UK secured the rights of millions of EU citizens before June 30 deadline

New statistics show there were six million applications to the EU Settlement Scheme by the deadline of June 30, securing EU citizens’ rights in the UK.

More than six million applications were made to the EU Settlement Scheme before the June 30 deadline, marking an “astonishing success in protecting the rights of EU citizens in the UK”, according to the government.

Statistics released on July 2, show there were 6.02 million applications made to the scheme with 5.1 million grants of status.

There were more than 5.3 million applications from England, 291,200 from Scotland, 98,600 from Wales, and 98,400 from Northern Ireland.

“When we left the EU, we promised to protect the rights of EU citizens who have made their life in the UK, and developed the hugely successful EU Settlement Scheme to ensure they could call the UK home in the years to come,” said Home Secretary Priti Patel.

“Having more than six million applications to the scheme is an unprecedented achievement and I am delighted that we have secured the rights of so many EU citizens – our friends, neighbours and family members.

“Most non-complex applications are still being decided within five days. The Home Office has also put extra resource into concluding applications as quickly as possible, while around 5,000 older cases cannot progress as they are held at the suitability stage, for example awaiting the result of a pending criminal prosecution.

“The government will take a flexible and pragmatic approach to considering people’s reasonable grounds for applying late. The Home Office has published non-exhaustive guidance setting out where somebody may have reasonable grounds to make a late application and has said it will continue to look to grant people status rather than refuse,” she promised.

A surge in applications, including more than 400,000 in June alone, means that there are around 570,000 pending applications.

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