The countdown is almost over. Until midnight December 31, a citizen of the European Union moving to the United Kingdom will have the automatic right to live and work there. The next day, it will be too late and a work permit will be required.
With the entry into force of the post-Brexit agreements, Europeans living in the United Kingdom will therefore be divided into two distinct groups, depending on their date of arrival in the country. But how to distinguish them? In a country that has neither an identity card nor a centralized population database, the British authorities have had to embark on a huge exercise of registering some 3.7 million Europeans residing across the Channel. They have until June 30, 2021 to register. Beyond that, they will fall into illegality.
Many associations are sounding the alarm, fearing that tens of thousands of people, perhaps more, are falling through the cracks. “Ultimately, there will be a lot of individual tragedies”, worries Monique Hawkins, of the association The 3 million, which represents Europeans living in the United Kingdom.
Many complicated cases
The “Settled status” (permanent resident permit), created especially for these Europeans, is granted relatively easily. You just need to prove your residence in the UK. If it is less than five years old, a temporary status (“Pre-settled status”) is granted; more than five years, and the status becomes permanent. For someone who has an employment contract, for example, it’s simple.
But very many cases turn out to be complicated. Shortly before the pandemic, journalist Jakub Krupa, who is a volunteer at the Polish Center in London, saw a Pole landed in the United Kingdom for fourteen years. “He didn’t have a bank account, because he only did hand-paid jobs. He did not have an employment contract. He did not have a rental contract for his room, which he sublet. And he no longer had his plane or bus tickets showing his arrival in the UK. In the end, we ended up submitting our London Underground pass as proof of residence. “
Barbara Drozdowicz, director of the East European Resource Center (EERC), sees many similar cases. “Many people who come to our center read poorly, and are not able to assimilate a complex administrative document. “ We must accompany them step by step in their process, hoping to find the documents in order. “There are also the elderly who have come to the UK to take care of their grandchildren, while their children are working here”, she continues. The latter generally have neither a lease nor an employment contract. But if they want to stay in the UK legally beyond June 30, they will need to get the “Settled status”. In total, EERC has helped 8,500 people register.
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