Gilruth hits out at Home Office over EU applications to stay

Home Office bosses have been urged to deal with a backlog of hundreds of thousands of applications from European citizens wishing to stay in the UK.

With people from EU nations having till the end of June to apply for settled status, Jenny Gilruth, the Europe minister for the Scottish Government, described the situation as "deeply concerning".

Some 276,600 EU nationals living in Scotland had applied to the UK Government for settled status by the end of May.

But figures showed that, by then, a backlog of about 334,500 applications had built up – a rise of 29,500 from the previous month.

By the end March, 250,040 of the then 263,220 applications from Scotland had been dealt with – with 141,220 granted settled status, and a further 102,000 granted pre-settled status.

But the Scottish government insists all successful applications to the scheme should be granted full settled status.

Ministers in Edinburgh also believe that EU citizens should not have to be resident for five years or more to be awarded settled status, arguing that EU citizens living in the UK should not need to apply to retain the rights they already have to live, work and study in Scotland.

The First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, made clear her opposition to the scheme as she reminded EU nationals of the deadline for applications.

She told them: "I wish you didn't have to, but please apply to the EU settlement scheme by 30 June – this is your home and we really want you to stay."

Meanwhile, Ms Gilruth spoke out about the backlog as she urged the UK Government

to reform its settled status scheme.

She said: "With only days to go to the deadline, it is deeply concerning that hundreds of thousands of applications – many of which will very likely be from our fellow citizens who wish to stay in Scotland – have yet to be processed.

"Since the Brexit referendum, EU citizens, who contribute so much in so many ways to our society, have been forced to live with unacceptable levels of uncertainty as to how Brexit will affect their lives, careers and families.

"It is just wrong that EU citizens who fail to apply by the deadline will suddenly become unlawfully resident in the UK. The UK government should make the commonsense decisions to extend the deadline, clear the backlog – and reform the scheme."