Oner 3 million EU citizens apply to stay in the UK after Brexit

OVER three million European Union citizens have applied to live and work in the United Kingdom after Brexit, as reported by the Home Office.

The department announced the latest up-to-date figures on how many people have applied for the EU Settlement Scheme since the UK left the EU, where according to statistics, 2.7 million applicants have been granted permission to remain in the UK so far.

The Home Office also published data on how many applications were made up until the end of last year which reveal that between August, 28 2018 and December 31, 2019, more than 2.4 million (2,450,220) applications were finalised.

Of these, 58% (1,430,820) were granted settlement status and 41% (1,003,160) were granted pre-settled status, which gives a citizen temporary permission to continue living in the country and the chance to reapply in five years.

The report also indicated that Northern Ireland had a noticeably higher proportion of applications from applicants under the age of 18 compared to the rest of the UK. In addition, Polish (512,310), Romanian (435,690) and Italian (290,990) nationals submitted the highest number of applications, followed by Portugal (231,130) and Spain (171,260).

The Home Secretary Priti Patel stated that the scheme is the “biggest of its kind in British history” and means that “EU citizens can now evidence their rights for decades to come.”