Tens of thousands more EU migrants than officially reside in the UK have applied to settle after Britain has left the European Union figures released from the Home Office have suggested. The latest Home Office statistics have stated that 3.25 million EU nationals have applied for settled status in the UK. This is out of an estimated 3.4 million EU nationals that were in the UK in the year to June 2019.
However, migrants from several member states of the EU have applied in bigger numbers than the totals that are estimated to be residing in the UK. By the end of March this year 171,000 Bulgarian citizens and 564,000 Romanians had sought settled or pre-settled status. This will allow migrants to stay and work in the UK. When these numbers are compared with an estimated 109,000 Bulgarians and 457,000 Romanians who were officially resident in the UK year to June 2019 there is a clear discrepancy in the figures.
Citizens of EU and EEA countries are eligible to take advantage of this initiative. These EU countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. The EEA countries included are Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
The government website states that “EU, EEA and Swiss citizens do not automatically have indefinite leave to remain in or enter the UK”. However, given the news brought to you by UNN earlier in the week that the government has pulled its immigration bill, the future of immigration remains unclear.
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Current Affairs Correspondent | My name is Oliver Down I am 22, and a staunch brexiteer. I am a Bristolian lad who studied politics in Leicester. I believe in free speech and accurate journalism and I won’t be afraid to give you “the other side” of the story!
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