All Articles: EU Free Movement

Extended family members who have made an application under the EU Settlement Scheme, without having first obtained a residence document under the Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2016 are not entitled to settled or pre-settled status. This is the conclusion of the Upper Tribunal in Batool and others (other family members: EU...

16th August 2022
BY Iain Halliday

The EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) opened in 2018 and had issued almost 6.5 million decisions by the end of June 2022. The sheer scale of the scheme is a remarkable achievement for the Home Office. The department took on a momentous task when the UK government decided that everyone who...

20th July 2022
BY Alice Welsh and Kuba Jablonowski

Zambrano carers who already have permission to stay in the UK under the Immigration Rules cannot use the EU Settlement Scheme as a fast track to permanent residence, the Home Office has confirmed. The department announced today that it would not be changing the rules in this area, despite having...

13th June 2022
BY CJ McKinney

In the case of Velaj v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 767, the Court of Appeal has confirmed that Zambrano applications always require factual inquiries as to what would happen to the British dependant if their primary carer(s) indeed left the UK. In the case...

7th June 2022
BY Nath Gbikpi

Under EU free movement law, British citizens who had been exercising “treaty rights” in the European Economic Area and then decided to move back to the UK could sponsor their family members to come with them. This allowed them to use the friendlier EU law rules on family migration, rather...

29th March 2022
BY Chris Benn

Before 1 January 2021, British and EU citizens did not require a visa to travel across the Channel on a business trip. This is largely still the case post-Brexit, so we’ve been left with the appearance that nothing has really changed from a legal perspective. But with the end of...

28th March 2022
BY Jack Stokes

Eligibility for NHS treatment does count as Comprehensive Sickness Insurance, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled. The case is C‑247/20 VI v Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Background: non-working EU citizens needed health insurance Some rights to reside under EU law always seemed little more than...

15th March 2022
BY Charlotte O'Brien

The most recent version of the EU Settlement Scheme caseworker guidance was released on 9 December last year. After checking the “changes from last version of this guidance” you would be forgiven for assuming that nothing had changed about the approach to late applications to the scheme, the main deadline...

1st March 2022
BY Chris Benn

Regular readers will remember the problems caused by Comprehensive Sickness Insurance, or CSI. Essentially, certain EU citizens in the UK pre-Brexit were expected to have private health insurance. If they didn’t, it can still cause them legal problems to this day, at least on paper. Baroness Ludford, speaking in the...

4th February 2022
BY CJ McKinney

The Court of Appeal has dismissed the government’s appeal against last year’s decision that the EU Settlement Scheme rules on Zambrano carers are unlawful. But the judgment in Akinsanya v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 37 leaves the situation for these carers — non-EU parents...

26th January 2022
BY Bethan Lant

People having problems with their application to the EU Settlement Scheme or issues proving their status have one main point of contact with the Home Office: the EUSS helpline. The Home Office has now revealed that this valuable resource has been failing people, with only 44% of calls getting through...

26th January 2022
BY Andreea Dumitrache

Singh (EEA; EFMs) [2021] UKUT 319 (IAC) is the latest instalment from the Upper Tribunal on EU free movement law in outstanding cases from before Brexit — specifically, retained rights of residence for “durable partners”. Mr Singh had a residence card on the basis of a durable relationship with his...

10th January 2022
BY Sarah Pinder

In Sabina Begum v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1878 the Court of Appeal considered whether an extended family member, hoping to stay in the UK with their EEA citizen sponsor, can do so when the sponsor only acquired that citizenship after the extended family...

21st December 2021
BY Iain Halliday

In the run-up to Christmas, Santa must be getting ready for his round-the-world trip on the night of 24 December. But this is the first year he will be trying to get in and out of the UK without free movement measures applying. The post-Brexit transition period, extending the application...

3rd December 2021
BY Charlotte O'Brien

The Supreme Court has overturned last year’s ruling that EU citizens with pre-settled status should be able to claim Universal Credit without having to jump through hoops. The case is Fratila and another v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2021] UKSC 53. Pre-settled status allows EU citizens living...

1st December 2021
BY CJ McKinney

Geci (EEA Regs: transitional provisions, appeal rights) Albania [2021] UKUT 285 (IAC) is another appeal under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016, but with “highly unusual” facts. Mr Geci had returned to the UK in breach of a deportation order (twice). Rather than seeking to enforce the deportation order,...

26th November 2021
BY Samina Iqbal

Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (CSI) continues to be a barrier to British citizenship for EU citizens. Although EU citizens were not required to have CSI to qualify for the EU Settlement Scheme, it lingers on in the citizenship requirements for people previously in the UK as students or self-sufficient persons. As...

23rd November 2021
BY Lara Parizotto

The UK’s agreements on the post-Brexit rights of EU, EFTA and Swiss residents allow beneficiaries to sponsor their non-European family members to live with them in the UK. There are broadly two types of eligible family members: direct family members, such as spouses, civil partners, children and dependent parents, who...

8th November 2021
BY Chris Benn

Advocate General Hogan’s opinion in case C‑247/20 VI v Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs concludes that someone no longer requires Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (CSI) once they have permanent residence under EU law. The opinion is only advisory; it is not legally binding. But the opinion of the Advocate...

4th October 2021
BY Iain Halliday

In Velaj (EEA Regulations – interpretation; Reg 16(5); Zambrano) [2021] UKUT 235 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal looked at whether the Home Office accidentally liberalised the regulations on when the primary carer of a British child can be removed from the UK. The tribunal concluded that it did not. As a...

