Staying in the UK after Brexit

If you’re from the EU, European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, you and your family will usually need to apply to stay in the UK after 30 June 2021. The EEA includes EU countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

You can do this by applying:

• to the EU Settlement Scheme for ‘settled status’ or ‘pre-settled status’
• or for British citizenship.

It’s free to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. You don’t need to apply if:

• you already have British or Irish citizenship
• you or your child were born in the UK
• you have a ‘permanent residence’ document or ‘indefinite leave to remain’
• you were living in the UK before it joined the EU.

Keeping your rights

Your rights to live, work and study in the UK will stay the same until 31 December 2020. You can continue to use the NHS, claim benefits and the state pension, and get help with housing from your local council

After 31 December 2020 you will need to have pre-settled or settled status to stay in the UK for more than 3 months, to work, study, use the NHS, claim the state pension or rent a home.

You must have settled status to claim some benefits like Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Child Benefit. You must also have settled status to get help with housing from your local council. If you only have pre-settled status, those benefits might stop and you might not be able to get help with housing from your local council.

Applying to the EU Settlement Scheme

You should apply for settled or pre-settled status or citizenship by 31 December 2020 because your rights will change after this date.

You’ll usually get settled status if you’ve lived in the UK for 5 years or more. Once you have settled status, you can stay as long as you like. You can live outside the UK for up to 5 years in a row without losing your status.

You’ll get pre-settled status if you’ve lived in the UK for less than 5 years. This means you can stay in the UK for up to 5 years. You can apply for settled status when you’ve lived in the UK for a total of 5 years – including the years before you got pre-settled status.

Our national website citizensadvice.org.uk has a very helpful section explaining what documents you need and how to apply. Just search on the website for “settled status”.

Bringing family to live in the UK after Brexit

They’ll need to be in the UK by 31 December 2020 to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.

If they aren’t living in the UK by 31 December 2020, they can apply to join you if you have pre-settled or settled status. You also need to prove that your relationship began before 31 December 2020.

If your family member is a citizen of a country outside the EU, EEA or Switzerland, they need an EEA family permit to enter the UK. It will be valid for 6 months. You can find out more about the EEA family permit on GOV.UK.

More information

You can find out more about the Settlement Scheme and British Citizenship on our national website.