Research issued by Public Law Project (PLP) has revealed contrary to liberal media scaremongering, nine in 10 appeals raised by European Union citizens challenging Home Office decisions regarding their right to stay in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme after Brexit have been successful.
Appeals resulted in the granting of settled status in the UK to EU citizens - the majority of cases were overturned based upon appellants providing new evidence to the Home Office. The success rate is drastically higher than the 3.4 percent average of appeals brought against the Home Office in 2016-2017, and the Home Office refunded the £80 administrative fee for filing appeals on 60 percent of occasions.
The Home Secretary has agreed to make key changes to the settled status scheme following successful litigation by one of our clients, @JCWI_UK. Interested? All the details are here: https://t.co/jOmuM2topM
— Public Law Project (@publiclawprojct) March 1, 2019
The charity is calling for the introduction of an "effective redress mechanism” for citizens whose applications had been subject to rejection on a number of occasions before success.
At present, the only mechanism to appeal incorrect decisions is administrative review, in which a different official from the same department as the initial reviewer assesses the decision for casework errors – tribunal appeals are yet to be legalised, while judicial reviews are costly.
In October, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced there’d been over two million applications to the EU Settlement Scheme, which is designed to allow EU citizens to remain in the UK after Brexit – the window for applying closes December 2020.
80,000 EU nationals living in Wales will need to seek Settled Status post-Brexit. PLP's @byronkaremba and @wiardsterk of @the3million, along with Hayley Morgan of @TravellingAhead, will address Brexit and the settled status scheme at #PLPWales2019. Tickets https://t.co/fRWVnJEV5n
— Public Law Project (@publiclawprojct) April 2, 2019
Under the Scheme, EU citizens who’ve resided in the UK for five years are eligible to receive settled status, while those who’ve resided in the UK for under five years are eligible to receive pre-settled status, granting limited rights. The highest number of applications are citizens from Poland, Romania and Italy.
There are approximately three million EU nationals living in the United Kingdom who face an uncertain future if and when the UK leaves the European Union. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced if he secures a majority at the 12th December general election, he would complete Brexit by 31st January 2020.
