Give EU Citizens more time to apply for settled status, says Assembly

Over 5 million EU Nationals have already applied for the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) so they can remain in the UK after 30 June 2021.

There is growing concern that many more EU citizens have yet to apply to remain in the UK including older EU residents, children, individuals with physical or mental health disabilities, women in relationships involving domestic abuse or Roma people.

The London Assembly has today agreed to call on the Government to extend the EUSS deadline further.

Joanne McCartney AM, who proposed the motion said:

“The rights of EU Citizens should have been prioritised during the Brexit negotiations. Now we are facing a situation where a significant number of Londoners could face losing their fundamental rights if they miss the 30th June application deadline for the settlement scheme.

“City Hall has led the way with providing multi-lingual advice to those struggling with their applications through the Mayor’s EU Londoners Hub, but I am really concerned that there are many people in our communities have not yet been able to apply.

“The right to automatic settled status should be granted to all eligible EU Londoners irrespective of when they apply. But at the very least, the deadline must be urgently pushed back beyond the end of the month and the public messaging campaign expanded.”

The full text of the motion is:

“This Assembly notes the deadline for applying to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) is on the 30 June 2021 and is concerned that there are some groups of people are less likely to have applied for EUSS by the June deadline – particularly older EU residents, children, individuals with physical or mental health disabilities, women in relationships involving domestic abuse or Roma people, and that the scheme risks another Windrush scandal. This Assembly notes that a cause of the Windrush Scandal was the inability of long-term residents to provide physical proof of their valid right to remain in the UK.

This Assembly calls on the Government to automatically grant those eligible EU Citizens the right to remain, and in the absence of this, extend the EUSS deadline further to ensure as many EU citizens living in London and the UK as possible have applied.

This Assembly also calls on the Mayor to continue promoting the EUSS and supporting EU Londoners to apply to the scheme. This Assembly further calls on the Chair of the Assembly to write to the Home Secretary and ask the Government to provide London’s EU citizens the opportunity to convert their digital settled status into a physical card that will provide London’s EU citizens with physical proof of their right to remain.”