Question to the Home Office:

To the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2020 to Question 6772 on Devolution: Northern Ireland, what steps she is taking to ensure that immigration status offered to family members of people in Northern Ireland will not reduce the rights conferred under EEA regulations.

The Home Office intends to change the Immigration Rules to enable eligible family members of the people of Northern Ireland to apply for UK immigration status on broadly the same terms as the family members of Irish citizens in the UK. This route will be opened in the near future.

Any rights held by such individuals by virtue of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 will be unaffected by the implementation of this route.