You are receiving this email because you currently hold settled or pre-settled status under the UK EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS). 

This email provides essential information about your EUSS status including: 

• How to access and update your UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account

• How to switch from pre-settled to settled status

• Applying for your children

• Family members who have not yet applied, including family members currently outside the UK

If you have become a British citizen since being granted pre-settled or settled status, this message does not apply to you. 

 

How to access and update your UK Visa and Immigration account

You will have created a UKVI account when you applied to the EUSS. You can view your EUSS status online, via the ‘View and Prove your immigration status’ service at https://www.gov.uk/view-prove-immigration-status which you can sign into using your account credentials. This online service provides a secure record of your immigration status which is available to you at all times. 

Further information about using your immigration status can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/view-and-prove-your-immigration-status-evisa. 

It’s important that you keep your personal details on your UKVI account up to date. You can update your details online at ‘update your UK Visas and Immigration account details’ or by using the ‘update details’ function in the View and Prove service. Further information and details of the support available can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/view-and-prove-your-immigration-status-evisa. 

 

Travelling to the UK or travelling from the UK

When travelling to the UK or travelling from the UK we recommend you travel using the document you used to apply to EUSS. If you are travelling on a different document, then you should update your UKVI account to add that document. You can do this by either using the ‘Update your UK Visas and Immigration account details’ service at https://www.gov.uk/update-uk-visas-immigration-account-details or by signing-in and using the ‘update details’ function of the View and Prove service at https://www.gov.uk/view-prove-immigration-status. For example, if you applied using your passport and you are planning to travel using your national identity card, you should ensure that both documents are registered to your UKVI account. If you have not received confirmation before you travel that details of your new document have been successfully updated, you should, where possible, also carry the document with which you applied to the EUSS, to avoid unnecessary delays at the border. 

From 1 October 2021, changes to UK law following the UK’s departure from the EU will mean that most EU, EEA and Swiss citizens can only enter the UK using a valid passport. This will not apply to EU, EEA and Swiss citizens with status under the EUSS, or who otherwise have protected rights under the Citizens’ Rights Agreements. You will still be able to use a national ID card for travel until 31 December 2025 at least, but as above, we recommend you travel using the document you used to apply to the EUSS, or update your UKVI account to register additional travel documents. This will avoid unnecessary delays at the border. For more information and exceptions visit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/visiting-the-uk-as-an-eu-eea-or-swiss-citizen.   

You don’t need to do anything if you will be travelling to or from the UK and you have EUSS settled or pre-settled status, or have a pending application to the EUSS, as long as you intend to travel using the document you used to apply to the EUSS. 

 

Switching from pre-settled status to settled status

If you hold pre-settled status, you can apply for settled status as soon as you are eligible. This is usually after you have lived in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for 5 years in a row (known as ‘continuous residence’). 

You may not be eligible for settled status if during the 5 years you have spent more than 6 months outside the UK in a 12-month period. There are some specific exemptions to this, including absence for an important reason e.g. COVID 19. You can find further information on eligibility for settled status at https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/what-settled-and-presettled-status-means. 

The 5 years are counted from the day you first arrived in the UK. You do not need to have held pre-settled status for 5 years to apply for settled status. 

If you have pre-settled status you must apply to the EUSS again before your pre-settled status expires. Further information, is available at https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/switch-from-presettled-status-to-settled-status. 

 

Applying for your children

If you have children who were resident in the UK by 31 December 2020, are not British or Irish citizens and do not have another type of UK immigration status (for example, temporary leave or indefinite leave to enter or remain) they must make an application to the EUSS. 

You can apply on their behalf, and when you apply for your child you can ‘link’ their application to yours. For further information please refer to the guidance available on gov.​uk: https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/apply-settled-status-for-child. 

If you or your partner has given birth in the UK since 31 December 2020, and neither you or the other parent had settled status, another form of indefinite leave to enter or remain, or British citizenship when the child was born, you will need to apply to the EUSS on your child’s behalf within 3 months of their date of birth. 

You do not need to apply on your child’s behalf if you or your partner held settled status, another form of indefinite leave to enter or remain, or British citizenship at the date the child was born because the child will be British by birth. You can find out more about British citizenship at https://www.gov.uk/check-british-citizenship. 

 

Family members who have not yet applied

If you have any family members who are not British or Irish citizens, or do not hold another form of UK immigration status and were resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 and have not yet applied to the EUSS, they should do so urgently at https://www.gov.uk/eusettlementscheme. This includes any family members who are not EU, EEA or Swiss citizens and also those who hold an EEA Biometric Residence Card (BRC), even if the BRC has an expiry date after 30 June 2021. 

 

Joining family members

If you have family members who wish to join you in the UK on the basis of your settled or pre-settled status under EUSS then there is no deadline for them coming to join you. They can join you at any point, although they must make an EUSS application within 90 days of their arrival in the UK. You can find out further information on joining family members at https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/join-EU-EEA-Swiss-family-member. 

 

Late and pending applications

Anyone making a valid application to the EUSS from 1 July 2021 will secure their rights while their application is considered, including the right to healthcare, and the right to work or (in England) to rent property. 

If you know any EU, EEA or Swiss citizen (or their family member) who was resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 and who has not made an application, they should do so as soon as possible at https://www.gov.uk/eusettlementscheme. 

Guidance on reasonable grounds for making a late application is at:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1004627/main-euss-guidance-v13.0ext.pdf. 

 

Further information

You can find further information on the EUSS at https://www.gov.uk/eusettlementscheme. 

 

Privacy and your data

To find out how the Home Office processes and uses your personal data visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-information-use-in-borders-immigration-and-citizenship/borders-immigration-and-citizenship-privacy-information-notice.