Earlier in the  year you may have heard in the news that a decision has been made in the British High Court that EU citizens with pre-settled status will not lose their status if they do not apply for ‘settled status’. The Home Office confirmed that it will not appeal the High Court ruling that found that mandatory re-application is unlawful.

The organisation the3millon played a strong advocacy role in this ruling and the Home Office confirmed that it will not appeal the High Court ruling that found that mandatory re-application is unlawful.

British in Germany e.V. is delighted that the threat of EU citizens losing their rights has been removed from the 2.6 million EU citizens in the UK who currently have pre-settled status. For more on the story and the background to the case go to the 3 million webpage.

This is also good news for British citizens living in the EU countries that have taken a similar “constitutive” approach to Withdrawal Agreement rights.  (‘Constitutive’ meaning the mandatory requirement to re-apply by a deadline for the new status under the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) )

If this ruling by the British High Court had not taken place, there would certainly have been a risk that those EU countries, where re-application is required, might consider themselves justified in taking a similar line to that of the UK. Germany took the declaratory route rather than the constitutive. (‘declaratory’ meaning those who fulfil WA conditions are beneficiaries without a mandatory application – but in practice need to register for a residence card to go about their daily lives), so risks here in Germany are much lower.)

For more background on the story in Germany see: https://britishingermany.org/2020/07/20/posttransitionupdate/

According to the UK Government, the number of concluded applications to the EU settlement scheme by July 2022 was 6,473,830.  Of those, 51% (3,281,950) were granted settled status and 41% (2,627,770) were granted pre-settled status.