Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will seek to ensure children from EEA countries living in the UK will be able to secure settled status that on the same terms as children from EU countries after the UK leaves the EU.

The Government announced on 20 December that the UK has reached a separation agreement with the European Economic Area (EEA) Economic Free Trade Area (EFTA) countries which covers citizens’ rights and broadly mirrors in that respect the Withdrawal Agreement reached with the European Union. The separation agreement protects the rights of approximately 15,000 EEA EFTA nationals living in the UK and 17,000 UK nationals living in the EEA EFTA countries.

EEA EFTA nationals, including children, who want to stay beyond the end of the planned implementation period will be able to apply to the UK’s Settlement Scheme in the same way as EU citizens from 30 March 2019.