EU citizens threatened with deportation if they fail to meet residency deadline

European Union citizens living in the United Kingdom will be deported if they fail to apply for new immigration status on time after Brexit, claimed people briefed on the plans. Leniency will be granted only in exceptional circumstances, say reports.

New immigration guidelines for EU citizens 

According to the immigration lawyers, the UK Government recently drafted new immigration guidelines, which included the fate of EU citizens who fail to apply on time post Brexit. The government has clearly said that it will consider only exceptionally cases. According to the previous guidelines the exceptional cases included those with physical and mental incapability or the kids whose parents fail to file their applications on their behalf.

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Strict border-control policy to be implemented after Brexit

As per the new rules, citizens belonging to the other European Union will no longer be served with privileges. In order to stay in Britain, the EU citizens will have to seek prior permission from the UK Government. This is being considered as the most strict border-control plan by the British Government. Last year, the Windrush scandal revealed that the UK Government is unaware of its legal and illegal citizens. The scandal led to thousands of Caribbean migrants losing their basic rights and were wrongly deported back to their mainland. According to the government statistics, approximately half of the estimated 3.5 million European Union citizens have received the new legal status ahead of the December 31, 2020 deadline.

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EU nationals must apply on time

The lawyers have said that right now the threshold is fairly high and an excuse like ‘I forgot’ will not help them. If people forget to apply for the immigration status then they will have no legal residence in the UK and will be deported back to their country. Immigration lawyers say they were invited to the Home Office a few months ago to read the government’s draft immigration guidelines, which had a section on what will happen to EU nationals who fail to apply on time. The government has not said when it plans to publish the draft. 

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