What is the Settled Status?
The Settled status is the right, for non-UK citizens, to live, work, and remain indefinitely in the UK without any immigration control. This is essential if you want to stay and work in the UK. You can also apply for the pre-settled status. The deadline to apply for both the Settled and Pre Settled Schemes is 30 June 2021. Simon wrote about this back in December 20. You can see his blog here. This blog highlights some of the main points.
When do you need to apply
The basic rule is that you need to apply by 30 June 21. However, the government has said today that where there is a “reasonable grounds”, applications will be accepted after the deadline. The government has issued a 204 page document saying what are reasonable grounds. You can read about reasonable grounds here. Reasonable grounds are quite limited. It includes things like forgetting to register your children, not having mental capacity, having a serious medical condition, or other compelling practical or compassionate reasons.
Who has to apply
You can apply if you are an EU, EEA (EU countries and Iceland, Lichtenstein, and Norway) or a Swiss citizen.
Requirement
To apply, you must have lived in UK for at least one day from 31 December 2020.
However, there are different deadline in some exceptional cases:
- If you’re applying to reunite with a family member
- If you are a family member of a British citizen
- If you stop being exempt
Who cannot apply
The settled status, is not necessary in the following cases:
- If you are an Irish citizen
- If you already have the indefinite leave to enter in the UK
- If you already have the indefinite leave to remain in the UK
- If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen and you moved to the UK before it joined the EU
- If you are a frontier worker, so if you work in the UK but live outside
- If you are exempt from immigration control (e.g., foreign diplomat, member of NATO)
If your application will be accepted, you will have the following rights:
- Work in the UK
- Use NHS (no fees)
- Study in the UK
- Access to all benefits
- Travel in and out of the UK
Settled vs Pre-settled status
There are 2 distinct types of authorizations:
- Settled status
- Pre-settled status
The scheme you need to apply for depends on how long you have been living in the UK when you apply. Each scheme gives you different rights.
Settled Status
To get the Settled Status you need to have lived in the UK for 5 years. Lived (or continuous residence) means that you need to have lived in the UK for 6 months in every 12 month period. But, there are some exceptions:
- Important reasons (e.g., work, health, study – up to 12 months)
- Compulsory military service of any length
- Crown servant or member of a Crown servant
- Armed forces or member of the armed forces
- If you lived in the UK for 5 years in the past, no more than 5 years ago
The settled status allows non-UK citizens to stay in the UK for as long as they like and to apply for British citizenship.
Pre-settled Status
If you live in the UK for less than 5 continuous years, you can’t get settled status, but you can obtain the pre-settled status. Pre-settled status allows you to stay in the UK for 5 years, from the date you get the authorization. If you want to continue to stay in the UK after this you need to switch to settled status. This needs to be done before your pre-settled status expires. You lose the status if:
- Pre-settled: you have left the UK for more than 6 months in any 12 months (excepted important reasons)
- Settled: you have left the UK for more than 5 years.
Here is the link to apply. It’s really easy. We can help if you want.
If you need any help, contact us.
What is the Settled Status? The Settled status is the r […]