EU nationals told not to apply for residence in the UK as Home Office is “overwhelmed”
After the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, the Home Office has been receiving an overwhelming number of applications for permanent stay. However, the officials advise EU citizens to “sign up for email news alerts” about what action they may need to take after Brexit.
Liberal Democrats branded the situation as evidence that “the nasty party are back”, with a warning the Conservatives would fail to give the reassurance EU nationals need.
Experts notice that EU citizens have to choice but to apply for permanent residence if they wanted to bid to become British citizens.
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In addition, the Home Office stance contradicts the advice of EU embassies which advise their citizens to apply to residence, for better certainty.
Prime Minister Theresa May refused to grant 3 million nationals in the UK the right to remain and work after Brexit until 1.1 million British expats in the EU are given a similar guarantee.
May has also said that the UK is ready to walk away from the EU negotiations with no clear agreement over expats’s rights if necessary.
Under these circumstances, residency applications from EU citizens have increased from less than 10,000 in the summer of 2015 to around 45,000 in the same three-month period a year later.
The European Parliament President has suggested the UK must accept that the European Court of Justice will rule over any agreement on EU citizens’ rights.
The guidance reads: “You do not need to do anything as a result of Article 50 being triggered.
“There will be no change to the rights and status of EU nationals living in the UK while the UK remains in the EU.
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“Under EU law, you don’t need a document to confirm your residence status in the UK. If you’re planning to apply for a document just to confirm your status, you can sign up for email alerts instead.”
Those updates, the guidance added, would tell people “the steps that you may need to take to confirm your status in the UK after we leave the EU”.
The Home Office has been criticised for the huge bureaucracy involved in applying for permanent residence.
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