UK minister: Settled status 'effective and slick'

Britain's Business Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan on Wednesday said the EU Settlement Scheme has been a "really effective and slick" for those who applied, despite concerns by campaigners that many applicants are still in limbo awaiting their reply.

Britain’s government says more than 5 million people - the majority from Poland and Romania - have applied, far more than the initial estimates.

While about half were granted settled status, some 2 million migrants who haven’t lived in the U.K. long enough were told they have to put in the paperwork again when they have completed five years of residency in the country.

Speaking to British broadcaster Sky News on Wednesday morning, Trevelyan said it is a "phenomenal scheme", adding that although government processes can "be difficult, this one was a really effective and slick one for those 5.2 million people".

The deadline for applying for residency in the UK under the government's EU Settlement Scheme passes at midnight on Wednesday.

When Sky asked whether those whose applications have yet to be processed will be denied benefits - citing claims of a backlog of more than 300,000 cases, Trevelyan said: "I imagine that if they are in the system that they will then be processed".

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 U.K. They may even be subject to deportation.

Campaigners in the U.K. 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 U.K. 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 realize 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.