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Automatic extensions following High Court’s ruling on the EU Settlement Scheme

Further changes have been made to the EU Settlement Scheme:

In July 2025, the Home Office changed the absence policy for pre-settled status. People can now qualify for settled status by providing evidence of 30 months of residence in the last 60 months.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE NEW ABSENCE POLICY

Overview of all changes to the EUSS

May 2024: The Home Office announced further changes affecting 1.9m people with pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme: 

  • Expiry dates of status will not be visible to employers, landlords and other checkers
  • No further checks are required to be done by landlords or employers once someone is in a job or tenancy (i.e. after the pre-settled status holder has passed a right to work or rent check)
  • Automatic pre-settled status extensions are being increased to 5 years (from the previous 2 years)

These changes were announced on 21st May 2024 through a Home Office press release. The Independent Monitoring Authority welcomed these measures.  

Some of these changes have been implemented. Since 13 June, employers and landlords are no longer shown expiry dates for people with pre-settled status when they check their share codes. Updated guidance was issued to employers and landlords on 21 June to instruct them that no follow-checks are required to be made for people with pre-settled status. 

Since September 2024, extensions are now made for 5 years. A person who has already received an automatic 2-year extension to their pre-settled status will not have this extended to 5 years but may receive a 5-year extension at the end of their original 2-year extension.

These changes comes off the back of the December 2022 High Court ruling which found people with pre-settled status must not lose residence rights just because they do not make a second application to the EU Settlement Scheme before the expiry of their pre-settled status.

The judgment also states that people with pre-settled status who have completed 5 years of lawful residence (i.e. as a worker, self-employed, student or self-sufficient in accordance with EU Free Movement rules) acquire permanent residence rights even if they have not made a settled status application.

This legal case was brought in November 2022 by the Independent Monitoring Authority, and the3million and the European Commission intervened in the case.

Previous changes were announced on 17th July 2023 through a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules and a Press Release by the then Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick.

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Summary of changes

Pre-settled status extended by five years, before it expires

Since September 2023, people with pre-settled status  automatically started having their status extended by two years. This extension takes place in the month before its ‘expiry date’, if they have not obtained settled status by then.

These extensions will continue to be granted, but the extension will now be of 5 years rather than 2. It should continue to be applied in the month before the month in which someone's pre-settled status was due to expire. For example, someone whose pre-settled status expires in July 2024 should receive the extension in June 2024.

This process is automated by the Home Office and it will reflect in the person’s digital status. Pre-settled status holders will be notified of the extension directly by email from the Home Office. 

Once the extension happens, people’s full rights granted by pre-settled status will continue.

Note however, although at the moment the Home Office says that they will grant automatic extensions to any pre-settled status holder who has not moved to settled status, that this process is likely to change. Since 2024, the Home Office have indicated they may start making checks on people's continued eligibility for pre-settled status. As at September 2025 this has not yet happened.

Our understanding is that if the Home Office decides a person has broken their continuous residence before they reach five years' continuous residence, they will not grant the automatic extension and will move to take away the existing pre-settled status, subject to appeal rights.

The Home Office has also said that if they automatically extend the pre-settled status of an individual who was no longer eligible for it (for example because they had been absent from the UK for too long), they may contact the individual to start a process of removing their status (which again will be subject to appeal rights). 

It is very important to keep your contact details on your digital status up to date so that you receive communication from the Home Office about your status.

Expiry dates no longer visible to checkers

We welcome the news that pre-settled status expiry dates will no longer be visible to employers, landlords and other checkers, and this is a change we advocated for in our meetings with the Home Office. Given that pre-settled status will be automatically extended before it expires, showing employers and landlords any expiry date does not provide accurate information at all about someone’s rights, and simply leads to discrimination.

We've seen people offered temporary contracts and refused tenancies, just because their status was seen as due to expire. In practice, their status was going to be automatically extended, but the employer or landlord could not know this. Removing expiry dates solves this part of the problem.

Similarly, we welcome that no further checks are required by landlords or employers once someone is in a job or tenancy.

Automated upgrades from pre-settled to settled status

The Home Office intends to automatically convert as many eligible pre-settled holders to settled status as possible, once they are eligible for it. 

The Home Office has said it is working on a process whereby automated checks using the National Insurance number of  pre-settled status holders will take place to establish their continuous residency in the UK.

Those with five years of residence evidence through HMRC or DWP,  will be automatically granted settled status without needing to make  an application. This process may start later in 2024, and we do not yet have any confirmed details of exactly how this process will work.

Permanent residence rights

The High Court judgment also ruled that a pre-settled status holder automatically acquires permanent residence rights once they reach five years’ qualifying continuous residence under the conditions of the Withdrawal Agreement, even if they have not yet applied for or been granted settled status. Note, this does mean demonstrating a period of five years of exercising EU free movement rights (rather than simply five years of residence) that started by 31 December 2020.

This has been dealt with by various changes in guidance and legislation, for example someone with pre-settled status who has acquired permanent residence rights can:

  • apply for British citizenship (if they fulfil the other eligibility criteria)
  • be away from the UK for five years before losing Withdrawal Agreement rights
  • be eligible for welfare benefits on the same basis as a British citizen

In addition, if a baby is born in the UK after a parent with pre-settled status has acquired permanent residence rights, they are born automatically British. If the baby is born in the UK before this point, they can be registered as British once the parent with pre-settled status acquires permanent residence.

Your most frequently asked questions

I have pre-settled status, but should now be eligible for settled status. Can I still go ahead and make an application for settled status?

Yes, and we strongly encourage you to do so when you qualify. Usually people need five years of continuous residence to be eligible for settled status, but there are some limited situations where settled status can be obtained earlier.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN AT THE END OF THE TWO OR FIVE YEAR EXTENSION? WILL PEOPLE WHO STILL DIDN'T APPLY FOR SETTLED STATUS GET ANOTHER EXTENSION?

As at September 2025, the policy is for pre-settled status to be extended when it’s nearing its expiry date. People who received two-year extensions starting from September 2023 (so expiring in September 2025) may get a second extension (of five years). 

However, this policy may change by the end of the year, as the Home Office have indicated they may start making checks on people's continued eligibility for pre-settled status.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I LEFT THE UK FOR MORE THAN 6 MONTHS IN A YEAR?

It is important to understand that the High Court judgment has not changed anything regarding the eligibility rules for settled status. Unless you are a joining family member, you will need to maintain continuous qualifying residence that started before 31 December 2020, until you have built up five years’ continuous qualifying residence or been granted settled status (at that point you can be away from the UK for five years without losing your rights).

In July 2025, the rules on continuity of residence changed and since then people can qualify for settled status if they have been resident in the UK for 30 months out of the last 60 months (as at the time of submitting the application to upgrade to settled status).
Please check the information here.

Watch our webinar with immigration experts

Watch the most recent webinar on changes relevant to pre-settled status holders:

Other resources

You can find more information through the following resources:

Upgrading from pre-settled to settled status

We strongly recommend that people apply for settled status as soon as they have 5 years of continuous residency, to secure proof of their rights. Make sure you start a new application, by proving your identity, even though you may have previously already done this when applying for pre-settled status. 

Problems applying for or proving status

If you have any issues applying for or proving your status, we recommend you do the following: 

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