This Christmas you would want to be with your loved ones, wouldn’t you?
Dear Friends,
Hello, my name is Gilberto, and I am delighted to e-meet you!
I recently joined Settled as Public Affairs Manager. It has been a tremendous privilege to join this expert, UK-wide team who are doing a remarkable and very impressive job supporting the thousands of EU and Ukrainian citizens, and their families, who struggle to secure their right to remain in the UK and continue with their lives here. And whilst we have some great news and positive stories to share with you, we would also like to share with you what a challenging time this is for thousands of people that are coming to us every month in need of our support and we need your help.
We are all delighted that Settled has just received the first-ever ‘Community Endeavour Award’ from the EU Delegation in the UK, recognizing the vital work of Settled’s staff, trustees and especially our selfless volunteers. You can read more about it here and watch Kate, our CEO, talk about what the award means by clicking in the video below.
We would not be able to do the work that we do without the wonderful support from our partners, funders and quite crucially, our individual supporters like yourself.
I am from Mexico. Thanks to my grandmother, who fled the Spanish Civil War, I am also a Spanish and EU citizen. Over ten years ago I moved to the UK and started a family. Like many of you, the Brexit vote presented me with the horrible uncertainty of being kicked out of or moving my family out of the UK leaving our work, friends, home, everything we had built in the UK behind. Gaining Settled Status under the EU Settlement Scheme made all the difference.
In joining Settled, I am joining an organization full of EU and Ukrainian citizens who feel a very personal concern for the problems facing their fellow citizens. It’s amazing that 75% of our trustees, staff and volunteers are EU citizens or migrants themselves. Settled has supported hundreds of thousands of people since it began back in 2019, which is quite remarkable, but we have never seen such a high volume of requests from so many vulnerable people in need of help that we are seeing now.
Settled is a charity that relies on grants and gifts from the lovely generous public to enable our work. Every donation, small or large, regular or one-off, is hugely appreciated and has a huge impact in our capacity to help transform many people’s lives. I am writing to you now to ask for your support. Please consider making a donation here and becoming a regular donor so our work can continue.
From the thousands in our caseload, let me share with you a couple of stories from clients that Settled is currently supporting (names have been changed).
Nadia’s story
Nadia arrived in the UK at the age of 13 from an EU Eastern European country to join her father who was already living here. Nadia is now 17 years old. Earlier this year her father required brain surgery and remains in poor health with limited mental capacity. Nadia was placed in the care of social workers from the local authority children’s services team, and they contacted Settled for help to resolve her immigration status. Settled worked closely with Nadia (who hardly speaks English), contacting her 6th form college and previous school for records and presenting her case to the Home Office, finally securing Settled Status for her, and giving her the certainty she needs as she takes on the challenging role of primary carer for her father.
Paolo and Rosa: ‘a situation of great uncertainty and significant stress’
Paolo and Rosa married in 2016. In 2017 she was offered a job at a prestigious British university and the couple went on to have two children. Rosa was granted Settled Status and in the summer of 2024, Paolo applied to the Settlement Scheme as her husband and moved here permanently in the Autumn. The Home Office mistakenly stated that the couple married in 2020 and so rejected his application. Paolo spent days telephoning them without managing to overturn the decision, creating what he describes as ‘a situation of great uncertainty and significant stress’. But…
“At this point, I turned to Settled. Thanks to their intervention, within a week, my situation was resolved: I received the pre-settled status. Thanks to their help, we were able to positively resolve a complex situation and live our new life in the United Kingdom with greater peace of mind.”
Photo: From left to right: Cesare (Settled Volunteer), Veronica (EUSS Applications Adviser),Toni (Services Manager, England) and Sylvia (Settled Volunteer), are part of our amazing team helping thousands of people and families struggling to secure their Pre- and Settled Status in the UK, like Paolo and Rosa.
However, I’m afraid that not all is good news for everyone…
In fact, as I write, we are witnessing a huge rise in the number of clients in Wales, Scotland and England who are desperately coming to us for help through our phone lines, emails, Facebook and face-to-face drop-ins, and a disturbing increase in the number of people and families who are being threatened with and removed from the UK, like Jody, as we explain below.
The removal of Jody from the UK…
Jody, a 20-year-old woman from a Southern European country was living and working in the UK having made an application to the EU Settlement Scheme based on her relationship with her partner who has Settled Status here. While her application is being considered she has a Home Office letter called a Certificate of Application, which sets out her rights including the right to travel in and out of the UK.
In October she made a weekend trip to The Netherlands, but UK Border Force stopped her from re-entering, held her in detention and then returned her back to her own country. Before being returned, she tried unsuccessfully to show her documents and argue her right to be in the UK and even fainted during these discussions. She told us that she was made to feel like a criminal and is still suffering flashbacks. Settled is now actively involved in her case, as well as a similar case which was reported in The Guardian. You can read about it here and here.
Christmas holidays are just around the corner, and as EU citizens who have made a home in the UK travel abroad to see their loved ones, sadly we expect to see many more cases like Jody’s.
The hundreds of stories that we witness every week prove to us that when such difficulties arise, prompt access to trustworthy and expert advice, can be life-changing.
In these challenging times, Settled needs your support today more than ever to continue providing help across the country to hundreds of people and families that are in desperate need. We are operating at full capacity and are struggling to meet so much demand for our services.
More and more people are asking us for help
In addition to our very popular and busy online support (via email, Facebook and telephone) we have also been providing in-person, regular support at a mosque in Leicester, a homelessness hub in Cardiff, a library in North London and will be providing more drop-ins starting in January in South and North Wales. We are focused on achieving equality for EU and Ukrainian citizens and their families in the UK especially, for those affected by violence, exploitation, trafficking, racism, isolation, mental health, digital exclusion and any other vulnerabilities. We are here so that they can exercise their rights to live, work, travel and access services and opportunities with dignity as they make their lives in the UK.
There’s never been a better time to support the award-winning work that everyone at Settled does! What unites us all at Settled – clients, staff, trustees, volunteers and supporters – is the hope that those who come to us for help, no matter where they are from, should feel at home in the UK.
Please support our work today
Your donation today at https://settled.org.uk/donate/ (or by clicking the image below) can help make this hope a reality for so many people and their families facing the likelihood of being removed from their homes this Christmas. Please give what you can. If you can become a regular giver that would greatly help us plan for the future.
Many thanks for your wonderful generosity and solidarity.
We wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a very happy and prosperous New Year.
And from all of us at Settled… Merry Christmas!
Photo: With St Nicolas from Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia, Oxana, Michaela, Rhys and Kate from Settled enjoyed a magical celebration we helped organise with our partners TGP Cymru and Newport City Council, Ludek Polish Community Group, Youth club from Community House in Newport and Gwent Police at Newport Market on the 8th December, bringing the communities of Newport together to celebrate a merry Christmas.
