Immigration Controls: EU Nationals

(asked on 12th July 2021) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure people travelling on an EU Settlement Scheme Family Permit are able to enter the UK following the expiration of EEA Family Permits on 1 July 2021.


Answered by
Kevin Foster Portrait
Kevin Foster
This question was answered on 15th July 2021

Individuals who are eligible for an EU Settlement Scheme family permit may continue to apply for such a permit after 1 July 2021.

Where an EU Settlement Scheme family permit is issued, it will be valid for the ‘relevant period’ (as defined in Annex 1 to Appendix EU (Family Permit)). This will be either:

- a period of 6 months from the date of decision on the application, or

- a period of 4 months from their intended date of arrival in the UK, where the applicant indicates in their application form they intend to arrive in the UK on or after 1 April 2021, and their intended date of arrival in the UK is more than 3 months from the date of decision.

The holder can enter the UK as many times as they wish within this period.

EU Settlement Scheme family permit holders will be subject to identity and security checks on arrival, as well as checks required for health measures purposes relating to the pandemic, just as all other arriving passengers are. The requirements of the Border Health regulations, set by the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations, work in addition to the requirements of the immigration rules, those holding EU Settlement Scheme Permits are not exempt from them.

Any passenger who is required to submit to further examination at port may be temporarily detained whilst such an examination is conducted. An EU Settlement Scheme family permit holder may be refused entry to the UK where their leave falls to be cancelled under Annex 3 to Appendix EU (Family Permit).

The Home Office is not aware of any instances of EU Settlement Scheme family permit holders either being detained for longer than necessary to confirm their ongoing entitlement to their status or compliance with health measures requirements, or in an Immigration Removal Centre since 1 July 2021.

Reticulating Splines