The Home Office in London has announced its intention to appeal. The decision may also affect 600,000 Italians
Major legal victory for millions of Europeans (and hundreds of thousands of Italians) living in post-Brexit Britain: a Supreme Court judge ruled that those with a five-year temporary stay (the so-called pre-settled status) cannot lose their rights when the permit expires.
Currently, those who have resided in the UK for less than five years at the time of Brexit can only be granted temporary residency, at the end of which without a new permanent anchoring procedure they risk losing access to work, health, home or even be expelled from the country. However, the High Court has ruled that this would breach the Withdrawal Agreement signed between London and the European Union and that therefore those who are temporarily staying in the UK after five years have expired must automatically have their rights validated without to have to do something.
This decision affects many Italians: almost 600,000 of our compatriots have joined the Settlement Scheme, the mechanism for regularizing Europeans in Great Britain, but around 40% of them were initially only granted temporary residence. Those of them who – perhaps because they were old, vulnerable or simply out of forgetfulness – did not take up permanent residence after 5 years risked becoming undesirable in the UK, an illegal immigrant. The independent watchdog overseeing the deals in favor of the Europeans, with the support of the European Commission, took the matter to the High Court and obtained this important ruling that fundamentally misinterprets the UK government’s understanding of the deals with the EU.
The Home Office in London has announced its intention to appeal, but meanwhile the3million, the association representing European residents in the UK, has welcomed the recognition that those legally residing here cannot be deprived of their rights.
December 21, 2022 (change December 21, 2022 | 1:35 p.m.)
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