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Imagining the impossible? Fears of deportation and the barriers in obtaining EU Settled Status in the UK
Elfving, Sanna Marcinkowska, Aleksandra
Elfving, Sanna
Marcinkowska, Aleksandra
Publication Date
2021
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© The Authors 2021. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original authors and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and
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Abstract
In early 2021, over 5 million European Union (EU) citizens had applied for settled status to secure their right to continue to live, work and study in the United Kingdom (UK) after the country’s withdrawal from the EU (Brexit). In 2018, the Home Office launched a Statement of Intent to implement an application process for EU citizens through its EU Settlement Scheme. In the period leading to Brexit, the UK government assured EU migrants that their existing rights under EU law will remain essentially unchanged, and that applying for the settled status will be smooth, transparent and simple. However, the application process has resulted in some long-term residents failing to obtain settled status, despite providing the required information. Based on qualitative in-depth interviews with 20 EU migrants living in 2 major metropolitan areas in North East England, this article discusses the significant barriers which EU citizens face with the application process. This situation affects especially the most vulnerable EU migrants with limited English language skills and/or low literacy levels as well as those who are digitally excluded. This study contributes to the growing body of research on the consequences of Brexit to vulnerable EU migrants in the UK, focusing specifically on Central and Eastern European migrants.
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Accepted manuscript
Citation
Elfving S and Marcinkowska A (2021) Imagining the impossible? Fears of deportation and the barriers in obtaining EU Settled Status in the UK. Central and Eastern European Migration Review. 10(1): 55-73
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