been here for less than five years and could only get pre-settled status, just get full settled status once you hit five years. As long as you do it before your right to remain time ends, you’ll be fine.
Next: Priti Desperate revokes her parents’ citizenship to prove a point.
The Principle is not wrong i.e to apply for permanent residence status.
What worries me is the application of it by some petty Home Office functionary who is ‘following orders’ from above.
We could well have the situation as we had with the West Indians.
We are going to tell Poles and Rumanians who have more or less settled in the UK, with children in schools and what not, to bugger off because they don’t fulfil some criteria like a minimum income job because of personal child minding or other reasons?
Way to go Cruella De Patel!
Back then I played an pen and paper RPG called “Paranoia” which was set in a distant future where an fragmented and insane “Computer” had seized control of society and everyone had to try and survive under the often contradicting and usually hazardous rules.
It was hilarious – as long as it was fiction.
Right now the UK is giving off faint “Paranoia” vibes…
As an EU Citizen who left in 2018 after the Brexit vote, I never regretted that move. And feel sorry for the ones that are still there… As this shows we are not welcome.