4 million

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4 million

According to the Home Office, there had been more than 4 million applications to the EU Settlement Scheme by the end of October.

This important milestone was reached with eight months still to go before the 30 June 2021 deadline.

Of the more than 4 million applications across the UK, there have been nearly 3.7 million from England, 204,700 from Scotland, 67,200 from Wales and 66,300 from Northern Ireland up to the end of September 2020.

Nearly 3.8 million grants of status have also been made, securing millions of European’s rights in UK law for years to come.

The EU Settlement Scheme has been fully open since 30 March 2019 and at its height Home Office caseworkers were regularly processing up to 20,000 applications a day. The highest number of applications processed in one month was in October 2019 when there were more than 400,000 grants of status.

Timeline:

  • 28 August 2018 – EU Settlement Scheme first tested with a small number of NHS staff
  • 1 November 2018 – Launch of second phase of testing
  • 30 March 2019 – EU Settlement Scheme fully opened
  • 15 August 2019 – One million applications
  • 9 October 2019 – Two million applications
  • 6 February 2020 – Three million applications
  • 8 October 2020 – Four million applications

The EU Settlement Scheme uses cutting edge technology and launched the EU Exit: ID Document Check app which allows people to apply from the comfort of their own home in as little as 15 minutes.

The Home Office has a dedicated team of more than 1,500 people working on the EU Settlement Scheme with support provided seven days a week by telephone and by email. The Home Office has run two marketing campaigns, spending £4 million across the UK to encourage EU citizens to apply. Communication materials have been translated into 26 EU languages including Polish, Romanian and Italian.

To raise awareness of the scheme at a local level, they held a series of pop-up events across the UK where staff answered questions and helped people to apply in person, with more planned in 2020.

Source: Home Office

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