Almost 6,000 Europeans still waiting for settled status

Almost 6,000 European nationals living in the UK have not had their claim for settled status resolved within a year.

Immigration minister Kevin Foster said more than six million applications have been made by European citizens who wish to remain in the UK post-brexit, and there are “just under 6,000” cases that “have been outstanding for over a year”.

He said the “backlog in the courts” caused by the coronavirus pandemic was part of the reason for the problem because if someone had charges pending, a final decision on whether they could stay cannot be made until the criminal case has been resolved.

Mr Foster said the Home

Office has 1,500 staff currently dealing with applications.

While Nicola Sturgeon has said she is “utterly heartbroken”thateucitizenshavebeen required to apply to remain in the country legally, Mr Foster said the Windrush scandal had shown it was important for people to be able to prove their immigration status.

By the time the EU settled status scheme closed for applications at the end of last month, more than six million people had sought permission to remain in the UK, including 291,200 applications from Scotland.

Mr Foster, speaking to journalists during a visit to Linlithgow in West Lothian, said: “We did receive a very large number across the UK before the deadline, hitting the six million mark.

Weareworkingthroughthem, we are getting through thousands every day. We have 1,500 staff working on the decisionmaking process and we do expect to clear the vast majority of applications within three months of them being made.”

However, Mr Foster added: “In the overall system there are just under 6,000 that have been outstanding for over a year. The vast majority of them relate to either criminal records, where deportation is being considered based on criminality, or where there are pending prosecutions.

“The key lesson we have learned from the Windrush era was that granting a status, via an act of Parliament, with no record taken, no way of proving it, is a route to problems.”