Brexit rules for millions of EU citizens living in UK deemed unlawful

High Court says pre-settled status system is not lawful and creates too much uncertainty

Brexit rules requiring millions of EU citizens to re-apply for the right to live in Britain are unlawful, the High Court has ruled.

The Home Office EU settlement scheme opened in March 2019 and required all EU citizens to register for “settled status” if they wanted to stay in the UK.

But under the scheme, EU citizens who had lived in Britain for less than five years were given a lesser “pre-settled status” and told to re-apply later – or risk losing their residence rights.