EU Settlement Scheme Immigration Lawyers

Potentially, yes. If you are an EU citizen (or a qualifying family member of an EU citizen) and you previously completed a continuous five-year period of lawful residence in the UK in accordance with EU free movement law before 31 December 2020, you may still be able to rely on that historic residence to obtain Settled Status. This can include time spent in the UK as a child, for example where you lived in the UK with a parent who was exercising Treaty rights as a worker, self-employed person, student or self-sufficient person.

The key questions are whether that earlier five-year period gave rise to a right of permanent residence under EU law, and whether that right has been preserved, in particular, whether you have not had a single absence of more than five consecutive years from the UK and have not been subject to an exclusion, removal or deportation decision. If those conditions are met, historic residence (including childhood residence) can still form the basis of a Settled Status application, subject to explaining any late application and providing sufficient evidence of your residence in the UK.

Read more about applying based on historic residence.

For most people resident in the UK by 31 December 2020, the deadline was 30 June 2021.

However, there are still circumstances in which new applications are possible, for example for certain joining family members and for individuals who can show that there are reasonable grounds for missing their deadline. 

From 9 August 2023, the Home Office has taken a more restrictive approach to late applications: the requirement to demonstrate reasonable grounds became a validity requirement, not just an eligibility issue. If the Home Office is not satisfied that reasonable grounds exist, the application can be rejected as invalid, with no right of appeal or administrative review. 

Pre-Settled Status is a form of limited leave to remain, normally granted for five years, for those who had not yet completed a continuous five-year period of qualifying residence in the UK.

Settled Status is indefinite leave to remain for those who have completed a continuous qualifying period of at least five years’ residence in accordance with EU free movement law or the Withdrawal Agreement.

Where a relevant EU, EEA or Swiss citizen is already in the UK with Pre-Settled or Settled Status, certain family members can still join them from outside the UK as ‘joining family members’.

In most cases, a family member who is outside the UK and does not already hold a relevant residence card or UK immigration status will need to:

1. Apply for an EU Settlement Scheme Family Permit from abroad, to travel to and enter the UK; and then

2. Apply to the EU Settlement Scheme for Pre-Settled Status once in the UK. 

The family permit is a form of entry clearance, usually valid for up to six months, allowing the person to travel to the UK, work and study, and then submit an in-country EUSS application. Without a family permit (or other valid permission), airlines and carriers may refuse boarding and the person may be refused entry at the border. 

Joining family members are required to apply within three months of their most recent arrival; more recent rule changes focus on the first arrival after 31 December 2020, with an expectation that, if they apply later than three months after that first arrival, they will need to show reasonable grounds for a late application. 

In most cases, no. If you hold Pre-Settled Status as a joining family member who came to the UK after 31 December 2020, you are not treated as a “relevant sponsor” for the purposes of bringing family members under the EU Settlement Scheme.

You generally cannot sponsor your own partner or child under Appendix EU until you have acquired Settled Status, and even then the scope is limited.

If you are a joining family member yourself and wish to bring a partner or child to the UK, you would normally need to acquire Settled Status first, and then sponsor your family member under Appendix FM.

In most cases, no. The EU Settlement Scheme is designed to protect family relationships that already existed by the end of the transition period (31 December 2020) or that fall within very specific “joining family member” categories linked to those pre-existing rights.

If your relationship began after 31 December 2020, your partner or other family members will normally not qualify as family members under Appendix EU, even if you have Pre-Settled or Settled Status. In that situation, the usual route to bring a partner or child to the UK would be under Appendix FM.

A UK-born child does not obtain EU Settlement Scheme status automatically just because of birth in the UK or because a parent has status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Broadly, where a UK-born child does need EUSS status, an application should normally be made within three months of birth. If the application is made after that point, it will be treated as a late application and you will need to explain the reasonable grounds for missing the three-month timeframe.

The position is different where the child is potentially British from birth. This may be the case, for example, where at least one parent was already “settled” at the time of birth (for example, holding indefinite leave to remain, Settled Status, or a permanent right of residence under EU law). If a child was born in the UK after a parent had already completed five years’ continuous residence exercising Treaty rights and thereby acquired a permanent right of residence under EU law, that parent was treated as "settled" at the time of birth and the child is likely to have been a British citizen from birth, rather than needing status under the EU Settlement Scheme.