Europeans living in the United Kingdom will have to go through a series of procedures in order to continue in the country

On January 1, 2021, the transition period will end and the United Kingdom will be, for all purposes, a non-member of the European Union, 48 years after its adhesion. Now, European immigrants who wish to continue residing legally on the island must go through a registration process.

The settled status is the form with which citizens of the rest of the continent will let the British Government know that they want to remain in the country after the expiration of the transition period.

Leer en español: ¿Qué debe hacer para quedarse en Reino Unido después del Brexit?

The Ministry of the Interior wanted to send a message of tranquility, explaining that unless there is a criminal record that includes the applicant in the group of "dangerous", this process will be a "mere procedure that in the vast majority of cases will get an answer positive on the part of the authorities".

The British Home Office will have a team of 1,500 people who will have to review between 3.2 and 3.8 million applications from European citizens, about 4,500 a day. According to government sources, at the end of August it is expected to start this process with the processing of the first applications.

All those who have arrived in the United Kingdom before December 31, 2020 may request the settled status. Those who have not lived in the country for at least five years will be granted the 'pre-settled status'. For practical purposes, this status grants the same rights as the one of settled and allows that when the applicant fulfills a lustrum in the United Kingdom can apply to the 'settled status' and a year later to the British citizenship.

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The Minister of the Interior, Sajid Javid, explained that "this plan will fulfill our commitment to ensure the rights of all those European citizens who contribute to the growth of our country, whether by working or studying. We want them to stay and that the process to do it is as simple as possible for them."

In order to simplify a procedure that up to now involved an outlay of hundreds of pounds, fill out an 80-page form and wait up to 6 months of evaluation, the Home Office presented an outline of what the new application system will be – totally digital – and that will entail a cost of only 65 pounds for adults and 32.5 pounds for those under 16 years.

The documents that the Home Office will request from the candidates will be the basic ones: passport, photographs, labor data, address, telephone numbers, if they have a criminal record, etc. According to the authorities, this process will not take more than "15 or 20 minutes", after completing it and paying the fee, the applicant will receive a reference number and in a few days he/she will be able to know if their procedure has been approved.

Family members can also benefit from this right, therefore spouses, common-law partners, parents, children or grandchildren will be able to carry out this request.

Latin American Post | José María González
Translated from “¿Qué debe hacer para quedarse en Reino Unido después del Brexit?””