UK limits access to grace period allowing EU citizens to secure right to stay

 

UK limits access to grace period allowing EU citizens to secure right to stay

 

Home Office looks set to miss an opportunity to protect the most vulnerable EU nationals, solicitors say.

 

By CRISTINA GALLARDO 9/25/20, 2:05 PM CET Updated 9/26/20, 6:08 AM CET

https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-limits-access-to-grace-period-allowing-eu-citizens-to-secure-right-to-stay-brexit/

 

Economically inactive people, such as students, pensioners and those who have lost their job, might have a harder time if they have not already secured settled status | Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

 

LONDON — EU citizens living in the U.K. without a job may struggle to make use of a grace period to secure their status after Brexit.

 

The U.K. Home Office last year agreed to create a grace period of six months after the Brexit transition period ends on December 31 to allow European Economic Area and Swiss nationals more time to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme, which guarantees their ongoing rights in the U.K.

 

According to U.K. draft legislation regulating this period, economically active people from the EEA and Switzerland will continue to be considered lawful residents in the U.K. during those months, and for as long as their application to the scheme is being reviewed by the Home Office, even if it is not resolved until after the planned deadline of June 30, 2021.

 

However, economically inactive people, such as students, pensioners and those who have lost their job, might have a harder time if they have not already secured settled status. Under the Home Office’s draft plan, this group would be advised to take up comprehensive sickness insurance by December 31, 2020, even if they intend to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme eventually.

 

Once the Brexit transition ends, economically inactive people who do not hold private comprehensive sickness insurance will not be considered lawfully resident in the U.K. until such time that they are granted a status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

 

“The U.K. government missed an important opportunity to demonstrate how much they want to protect EU citizens and their family members" — Christopher Desira, director of Seraphus law firm

 

There is no suggestion that the Home Office is breaking the citizens’ rights chapter of the Withdrawal Agreement agreed with Brussels, since the government is retaining the definition of residence set out in EU law.

 

But immigration solicitors and campaigners for the rights of EU nationals in the U.K. counter that the government has missed an opportunity to use its new autonomy from Brussels to drop a controversial requirement that makes it harder for those people to stay in the country.

 

“The U.K. government missed an important opportunity to demonstrate how much they want to protect EU citizens and their family members by limiting the protections to those exercising treaty rights in the strictest sense,” said Christopher Desira, director of Seraphus law firm. “This means many people will be left without protection until such time as they apply for and [are] granted an EUSS status. The advice for everyone is to apply to the EUSS as quickly as possible.”

 

What is more, the number of EU nationals in the U.K. losing their job has spiked due to the pandemic, with about 284,000 more EU citizens in the U.K. being out of work between April to June, according to the Office for National Statistics.

 

Luke Piper, immigration lawyer and head of policy at The3Million campaign, which represents EU nationals in Britain, said he hopes this is a mistake and could be fixed.

 

“The U.K. government have given repeated assurances that every EU citizen able to stay via the EU Settlement Scheme will be given full legal protections during the grace period and whilst they wait for a decision,” he said. “By limiting legal rights in this way, we worry about the implications on people’s ability to legally live in the U.K. and access health care and other vital services in the U.K.”

 

The Home Office confirmed that this requirement for economically inactive EU nationals to have health insurance is their plan. They urged all EU nationals to continue to apply to the settlement scheme.

 

The scheme “is free and simple to apply and people have until 30 June 2021 to do so,” a spokesperson for the Home Office said. As of the end of August, the department had received 3.9 million applications and granted status to 3.6 million people.

 

Most Europeans moved to the U.K. expecting to use the National Health System, which is universal and free at the point of use.

 

Campaigners for citizens’ rights say that many who fall into this category are unaware of need to take up private health care insurance. The cost will also be unaffordable for many, given they are, by default, out of work.

 

Sarah Ludford, the Liberal Democrats’ Brexit spokesperson in the House of Lords, said the draft legislation shows the government’s “bad faith” toward EEA and Swiss nationals.

 

“How much ill will does the government want to create among EU citizens in our society?” she said. “It’s totally shabby and completely unnecessary to treat people up in this way. There are great worries for example about elderly people who have lived here for decades and don’t realize they don’t have to go through the EU Settlement Scheme and are happily living a quiet life, and who could be living in a care home by now, and might suddenly be told they might be illegal in the U.K. There is a lot of concern that we are going to have another Windrush [a previous immigration scandal].”