Will EU nationals who miss the settlement deadline face the hostile environment?
With just over a week to go before the EU settlement scheme deadline, the immigration minister has tried to alleviate fears about the implications for those who fail to apply by 30 June. Speaking to journalists in an online press briefing about the
scheme yesterday, Kevin Foster said that anyone with “reasonable grounds” for missing the deadline would be able to make a late application, and that the Home Office would take a “compassionate approach”. He made assurances that individuals who failed to apply would not immediately fall victim to the hostile environment – a set of government policies intended to block people without immigration status from accessing basic services such as housing, employment and the NHS. Can we trust that he is right about this?
In trying to convince journalists, Mr Foster explained that, where an individual who hasn’t applied wants to start new employment or rent a property in England after 30 June, the employer or landlord should encourage them to make an application “as soon as possible”. He added that the individual would not be able to take up new employment or rent a property until they had valid immigration status.
Indeed, within the past few days, guidance on immigration checks carried out by employers and landlords on employees and tenants has been updated to reflect this approach. On page 59 of the Home Office’s Landlord’s guide to right to rent checks, it now states that any prospective tenant who is an EEA citizen and has not made an application to the scheme by the deadline will “not have lawful status in the UK or the right to rent”. It adds: “You should encourage them to make an application to the EU settlement scheme.”
Meanwhile, page 45 of the department’s Employer right to work checks supporting guidance now states that if an EEA citizen applies for a job and has not applied to the scheme by 30 June, they will “not be able to pass a right to work check and should not be employed”. It then adds: “If they believe they are eligible for the EU settlement scheme, you could signpost them to make an application.”
The fact that these sentences have been quietly inserted into already published guidance only 10 days before the deadline is a worry for lawyers working on EU settlement cases. Luke Piper,
head of policy at campaigning group the3million, has raised concerns that landlords and employers are suddenly going to be shouldering “a lot of responsibility” for the rights of EEA citizens, “with no time to prepare”. He points out that the Home Office has not set out how it will ensure they “follow these instructions and monitor that they will not discriminate”. Indeed, relying on third parties with no expertise in immigration to advise individuals on how to resolve their immigration status sounds like a risky option – particularly when the easier option for the landlord or employer would probably be simply to refuse them the tenancy or job in question.
With over 10,000 people currently making applications to the EU settlement scheme every day – suggesting that many have only just discovered they need to apply – it seems realistic to expect that a considerable number of people will not submit an application by 30 June. The Home Office’s approach – hoping that landlords and employers will inform prospective tenants or employees who have not yet applied to the scheme that they must do so – will almost certainly fail to stop some from falling into the hostile environment.
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