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  • FAQ

    Last updated: July 25th, 2023

    I saw that the IMA won a court case against the Home Office which says the EU Settlement Scheme is unlawful. What are the consequences of this case?

    On 17 July 2023, the Government announced changes to the EU Settlement Scheme to reflect the High Court judgment.

    You can read the Home Office statement here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/eu-settlement-scheme-enhancements-confirmed

    We have created a Q&A document, with a detailed list of questions that will hopefully answer questions you may have. The document is available here.

    We continue to encourage anyone with pre-settled status to make an application for settled status as soon as they are eligible to do so - see our FAQ ‘Should I apply for settled status in light of the IMA case against the Home Office?’

    The judgment makes two key points:

    • Beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement who hold pre-settled status do not lose their rights if they do not make another EUSS application and their pre-settled status expires
       
    • Beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement who hold pre-settled status should automatically have permanent residence rights once the conditions of Article 15 of the Withdrawal Agreement are met (for most people this means having lived in the UK in accordance with EU law for 5 years), even if they don’t make a second application to the EU Settlement Scheme

    The outcome of the High Court case is a declaration that “the defendant’s interpretation of the Withdrawal Agreement, the EEA EFTA Agreement and the Swiss Citizens Rights Agreement is wrong in law and that the EUSS is accordingly unlawful insofar as it (a) purports (as described in the court’s findings on the first issue) to abrogate rights of residence arising under the Agreements in respect of those granted limited leave to remain; and (b) purports to abrogate the right of permanent residence in the manner described in the court’s findings in respect of the second issue.”

    For the full judgment, see https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2022/3274.html. 

    For the news release on the Independent Monitoring Authority website, see https://ima-citizensrights.org.uk/news_events/ima-responds-to-home-offi…;

    For a FreeMovement article on the implementation, see https://freemovement.org.uk/statement-of-changes-hc-1496-asylum-eu-settlement-scheme-and-restrictions-on-students/.

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