Recent figures released by the Home Office of the United Kingdom on Wednesday showed the number of foreign EU citizens who applied to the British authorities for settled status having reached two million. To date, nearly 54,000 Hungarians have applied to stay in the UK.
By the decision of the British government, foreign EU citizens legally residing in the UK who wish to remain in the UK after Brexit, must apply to the British Home Office for the British government’s application system, the so-called ‘EU Settlement Scheme’, which was introduced on March 30th. As we have previously reported, the UK’s Home Office revealed that by August, 31,000 Hungarians have applied for the ‘Scheme.’ Since then, the number of Hungarian applicants has risen by more than 20,000 citizens.
According to estimations, about 3.2 million people from the UK’s 27 EU partners live in the country. The fresh data that the ministry released on Wednesday shows that 1.86 million of them had already applied to stay by the end of September. The Home Office said that although their own internal records, not yet included in the statistics, have shown that since then they have reached more than two million applications. The estimated number of Hungarians living in the UK is between 100,000-350,000. Out of them, 53,600 people have applied for the ‘Settlement Scheme.’
Foreign EU citizens living in the UK have time, according to the UK Home Office, until December 31, 2020 at the latest, to apply for settled status. This deadline will, in any case, remain valid, whether there is an agreement between London and the EU on the terms of Brexit. Applicants need to provide proof of their identity and permanent residence status in the country and they must also report if they have previously been convicted of a criminal offense.
The Ministry said in the statement that the authorities had accepted almost all of the 1.52 million processed requests, with only two of them being rejected so far. 61% of the applicants were granted permanent status, while 38% received a pre-settled status. The latter can be granted to applicants who have not yet lived for five years in the United Kingdom at the time of their application. However, they may stay in the country until the fifth year and then obtain a permanent residence permit.
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