Is your workforce aware of how to apply for Settled Status?
14 February 2019
Employees and their family members who are EU citizen may be able to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to continue living in the UK after 30 June 2021.
Guidance on Gov.Uk together with an online application process is available for EU citizens now, if this application route is used, paper records and evidence will still need to be submitted in order to complete the process.
An APP has been created to work on Android devices which removes the need to submit paper evidence and thus speed up the application process. No plans exist for the APP to be made available to Apple devices.
After March 29 EEA citizens will also be able to apply for settled status.
The deadline for applications will be 30 June 2021 unless the UK leaves without a deal in which case the deadline will be 31 December 2020.
No action is required at this stage for employers however when fully operational the advantage of the scheme will be that it will enable a fully automated process to be carried out by employers seeking to establish their Statutory excuse with Right to Work checks.
As when carrying out Right to Work checks, employers should take care in informing their workforce not to be seen to be discriminating by only focussing on employees they think may be affected.
At the moment there is a fee applied if applying for Settled Status before the end of March. The fee will be scrapped after 29 March 2019.
As with any new digital service the current pilot scheme is in test mode and is therefore subject to change before the final scheme is approved.
If your employee doesn’t have an Android device they can use that of a friend or family member.