The government has published a “Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules” which includes various types of EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) applications.

Home Office guidance has not yet been published, so detailed implications and dates are not always fully clear. We will share updates as soon as we have them. In the meantime, here is our summary advice:

1. Please still apply for pre-settled or settled status, when eligible, as normal. The EUSS is complex, and it’s so important to secure your rights.

2. You must provide clearly evidenced ‘reasonable grounds’ for late applications to be valid.

3. Rules about absences from the UK still apply.

4. There are two EUSS application routes which are ending very soon, 8th August. They are known as ‘Surinder Singh’ (for British citizens who have exercised treaty rights in the past), and ‘Zambrano’ (for primary carers of British children). If these might apply to you, and you haven’t yet applied, please contact Settled for advice ASAP.

5. From 9th August rules on late applications are also changing. There will be a new prerequisite stage examining basic validity – ie are there ‘reasonable grounds’ for making the application so long after the initial June 2021 deadline? We encourage anyone who has not yet applied to do so before this date if possible.

6. A useful overview and reflection on these changes is here. We cannot comment further, until we have more detail from the government.

7. We are, as always, very happy to give free, accredited, multilingual advice and support on EUSS case queries and applications:

0330 223 5336 – our UK helpline

[email protected] – our general UK advice email

[email protected] – for our specialist Roma service on the EUSS

[email protected] – for people making new applications from Wales