The deadline to apply was 30 June 2021. 

Some people might still be able to apply if: 

• They started living in the UK before 31 December 2020 and have a good and provable reason for submitting a late application;
• They upgrade from pre-settled to settled status and are eligible for it;
• They want to join a family member with pre-settled or settled status in the UK;
• They have a valid biometric residence permit or visa – other than indefinite leave to remain.

Some categories have their own deadline: 

• Family members joining a resident EU citizen in the UK can apply at any time if they reside outside the UK. Once they move to the UK, they have 90 days from their arrival to make an application for status under the EUSS;
• Children born or adopted in the UK have 90 days from when they were born or adopted;
• A person exempt from immigration control can apply at any time. Once they stop being exempt, they have 90 days from the date on which they cease to be exempt;
• Those with limited leave to enter or remain in the UK (for example, work or study visa) which expires after 30 June 2021, must apply before the leave expires.

• EU nationals, nationals of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland and their family members (of any nationality) who started to reside in the UK before 31-12-2020;
• Permanent Residence document holders;
• Biometric Residence Permit or Card holders;
• Children. Each child must have their own application.

So, who does not have to apply?

• Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) holders do not have to apply under the EU Settlement Scheme, but they may wish to exchange the indefinite leave to enter or remain for the settled status, to benefit from the more generous absence allowance.
• Irish nationals or dual Irish nationals do not have to apply, as they will continue to enjoy a right of residence which is not dependent on EU legislation. However, their family members can apply under the EUSS.
• Dual British nationals cannot apply, as they will already have a right to reside in the UK because of their British nationality.

For most people, the deadline to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme was 30 June 2021. However, you can still submit a late application if you started to reside in the United Kingdom before 31 December 2020 and you have good reasons for applying late.

Get in contact with us if you do not have a status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

The Home Office gives examples of reasonable grounds which are likely to be accepted, such as: 

• Lack of physical or mental capacity and/or care or support needs, including for older people;
• Serious medical conditions;
• Children under 18 where a parent or a carer has failed to apply to the EUSS by the relevant deadline;
• Abusive or controlling relationship.

Settled status (indefinite leave to remain), allows you to live in the UK indefinitely. Settled status automatically expires if you leave the UK for 5 consecutive years (without returning not even for a weekend). 

If you lose your settled status because of a 5-year absence, you may be able to apply for a returning resident visa. Please note that this might not be reflected in your digital status: you may still be able to see your settled status even if you have lost it due to a 5-year absence. 

You are eligible for settled status if:

• You have a valid pre-settled status (e.g. not expired because of 2-year absence) or if you have a good reason for applying late;
• You started to reside in the UK before 31-12-2020 (unless you joined as a family member);
• You have lived in the UK for at least 5 years continuously;
• At the date of the application, you have not been absent from the UK for more than 5 consecutive years;
• You are not subject to an exclusion, removal or deportation order;
• You meet other suitability requirements (e.g. criminal convictions).

The 5-year period starts from the date you started to reside in the UK. If you have pre-settled status, you can apply for settled status as soon as you reach 5 years of residence in the UK, provided that you have not broken your continuous residence. See below section for more information on continous residence.

If you are eligible to apply for settled status but have not done so, you may still be eligible for a late application. See above section for more information on late applications.

Pre-settled status (limited leave to remain), allows you to live in the UK for 5 years, counted from the date it was granted. After that, you need to apply for settled status to continue living in the UK (in most cases, this does not happen automatically). 

As soon as you reach 5 years of continuous residence, you should apply for settled status. Do not wait until your pre-settled status expires!

Pre-settled status expires automatically if you are absent from the UK for 2 consecutive years (without returning not even for a weekend). Please note that this might not be reflected in your digital status: you may still be able to see your pre-settled status even if you have lost it due to a 2-year absence. 

You will be eligible for pre-settled status if you are applying as a joining family member or have your own deadline. You still need to meet the suitability requirements (e.g. not subject to exclusion, removal or deportation order or unspent criminal convictions).

Important! If you started to reside in the UK before 31 December 2020, have lived in the UK for less than 5 years and have not yet applied, you need to have important and verifiable reasons for submitting a late application. You also need to provide evidence that you have not broken your continuous residence by being absent from the UK for 6 months or more, without a valid reason.

To qualify for settled status, you must have lived in the UK continuously for 5 years, meaning that:

• You started your continuous residence in the UK before 31 December 2020;
• You have resided in the UK for at least 5 years at the time of the application;
• During these 5 years, you have not been absent from the UK for more than 6 months in total in any 12-month period. 

However, you are allowed: 

• One single absence from the UK longer than 6 months but shorter than 12 months for an important reason, such as Covid-19, serious illness, pregnancy, work and study;
• A second absence if one is Covid-related, in some cases even longer than 12 months if Covid means you were prevented from returning to the UK earlier.

