Thousands of EU citizens may lose legal status to live in UK

LONDON (AP) — Marlies Haselton has called Britain home for more than 30 years.

The Dutch national married a Briton, had her children there, and considers herself “part and parcel” of the UK.

Until Britain's divorce from the European Union, she had never given a thought to her immigration status in the UK.

Haselton, 55, is among the millions of Europeans who have freely lived, worked and studied in the UK for decades, but whose rights are no longer automatically granted due to Brexit.

Britain's government introduced a “settlement” plan for the country's large European migrant community in 2019, and the deadline for applications is Wednesday.

From Thursday, any European migrant who hasn't applied will lose their legal right to work, rent housing and access some hospital treatments or welfare benefits in the UK.

They may even be subject to deportation.

Meanwhile, the freedom of movement that over 1 million Britons have long enjoyed in EU countries is also ending.

Those applying for post-Brexit residency permits in France also face a deadline on Wednesday.

Campaigners in the UK are worried that tens or even hundreds of thousands of Europeans may not have applied by the deadline.

Many older people who have lived in the UK for decades are not aware they have to apply, and official figures show that only 2% of applicants were 65 years old or older.

Many parents also don't realise they have to apply for their children, migrants rights' groups say.

Other vulnerable people, such as an estimated 2,000 children in social care, also risk falling through the cracks and ending up with no legal status.

For Haselton and many others, it's a moment that drives home the impact of Britain's referendum to leave the EU five years ago. Although Haselton successfully received her “settled” status, meaning she can reside permanently in the UK, she said the whole process has made her feel insecure about the life she built in Britain.

“I don't feel settled,” she said.

“I'm concerned about the future. I just don't have a safe feeling about growing old here as a foreigner. The sense of home I used to have is gone.”

Britain's government says some 5.6 million people — the majority from Poland and Romania — have applied, far more than the initial estimates.

While about half were granted settled status, some two million migrants who haven't lived in the UK long enough were told they have to put in the paperwork again when they have completed five years of residency in the country.

And about 400,000 people are still in limbo because they're waiting to hear a decision, said Lara Parizotto, a campaigner for The3million, a group set up after the Brexit referendum to lobby for the rights of EU citizens in the UK.

“These are the people we're hearing from a lot,” she said.

“You want to be secure and safe, you want to continue making plans for your future … you can imagine how complex it is not to have that certainty in your life right now when things are about to change so much.”

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