Immigration: EU Nationals

(asked on 20th February 2019) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which (a) organisations and (b) other Departments his Department shares personal data with that has been captured during the settled status application process; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Caroline Nokes Portrait
Caroline Nokes
This question was answered on 1st March 2019

The Home Office takes its data protection and data security obligations very seriously. All our data activity must be compliant with data protection legislation.

Within the EU Settlement Scheme, in addition to an identity check, applicants’ personal data is used in three main ways:

• Criminality and security checks;
• If a National Insurance number has been provided, real time checks with the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs to consider evidence of residency in the UK (for example tax or benefit records); and
• On a case by case basis, sharing information with other organisations to verify evidence you have provided within your application to protect against fraud and the use of counterfeit documents (for example verifying with a university that the university certificate you have provided is genuine).

This data sharing is designed to help applicants evidence their status in a quick and straightforward way by using data already held by other Government departments.

The Home Office may also process the information provided in other ways in order to fulfil its legal and official functions. This could include, for example:

• If we find evidence a significant crime has been committed;
• We discover an immigration offence (like a sham marriage) is being committed;
• If, in the future, you apply for UK citizenship; or
• To allow the Home Office to carry out its safeguarding duties.

This is set out in more detail in the Borders, Immigration and Citizenship System privacy information notice: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-information-use-in-borders-immigration-and-citizenship/borders-immigration-and-citizenship-privacy-information-

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