EU citizens caught in the EU Settlement Scheme backlog deserve an extension

On the last day EU/EEA citizens and their families could apply for the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS), charities and helplines were inundated with worried people.

They couldn’t get through to Home Office caseworkers to find out why their application is stuck in the backlog, they struggle with documentation and out of date ID and many non-EU family members have been waiting for months to get the family permit necessary to apply for their status.

All of them are facing an uncertain future: Will I get that job next week? When will I know whether I will be able to stay? Will they accept a mere certificate of application if I want to rent a new flat? In many cases, despite assurances from the government, we are already seeing that the answer is “no”.

For those having sleepless nights right now, an extension of the deadline, which passed on Wednesday night, would mean much-needed breathing space, and the same probably holds true for the many overworked Home Office case workers clearly struggling to cope with the complexity and volume of applications. The huge backlog has been growing for months and more time is warranted simply to allow all those cases to be processed and concluded.

As many organisations and politicians have said in recent days and weeks, it would have been absolutely right to extend the EUSS deadline by a year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Lockdowns delayed vital face to face support, renewal of ID documents and proper offline communications to those a digital information campaign does not reach. Those who could not renew their passport had to do paper applications, which were hard to come by. Only a few weeks ago these were made available to download, and only days ago did it become possible to submit online applications with an expired ID.

The Netherlands moved the deadline for British citizens to 30 September, other EU countries have done the same. Germany moved from a declaratory to a constitutive system years ago, to avoid the unnecessary cliff-edge of a deadline that is removing all rights from those who will miss it.

The moral and practical case for adding extra time is strong but I agree with the government that extending the deadline is not the solution for all those people who have not yet applied – for example, children in care, the elderly and those who mistakenly think their Permanent Residency document is still valid. We must increase the limited communication to this diverse and hard to reach EU population across the UK, because if only three per cent of them miss the deadline we are talking about 150k people whose rights will be removed.

We also need to look at mitigating the effects of being in immigration status limbo. The current rules will not protect those affected by the backlog, nor would an extension. Those who are allowed to apply late on the government’s “reasonable grounds” have no rights while their case is being processed – which can be months during which they are not seen as legal residents, can’t change jobs, banks or move house. Those people are only protected again once they have got status. By that time it will be too late for many.

The government needs to tweak legislation to make everyone, who might only get their status months or years later, legal now. It is not acceptable to face being without rights while a backlog of immigration statuses are being sorted.

Both an extension and legal protection for late applications would reduce harm for those the government has a duty of care towards and allow EU citizens and their families to get on with their lives as promised.

Maike Bohn is co-founder of the3million