22nd September 2021
BY Iain Halliday

Changes to Appendix EU and Appendix EU (Family Permit) to the Immigration Rules come into force on 6 October 2021. This post attempts to flag the significant changes that are likely to impact on current and future applications. Joining family members As far as Appendix EU is concerned, the first...

20th September 2021
BY Sarah Pinder

Scattered throughout the latest statement of changes like needles in a 186-page haystack are three COVID-19 concessions that previously only appeared in Home Office guidance. They will now form part of the Immigration Rules. In immigration law, a concession is a policy operated by the Home Office that is more...

17th September 2021
BY Alex Piletska

EU citizens and their families who apply late to the EU Settlement Scheme will have their day-to-day rights protected while that application is considered, the Home Office has announced. The U-turn came in a press release on Friday evening, which says: While the numbers applying late [i.e. after 30 June...

9th August 2021
BY CJ McKinney

The Court of Justice of the European Union has held that refusing Universal Credit to EU citizens with pre-settled status is justified so long as there is no risk of breaching fundamental rights under the EU Charter. The case is C-709/20 CG v Department for Communities in Northern Ireland. This...

16th July 2021
BY Bilaal Shabbir

Non-EU citizens can potentially have a deportation order against them revoked where they have acquired or could acquire rights as family members of EU nationals. Such opportunities will continue to be relevant to a specific group of people for some years to come. This post will try to unravel this...

30th June 2021
BY Samina Iqbal

When the Home Office want to deport an EU citizen who has committed a criminal offence it adopts a two-stage process. First it issues a Deportation Liability Notice (DLN). This lets the person know that the Home Office is considering deportation and invites representations. The second stage is issuing the...

29th June 2021
BY Iain Halliday

The Brexit vote, the triggering of Article 50, the failed May deal, the Johnson capitulation, the legal exit at the start of 2020 and the economic exit at the year’s end have all come and gone. On 30 June 2021 comes another milestone: the deadline for EU residents and their...

28th June 2021
BY CJ McKinney

An eight-month detention period for EU citizens is disproportionate, the Court of Justice of the European Union has decided. The case is C-718/19 Ordre des barreaux francophones and germanophone and Others. The case originated in the Belgian courts. Legislation in Belgium designed to facilitate the removal of unauthorised non-EU nationals,...

25th June 2021
BY Bilaal Shabbir

The important case of Akinsanya, which we introduced in these articles, has opened the door for many non-European primary carers of British citizens to now apply for residence rights under the EU Settlement Scheme. There are many advantages to doing so — but also some pitfalls and potential issues to...

22nd June 2021
BY Nath Gbikpi

On 9 June, in the case of Akinsanya, the High Court found that the definition of Zambrano carers in the rules for the EU Settlement Scheme was wrong, insofar as it prevented those with permission to remain under another part of the Immigration Rules from applying. With the deadline to...

21st June 2021
BY Nath Gbikpi

On 15 December 2020 the Home Office published a short guidance document covering absences from the UK connected to COVID-19. It applies to EEA citizens and their family members who have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, or those who are eligible but haven’t applied yet. That...

17th June 2021
BY Chris Benn

In case C-165/16 Lounes, the Court of Justice of the European Union found that EU citizens who moved to the UK to exercise free movement rights and later naturalised as British (while also keeping their EU nationality) retain their free movement rights, even after naturalisation. This is particularly helpful for...

17th June 2021
BY Zahira Patel

In a welcome judgment handed down yesterday, R (Akinsanya) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 1535 (Admin), Mr Justice Mostyn found in no uncertain terms that Zambrano carers do not lose their EU law right to reside just because they have permission to remain granted under...

10th June 2021
BY Nath Gbikpi

One of the trickier aspects of EU free movement law is “retained” rights of residence for family members if the relationship with their EEA citizen sponsor ends. A common scenario is where an EEA national marries a non-EEA national who then travels to the UK as their spouse. After a...

10th June 2021
BY Guy Davison

Travel to the UK is opening back up, but not as we previously knew it. The news has been replete with examples of EU citizens being denied entry at UK airports and detained for removal. These stories are nothing new to jaded non-European ears. But for many European travellers, this...

21st May 2021
BY John Vassiliou

From 1 July 2021, EU, EEA and Swiss citizens living in the UK without having applied for pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme will be here unlawfully. The Home Secretary confirmed a few months ago that people can apply after that deadline, but they must have “reasonable...

12th April 2021
BY Chris Desira

Here on Free Movement we have been repeating until we are blue in the face that the deadline for EU Settlement Scheme applications is 30 June 2021. Regular readers may by now feel rather bludgeoned over the head with this fact, but it remains a vitally important message given that...

1st April 2021
BY CJ McKinney

Although the UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020 and the post-Brexit transition period came to an end on 31 December 2020, certain aspects of EU free movement law continue to apply into 2021 — but not for much longer. Old EU residence documents such as permanent residence...

30th March 2021
BY Jack Freeland

As we approach 30 June 2021, the deadline to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme, people are increasingly and understandably worried about their applications. In this post, we* try to answer some of the most commonly asked questions about the scheme, for those who haven’t applied yet. You can find...

4th February 2021
BY Nath Gbikpi

No doubt you will have read about the mudslinging between the UK and EU over the lack of a visa-free deal for touring musicians and entertainers. This has been retweeted and attacked by seemingly every artist you’ve heard of, and even been debated in Parliament. The claims are that the...

28th January 2021
BY Steve Richard

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