Orla Papadakis

If you’re from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, you and your family might have needed to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to continue living in the UK. This includes people who hold a permanent residence document or an EEA biometric residence card.

The deadline for applying to the EU Settlement Scheme, for most people, was 30 June 2021. If you have missed this deadline, you can still make an application.

You must either:

meet one of the criteria for a later deadline to apply
have ‘reasonable grounds’ for not applying by 30 June 2021

The scheme provides the following not complete list of possible reasonable grounds for not applying by the deadline:

you’re a child, or applying for your child, and you did not know you needed to apply
your parent, guardian or local authority did not apply for you when you were a child
you have, or had, a medical condition which prevented you from applying
you lacked the physical or mental capacity to apply
you have care or support needs, or those caring for you were unaware of the deadline
you’ve been the victim of modern slavery
you’ve been in an abusive or controlling relationship
you did not have internet access, or access to relevant documents
you came to the UK on a work or study visa and became eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme while you were here, but did not know you could apply
you already have indefinite leave to enter or remain, and you did not know you could apply to the scheme
you had permanent residence status or a residence document that stopped being valid after 30 June 2021, and you did not know you needed to apply to the scheme
you had difficulty accessing support to apply because of coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions
another compelling practical or compassionate reason prevented you applying

The caseworker guidance suggests that the Home Office will be taking a fairly flexible approach to late applications, at least initially, stating:

For the time being, you will give applicants the benefit of any doubt in considering whether, in light of information provided with the application, there are reasonable grounds for their failure to meet the deadline applicable to them under the EU Settlement Scheme, unless this would not be reasonable in light of the particular circumstances of the case.

The best advice is to apply as quickly as possible, with evidence as to why the application is late. The evidence could, for example, include proof of a medical reason why the application has been delayed.

For more information on deadlines please see:

the government website: https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/eligibility
the guidance: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1004627/main-euss-guidance-v13.0ext.pdf

If you require immigration advice in relation to the issues above, we can help. Please contact us on 020 7401 6887 or by email at contact@gryklaw.com

The newly published fees list on the government website shows that there is no change in application fees from the previous year. This means that for the third financial year in a row, application fees are for the most part frozen. However, there are some changes in application costs that are worth noting.

The Immigration Health Surcharge, a fee charged on top of the majority of application fees, has risen significantly in recent years. When the charge was introduced on 6 April 2015, the charge was £200 a year. In 2018, this fee doubled to £400 and last year, it rose to £624. As an example, this means that an applicant applying for 30 months further leave to remain as a spouse can end up paying an application fee of £1033, £19.20 for biometric processing and an added £1560 for the Immigration Health Surcharge, a total of £2612.20 before extra charges such as biometric appointment fees are factored in.

There is a lower IHS fee of £470 for a student or Youth Mobility Scheme visa and those who are under the age of 18 at the time of application.

In applications where the IHS is required, failure to pay would result in an application being invalid (paragraph 34(4) of the Immigration Rules).

There has also been a major development this year in the legal challenge to the Home Office’s fees for registering a child as a British citizen. On 18 February 2021 the Court of Appeal ruled that the fee of £1012 set by the Home Office for applications to register children as British is unlawful. This decision means that the Home Office should reconsider the fee for this type of application, fully assessing the impact of the fee upon children. The organisation that brought the case, PRCBC, has been given permission to appeal to the Supreme Court on their argument that the law does not allow such a high fee. You can find the Court of Appeal’s judgment here. Currently the fee remains at £1012 whilst it is being reviewed by the Home Office.

If you require immigration advice in relation to the issues above, we can help. Please contact us on 020 7401 6887 or by email at contact@gryklaw.com.

Late applications to the EU Settlement Scheme

Home Office application fees frozen for another year