High Court judges Britain’s requirement that some EU citizens in the UK make two applications to stay after Brexit is unlawful.
The U.K.’s Home Office is acting unlawfully by removing residence rights from EU nationals if they fail to apply twice for the right to stay in the U.K. after Brexit, a senior judge ruled. The High Court of England and Wales ruled Wednesday that an EU citizen who lived in Britain before Brexit can lose their right of residence only in very specific circumstances, which are clearly defined in the EU-U.K. Withdrawal Agreement. These should not include failure to upgrade from so-called “pre-settled” to “settled status.” Under the U.K.’s current system, citizens from the bloc who settled in Britain before Brexit for less than five years can apply for “pre-settled status,” allowing them to preserve their right to live, work and access U.K. public services such as education. The government then requires these people to make a second application within five years of being granted this “pre-settled status,” either for full, so-called “settled status” or for a further period of pre-settled status. If they fail to apply for either, the Home Office will consider them to be unlawfully present in the U.K. and no longer entitled to exercise their residence rights such as access to healthcare or the right to work.
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Pre-settled status is an obvious ploy to be able to turf out EU citizens who were in the UK before brexit took effect.
