Our Impact
After the UK left the EU on 31st December 2020, EU citizens in the UK and our British friends in Europe were made third-country nationals in the countries we call home. In 2021, we’ve continued to campaign for our rights, with a renewed determination to fight against injustice and to champion the most vulnerable voices.
Despite the government narrative of success of the settlement scheme, this year we’ve seen how life has been made difficult for us as EU citizens. Having to prove our rights to be in the UK has been complicated by a digital-only system. Hundreds of thousands of people are still waiting on decisions for their applications, left in limbo and facing difficulties at work, with housing and accessing services. Too many are struggling to prove their status and are frustrated with the inefficient system they have to deal with.
This year we have continued to push back against this hostile environment. Our strategy of getting EU citizens’ voices heard and advocating for our rights has had clear successes, even in the face of adversity. Thank you for supporting us every step of the way. We are in this for the long haul, but we can’t do it without you.
We have kept momentum up on EU citizens’ rights in the media, drawing attention to the issues we are facing
Ahead of the June 2021 deadline to the EU Settlement Scheme, we drew attention through the media to the pitfalls of the application scheme, the hundreds of thousands of applications in the Home Office’s backlog and the difficulties people experience proving their status.
After the deadline, we continued to raise awareness and amplify the voices of EU citizens experiencing the hostile environment, supporting people in speaking to the media and having their stories heard.
#DeniedMyBackup - We raised awareness of the need for physical proof of status
The lack of physical proof of status for EU Citizens has continued to fail people, especially the most vulnerable. Digital-only status disproportionately disadvantages people who are digitally excluded, especially older, disabled and Roma people.
We challenged the UK Government in court for not issuing people with a physical proof of their (pre-) settled status. Although the High Court has refused us permission to bring our claim for judicial review, the judge left open the possibility that the claim could succeed in the future once more evidence is available.
Through this litigation, we’ve kept this issue on the agenda.
More recently in December, in response to a proposed amendment on granting physical proof, the Government responded that they are looking into the issue once again, specifically referencing the3million’s physical documents proposals.
We will continue to stand up and get our voices heard on this important issue affecting the most vulnerable EU citizens in the UK.
We won our legal challenge, removing the immigration exemption from the Data Protection Act
Millions of EU citizens have had to navigate the settled status application process to stay in the UK, handing over personal data to the Home Office. The immigration exemption in the Data Protection Act was used by the Government to deny people their immigration-related data requests in 60% of cases.
Together with Open Rights Group, we pursued litigation and the clause was found unlawful, excessive and wrong by the court of appeal in May 2021.
We advocated for the rights of people granted pre-settled status under the Withdrawal Agreement. The Home Office is now facing legal action from watchdog.
People will lose their rights to live in the UK if they don’t convert their pre-settled status to settled status within 5 years of being granted status. We have warned the Home Office this is against the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement and we wrote to the Independent Monitoring Authority (IMA) in February 2021.
The IMA has now launched a lawsuit against the Home Office and we welcome this step to provide clarity to the 2.5 million EU citizens and family members with pre-settled status in the UK.
We campaigned for our rights to vote in local elections #OurHomeOurVote
63% of people agree that all residents should have the right to vote in local elections in the UK. We campaigned for all migrants’ rights to vote and secured endorsements of all main opposition parties and an amendment was proposed to the Elections Bill.
Ahead of the May local elections, we spearheaded mobilised and spearheaded an online and in-person voter registration drive.
EU citizens and their families who apply late to the EU Settlement Scheme have their rights protected while their application is considered
In the run-up to the 30th June deadline to the EU Settlement Scheme, we campaigned for the extension of this deadline and highlighted that the most vulnerable people will be affected if they will have no way of securing their rights in the UK after this date.
Even though the deadline wasn’t moved, we did see concessions from the Home Office. For late applications, EU citizens and their families can make an application and continue to have their rights protected while this is considered.
Getting our collective voice heard through advocacy
Our campaigning is informed by your stories. As EU citizens in the UK, we are all in this together. You have reported issues with applying and proving your status through our “Report it” tool and taken part in interviews with our team.
We’ve identified trends and put across our collective experiences through three comprehensive reports to the Independent Monitoring Authority (IMA), letters to the Home Office, to Ministers and MPs, as well as raising these issues in sector meetings.
