EU citizens living in UK at risk of removal after Brexit

If this occurs, these EU citizens will become undocumented and subject to the Hostile Environment, immigration detention and removal.

Though it has said it is likely most individuals at risk will be able to stay in the UK, the JCWI claim the new rules make the process less user-friendly, efficient and transparent.

The JCWI has said that on 21 June 2018 the Immigration Minister, Caroline Nokes, originally confirmed that three checks would be made for EU residents currently living in the UK to be granted settled status:

• they are the person they claim to be and an EU citizen

• they are resident in the UK

• they are not serious criminals

The JCWI has also pointed out that the government made repeated assurances that individuals would not need to prove they had been exercising EU treaty rights. It has claimed the new Immigration Rules that took effect on 28 August 2018 are broader than the rules originally promised by the government, putting EU nationals at risk of deportation for reasons not relevant to criminality.

Source: Press release: Broken Promises: The EU nationals the Government intends to remove after Brexit