Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate he has made of the number of Surinder Singh cases that will have to re-apply for permanent UK residency after 29 March 2019.

Where an application is made to the EU Settlement Scheme by an appli-cant who holds valid permanent residence documentation, or valid indefinite leave to enter or remain in the UK, the assessment of their previous UK residence will not be repeated.

Otherwise, evidence of UK residence for the relevant period will be re-quired. The application process will help the applicant to establish their con-tinuous residence, on an automated basis using data held by HM Revenue & Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions. This will keep the documentary evidence the applicant is required to provide to a minimum. If needed, the applicant will be able to upload documentary evidence of their continuous residence.

There has been no estimate made of how many people documented under the ‘Surinder Singh’ provisions (those resident here by virtue of regulation 9 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016) will need to make an application to the EU Settlement Scheme. Those currently resi-dent here under regulation 9 are not generally required to hold EEA docu-mentation in order to be lawfully resident in the UK, as is the case with oth-er direct family members of EEA citizens whose residence rights are auto-matic.