A Brexit ruling that makes EU citizens apply again to stay in the UK is illegal, court says | Britain’s exit from the European Union

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Home Office rules that could put millions of EU citizens at risk of job loss or deportation after the High Court finds Brexit illegal.

Under the current EU settlement scheme, EU citizens who were in the country for less than five years before Brexit and who had “pre-settlement status” have to re-apply to upgrade their status to “settled status” after being in country for five years.

If they do not, they will automatically lose their rights to reside, work, rent property or access services including the NHS, under Home Office rules.

But in a ruling on Wednesday in the Supreme Court, Justice Lane called the rule “wrong in law and therefore illegal” because it “purports to nullify the right to permanent residence”.

Lane ruled that the right of residence could only be lost in very specific circumstances which were clearly defined in the Withdrawal Agreement.

Losing rights because someone didn’t apply to be upgraded from pre-settled to settled status wasn’t one of those circumstances, Lin said.

Under the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK and the EU agreed that EU nationals in the UK and UK nationals in the EU can legally remain in the countries they lived in if they had settled there before Brexit.

But only the UK and Slovenia have required citizens to submit a second application to stay if they have been in the country for less than five years, the court was told.

Under Home Office rules, if none of those with ‘pre-settled status’ apply to upgrade their status to ‘settled status’ after having been in the country for five years, they will automatically lose their rights to live, work, rent property or access services including the NHS . They were also subject to deportation.

Lane said he had “no reason to doubt” that the Home Office would support vulnerable people with advance settled status, but that the Withdrawal Agreement “prevented” the Home Office from imposing a requirement for further leave in the country “as a condition” of retaining those rights.

“If the accused is right,” he said, “a very large number of persons face the gravest uncertainty.”

Home Secretary Lord Murray said the government had taken “their obligations to secure them”. [EU citizens’] UK rights very seriously. The EU Settlement Scheme goes beyond and exceeds our obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement, protecting the rights of EU citizens and giving them a path to settlement in the UK.

“We are disappointed by this ruling, which we intend to appeal.”

The judicial review of the Home Office’s interpretation of the agreement was conducted by the Independent Monitoring Authority, a statutory body set up to protect the rights of EU citizens in the UK.

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IMA Chief Executive Catherine Chamberlain said she was “delighted that the judge has recognized the significant impact this case can have on the lives and livelihoods of citizens with a pre-settled status in the UK”.

“When we introduced this judicial review, our goal was to provide clarity to citizens with pre-settlement status, who numbered more than 2.4 million when we brought this case in December 2021. This ruling that the current system is illegal provides that clarity,” she said. she added.

Campaign group The3million said: “We very much welcome this ruling, which aims to protect vulnerable citizens who have been granted pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, and who could lose their right to work, rent, travel, benefits, healthcare and more — just not to apply further. in the next years.

“We are pleased that the judge agrees with 3million that the aim of the European Settlement Scheme is to create a clear distinction between those who benefit from the Withdrawal Agreement and those who are not. Once a beneficiary, people cannot lose their rights by simply forgetting to make a second UK immigration application – the Withdrawal Agreement Don’t allow it.”

The group, which supported the cause, said such a rule would affect some of society’s most vulnerable groups, including children and seniors in care, domestic violence victims without papers, and those who have led chaotic lives for one reason or another.

According to the Home Office’s quarterly figures in September, 2.7 million of the 6 million EU citizens granted Remaining Status in the UK post-Brexit had “pre-settlement status”.

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