Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy that applications for settled status of EU academics working in UK universities will not be affected by the time spent outside of the UK to support their research activity.

As set out in paragraph 20 of the Government’s policy paper (Cm 9464), settled status would generally be lost if a person was absent from the UK for more than two years, unless they have strong ties here.

Both the UK and EU’s position - as set out in the joint technical note on citizens’ rights available here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/joint-technical-note-on-the-comparison-of-eu-uk-positions-on-citizens-rights - is that in identifying the necessary five years’ continuous residence to acquire settled status, the definition of continuity of residence should reflect Article 16 (3) of Directive 2004/38, which permits absences of six months in any 12 months, or 12 months for an important reason, for example studying or being posted abroad.

We will publish more details of the new scheme, including details of eligibility criteria, in due course once an agreement has been reached.