If you hold pre-settled status and break your continuous residence, you may not be able to apply for settled status after your pre-settled status expires.

Read more about absences in the sections below and seek legal advice if you have broken your continuous residence.

When you apply for settled status and enter your NINo, the system performs an automatic check. However, in some cases, you need to upload evidence of residence manually. You can use documents to cover longer or shorter periods. 

Documents must be dated and show your name and address.

Documents should be dated and have your name on them, such as: 

• Bank statements showing transactions in the UK (e.g. Tesco purchase, TFL Travel). Direct debit or online payments are not accepted;
• Council tax or utility bills (e.g. gas, electricity, water, TV licence, etc.);
• Rental agreement and evidence of payment;
• Pay slips, contracts of employment, signed employer letter, P45 or P60;
• Letter from a government department or public service (e.g. HMRC, DWP, etc.);
• Letter from school, university or other accredited educational or training organisation
• Letter or medical report from NHS, GP, hospital, care home, etc.;
• Used travel ticket confirming you entered the UK (e.g. boarding pass);
• Any other evidence to prove your presence in the UK

You can upload a maximum of 10 documents (max. 6MB) to show evidence of UK residence each time. If you sign back in later, you can upload more documents. 

If you need to provide additional evidence, the Home Office will contact you via email. 

However, at the end of the application, click on “View the years you need to provide evidence for” to find the list of years you need to prove. Don’t worry if you see years before when you moved, you only need to prove the years when you were in the UK. If you cannot find evidence of your residence in the UK, seek legal advice.

See how to upload a document to your application in the Making an application (Procedure) sub-section .

A single absence from the UK of more than 6 months but not more than 12 months.

A single absence or absences of more than 6 months but not more than 12 months in total in any 5-year continuous qualifying period interrupts that continuous qualifying period unless there was an important reason for the absence:

• a single period of absence of more than 6 months but which does not exceed 12 months is permitted, where this is for an important reason, such as Covid-19, pregnancy, childbirth, serious illness, study, vocational training or an overseas posting; 
• compulsory military service of any length;
• time you spent abroad as a Crown servant, or as the family member of a Crown servant;
• time you spent abroad in the armed forces, or as a family member of someone in the armed forces.

Evidence to support an absence as a result of pregnancy, childbirth or serious illness might take the form of a letter or other records from a qualified medical professional.

Absences are calculated over a 12-month period starting from the first day you were absent. If you are unsure about the count, ask for advice.

You are only permitted a single absence exceeding 6 months (but not exceeding 12 months) for an important reason in your 5-year continuous qualifying period. More than one such absence, or an absence from the UK of more than 12 months will always interrupt your continuous qualifying period regardless of the reason for it.

Absences due to Covid-19

Other than the ones set out above, restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic can be considered an  “important reason” for your absences. See “Coronavirus (COVID-19): EU Settlement Scheme – guidance for applicants” for more details. 

An ‘important reason’ also includes (but is not limited to) where you can show that: 

• You or a family member you cared for were ill by coronavirus;
• You were in quarantine, self-isolating or shielding following local public health guidance;
• You were prevented from returning earlier to the UK due to travel disruptions;
• Your university course was moved to remote learning and you were advised to return to your home country to study remotely;
• You were advised by your university or employer not to return to the UK, and to continue studying or working remotely from your home country;
• You were absent from the UK for another reason relating to Covid, for example, you left or remained outside the UK because there were fewer coronavirus restrictions elsewhere; or you would have been unemployed in the UK and preferred to rely on support from family or friends overseas.

Absences exceeding 12 months

Where, after an absence of 12 months for an ‘important reason’, coronavirus meant you were prevented from, or advised against, returning to the UK within 12 months, you will be treated as not having broken your continuous qualifying period of residence.

The period of absence exceeding 12 months will not be counted towards your continuous qualifying period of residence under the EU Settlement Scheme. Your continuous qualifying period will be paused from the point your absence reaches 12 months and will resume from the point you return to the UK.

Where you hold pre-settled status, and this is due to expire before you can complete the continuous qualifying period of residence required for you to be eligible for settled status, you will be able to apply for a further grant of pre-settled status.

Following the High Court of Justice’s ruling, the Home Office has announced that pre-settled status holders will have their pre-settled status automatically extended by 5 years before they are due to expire, if they haven’t already obtained settled status.

If you have pre-settled status, and have already received a 2-year automatic extension, you will not have this extended to 5 years. This does not affect your pre-settled status, and you will be eligible to apply for settled status once you accrue 5 years of continuous residence in the UK. 

You will receive an email from the Home Office before your pre-settled status expires informing you of the extension. Usually, the extension is granted a month before your pre-settled status is due to expire. The extension will be reflected in your digital status immediately.

