Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the statement by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 16 January (HL Deb, col 218) that citizens of EU countries who have been resident in the UK since before the UK joined the European Economic Community “can if they want make a free application to the Windrush scheme for documentation to confirm that status”, what are the consequences of those citizens not making such an application, in particular for those who do not have documentary evidence of their status.

EU citizens who were settled in the UK before 1973 are deemed to have indefinite leave to remain and therefore already have a UK immigration status, which will be unaffected by the UK’s exit from the European Union. EU citizens who already have indefinite leave to remain are not required to apply to either the Windrush Scheme or the EU Settlement Scheme, but they may find it useful to do so to obtain up-to-date evidence of their status free of charge.