The authority created to protect the rights of EU citizens living in the UK has appealed to court against the Home Office’s decision to reinstate applications for those in temporary stable status if they wished to obtain full status.
As British media made clear on Wednesday, as a result of this decision, nearly 2.5 million EU citizens with temporary residence will risk losing the right to housing, work and benefits in the UK, and even deportation if they do not do so. Submit a new one on time. the demand.
Under the Brexit agreement, EU citizens who lived in the UK before the end of the transition period, i.e. before December 31, 2020, can retain their acquired rights if they apply for settled status or pre-settlement status (pre-settlement status). stable condition). The first is due to persons who have been able to prove uninterrupted residence for at least five years in Great Britain, and the last – for the remaining persons. But the agreement stipulated that for those with temporary status, its change to full status would occur automatically.
However, the UK Home Office has decided that people with temporary status must submit another application before the end of the five-year period – to switch to full status. Therefore, the Independent Monitoring Authority (IMA), a British authority established to protect the rights of EU citizens, appealed to the court against the Home Office’s decision, saying it was illegal and in breach of the contract with the EU. According to the IMA, the case concerns 2.485 million people.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of the Interior, as of the end of September 2021, 6.2 million applications had been received, of which 5.8 million were examined. Of the applications examined, approximately 3.03 million (52%) were granted stable status, temporary status – 2.44 million (42%), and the remaining applications were rejected, invalidated, and withdrawn.
Polish citizens filed 1.125 million applications, the second largest – after Romanian citizens, although in the case of the latter there were more cases of double or multiple applications, so the number of Poles who have already applied for status is higher. Of the 1.125 million applications submitted by Polish citizens, 1.07 million were considered by the end of September, 817.6 thousand of them were granted stable status. Person, temporary status – more than 210.4 thousand, and about 41.8 thousand. These applications are rejected, invalid and withdrawn.
This means that 76.4%. Applications from Polish citizens ended in the status of a settled person, the highest percentage of all nationalities. However, the decision contested by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) concerns 210.4 thousand. Poles who – if the court does not decide that the Ministry of the Interior should change it – will have to submit another application.
People who have lived in the UK before the end of the transition period can apply for settled or pre-settled status until 30 June 2021, although if someone can show they have good cause, applications will be accepted after this deadline.
From London Bartłomiej Niedziński (PAP)
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