If you are nearing the expiry date of your pre-settled status, and have not yet received an extension, you should contact us.

The Home Office communicates via email. Please make sure that the email address linked to your pre-settled status is updated. Follow our instructions on how to update your details in the ‘Managing Your Status’ sub-section.

The Home Office has started the automatic conversion process for eligible individuals to convert from pre-settled status to settled status. This is done by checking against your HMRC and DWP records, using your National Insurance Number. 

If the evidence found on the records is enough to prove you accrued 5 years of continuous residence in the UK, you will be automatically upgraded to settled status. You will receive an email notifying you if your status has been automatically updated, and you will be able to see your digital status reflecting this change.

However, we still recommend that you apply for settled status as soon as you are eligible for it, not relying on the automatic conversion to occur.

If you have been out of the UK for a period exceeding 6 months in a 12-month period, you may not receive an automatic conversion to settled status. This is because you may have broken your continuous residence. If your absence can be justified by an important reason and you are still eligible for settled status, you will need to upload documentation to prove that you have reasonable grounds for having exceeded your permitted absences. This can be complex, therefore we suggest seeking legal advice.

If your HMRC and DWP records do not hold enough information to prove your residency in the UK, you may also not receive an automatic conversion. In this case, you should make the application to settled status yourself, and provide the necessary evidence.

You need to submit an application for your newborn child within 3 months of their birth (if born in the UK and not automatically a British citizen) or before they travel to the UK (if born outside the UK). 

Parents and carers must apply to the EUSS within 90 days of their child being born or adopted in the UK; or if the child is living abroad and coming to join them in the UK.  

Although the deadline for applications for most people was 30 June 2021, parents and carers can still apply for their child – or they can apply for themselves – if they lived in the UK by 31 December 2020. 

EU and EEA EFTA citizens who have applied to the EUSS, have a number of rights in the UK or Gibraltar. Their family members also share these rights. 

Applying for EUSS protects rights to:  

• Work in the UK 
• Use the NHS for free 
• Enroll in education or study in the UK 
• Access public funds such as benefits and pensions (if eligible) 
• Travel in and out of the UK  

As reminded by the Independent Monitoring Authority, Art. 14 of the Withdrawal Agreement safeguards the right to use your valid national identity card to enter the UK if you are an EU citizen and hold pre-settled or settled status. You should link your ID card to your digital status to avoid problems at the UK border.

Eligible EU and EEA EFTA citizens, along with their EU and EEA EFTA citizen family members, can travel to the UK using a valid national identity card. To do so, that identity document should be registered to the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account they used or created in applying to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS).

It is advised that individuals register all their identity travel documents to their UKVI account. Information on who is eligible to travel to the UK with a valid national identity card, and their use at the border, can be found on GOV.UK.

You can prove that you have submitted an application to the EUSS and are waiting for a decision with your Certificate of Application (‘COA’).

Remember that your existing rights are protected until the application is decided, and when the outcome of any appeal against a decision to refuse status is pending.

A COA is also accessible to view online, through the view and prove your immigration status service.

If you are waiting for your COA, the email acknowledging receipt of your application explains how prospective employers and landlords can request information about your right to work and rent from the Employer Checking Service and the Landlord Checking Service.

Please note that if you have a valid pre-settled status, you will not receive a COA. You can continue to prove your rights in the UK using your pre-settled status.

Children, who are not British citizens, born to parents with either pre-settled or settled status will need their parents to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme on their behalf.

The application for the child’s status should be done within 90 days* of either:

• The child being born or adopted in the UK;
• The date the child first arrived in the UK.

*If more than 90 days have passed, you should submit a late application.

You can start the application by downloading the “EU Exit: ID Document Check” app on Android or iOS. You should scan the child’s valid passport and take a photo of the child’s face as well. The app will guide you at every step of the process.

After completing the app stage, you will need to complete the online form. Here, if you have pre-settled or settled status, you can link the child’s application to your status by providing your UAN (16-digit number linked to your status starting with 3434-). 

You will also need to provide proof of the relationship between the child and the parent, this can be in the form of a birth certificate, or alternatively adoption documentation.

As the parent, you must ensure that your pre-settled or settled status is valid, otherwise you will not be able to sponsor your child’s application.

If the child does not have a valid ID / passport, you can submit a paper application instead. You will need to contact the EU Resolution Centre and request a paper application, after which you will need to complete it by hand and send it by post to the Home Office.

You can apply as a spouse or civil partner if the marriage or civil partnership was celebrated before 31 December 2020 and the relationship exists at the date of the application. If you got married after this date but your relationship was durable on 31 December 2020, you may still be eligible to apply (see durable partners).

You need to provide evidence of the relationship with the sponsor, e.g. with a marriage certificate.

