Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether time spent outside the UK as a result of the covid-19 pandemic will qualify for the important reason exemption from the requirement for continuous residence in the UK to qualify for settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

In line with the EU law rights protected by the Withdrawal Agreement, the EU Settlement Scheme permits an applicant to have an absence (or absences) from the UK of up to six months in any 12-month period. It also allows for a single absence of up to 12 months in the period of five years’ continuous residence generally required for settled status under the scheme where that absence is for an important reason.

This includes serious illness and would cover, for example, absence required by being quarantined to protect public health.

Further guidance for applicants to the scheme who have been affected by illness or travel restrictions due to Covid-19 will be published shortly.