Our 2024 EU Citizens' Survey
Thank you to the over 550 of you who participated in our 2024 survey to tell us what matters most to you!
We cannot do what we do without your support, and we want to ensure we are working on the issues that are most important to you.
DOWNLOAD THE 2024 SURVEY REPORT
How you rate our campaigns
For each of the areas, we asked you to rate them between 1 (Not at all important) and 5 (Very important).
We were very happy to find extremely strong support for the work that we do, with each of the nine areas getting an average score of over 4.3.
Your views on our proposal for an alternative digital status
Thank you for your valuable feedback on our proposal for an alternative implementation of digital status, which is based on Secure QR codes, a similar solution to the NHS Covid app that people used when they needed to prove their Covid vaccinations.
As we explained in our survey, we suggest that people could have an app on their phone, which produces a QR code for anyone such as employers, landlords and airline carriers to scan. It would be possible to print out these QR codes as a backup. People without smartphones could request a card version of their QR codes.
We asked you for your overall support for this proposal, with 1 meaning you don’t support it at all, and 5 meaning you fully support it.
We were pleased to read that 82% of you either supported or strongly supported the proposal.
We were also really grateful for the many detailed feedback comments we received, which you can find in the survey report.
Your issues and concerns
The survey report details concerns on:
Proving immigration status: A significant proportion of respondents had encountered problems proving status, across several areas including issues with:
- View & Prove
- employers, recruitment agencies, landlords
- applying for an EHIC card
- travelling
- government departments such as HMRC
- opening bank accounts
- applying for a mortgage
- having older types of Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) recognised
- helping adult dependants who lack capacity
Accessing social welfare: We heard from some of you that having pre-settled status, and older types of Indefinite Leave to Remain, can be barriers to getting student finance, universal credit and other welfare benefits.
- the system is very complex
- difficulties understanding the language used when trying to access welfare
- conflicting advice and decisions from DWP and central government
Family reunion rights: It is concerning that only 17% of you felt either confident or very confident about your rights to family reunion in the UK.
- You don’t feel it’s not clear what family reunion rights we actually have, and that the rules seem to be constantly changing
- It’s very difficult to bring elderly parents without proving they are dependent on you
- Concerns that even with the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK Government will change and diminish rights over time
- Worries that the Home Office will continue putting increased barriers and hurdles in the way of accessing family reunion outside the Withdrawal Agreement - moving the goalpost on things like requiring a higher income threshold
- Some of you highlighted the complicated rules around unmarried partners
- Anxiety over the process, that it might be very time consuming, complex and perhaps even expensive
- The majority of you who expressed concern are very worried about family members abroad who might need your care in future but will be ineligible for EUSS status, such elderly parents where you cannot prove dependency, or extended family members such as siblings.