You can apply as a durable partner if you were in a relationship akin to marriage by 31 December 2020, and the relationship exists at the date of the application. You normally need to evidence that you have cohabited for at least 2 years before 31 December 2020 or that you shared responsibility, such as parental responsibility. However, you can provide other significant evidence of a durable relationship if, for example, you could not live together for reasons of work, study, religion or culture but your relationship was nonetheless a long-term and serious one.

Children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren under 21 years old, including those adopted or born after 31-12-2020 can apply as family members. This includes those of the spouse or civil partner if the marriage or civil partnership was celebrated before 31-12-2020. You need to provide evidence of the relationship with the sponsor, e.g. with a birth certificate.

Children under 21 years old applying under a parent’s settled status will receive settled status.

Children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren over 21 years old can apply under the EUSS if they are dependent on the sponsor. You also need to provide evidence of the relationship with the sponsor, e.g. with a birth certificate.

A child is “dependent” when they cannot meet their basic needs without the sponsor’s financial support or care, e.g. because they are in full-time education, disabled or ill. The dependency must be demonstrated by relevant financial, medical or other documentary evidence, such as money transfers or a letter from a doctor.

Dependent children with pre-settled status do not need to prove dependency again when they apply for settled status.

Parents, grandparents and great-grandparents can apply if they are dependent on the EU sponsor. This includes those of the spouse or civil partner if the marriage or civil partnership was celebrated before 31-12-2020. You need to provide evidence of the relationship with the sponsor, e.g. with a birth certificate. A parent is “dependent” when they cannot meet their basic needs without the sponsor’s financial support or care, e.g. because they are elderly, disabled or ill. The dependency must be demonstrated by relevant financial, medical or other documentary evidence, such as money transfers or a letter from a doctor. Dependent parents do not need to prove dependency again when they apply for settled status.

Family members who are EU nationals can apply directly for pre-settled or settled status under the EUSS, depending on their eligibility.

If they are in the UK as visitors, they can apply to the EUSS within 90 days from their first arrival.

Family members who are non-EU nationals need a permit to travel to the UK. They must apply for an EUSS Family Permit from their country of habitual residence or nationality before they travel to the UK. Once in the UK, they must apply under the EU Settlement Scheme within 90 days.

The Permit is valid for six months and allows them to travel in and out of the UK, work and study.

In order to prove your pre-settled or settled status, you must access your status online and generate a share code.

To view your digital status, you will need your:

• ID number (the ID you used when making your EUSS application; this can be a previous ID document); 
• Date of birth; and
• Access to the phone number or email address you use to access your UKVI account.

Go to “View and prove your immigration status” by clicking here.

Click on Start Now and input both your ID number and date of birth; choose between receiving the security code via your phone number or email address. After inserting the security code, you should be able to view your immigration status alongside your personal information.

To prove your status, press on ‘Get a share code’, and select the reason why you are generating a share code. Your share code will be a mixed 9-digit letter code. 

You must provide this code as well as your date of birth to the person requesting to see your digital status. The code is valid to use for 90 days.

See below to see how to update your personal information. 

If you encounter any issues accessing your UKVI account or proving your status, you should contact the EU Settlement Resolution Centre via an online form by clicking here.

Go to Update your UK Visas and Immigration account details, click on Sign-in and insert the document number used to make your application (e.g. if you have renewed your passport, this will be your old passport number) and your date of birth.

Enter the code you have received on your phone or email address.

Once in your digital status, you will see your details and your photo. Scroll down to the “Identity documents” section. Click on “ Add a new identity document”.

If your personal details have not changed, you can proceed to upload a picture of your passport, following the instructions on how to take a picture.

If your personal details (name, surname, nationality) have changed, you will have to send your passport via post to the Home Office.

You can follow the same procedures to add your national identity card to your status. A paper ID card must be sent via post. 

The Home Office will inform you via email once your document has been added. Then, you can start using your new passport number to access your status

If you do not have access to your login details anymore, you need to call the EU Resolution Centre.

Go to Update your UK Visas and Immigration account details, click on Sign-in and insert the document number linked to your application and your date of birth.

Enter the code you have received on your phone or email address.

Once in your digital status, you will see your details and your photo. On the left-hand side, you can click on “Contact details” and “Sign-in details” to change the phone number and email address associated with your digital status.

If you have any questions on the application process or you have any problems accessing your status, you should contact the EU Settlement Scheme Resolution Centre, run by the UK government.

You can contact them via an online form by clicking here. 

You can also call the EUSS Resolution Centre:

From within the UK:
0300 123 7379
Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays), 8 am to 8 pm
Saturday and Sunday, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm
You can find out more about call charges here.

From outside the UK:
+44 (0)203 080 0010
Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays), 8 am to 8 pm
Saturday and Sunday, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm