Over 35,000 Applications For Settled Status In Wandsworth

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More applying in the borough than Edinburgh, Leeds or Bristol

February 18, 2020

35,000 Europeans have already applied for settled status in Wandsworth, according to the latest statistics released by the Home Office.

The number applying in the borough is more than in Edinburgh, Leeds or Bristol. There are an estimated 41,000 affected residents in the borough.

Of those who have already applied, 7,030 were Italians, 4,300 were Spaniards and 3,620 were Poles.

Residents from the continent, excluding Irish citizens, need to have secured Settled Status in the UK by 30 June 2021.

At that point, the UK will have cut ties to the European Union’s Single Market, which will mean EU residents will start needing visas to live and work here.

At last week’s full council meeting, Wandsworth leader Ravi Govindia said the council had reached out to 23,000 EU nationals who made Wandsworth their home and had supported residents and council staff with ID checks free of charge.

He said: “From the very beginning of 2017 we decided that we needed to reassure these people, those who made Wandsworth their home, who are our neighbours, our friends, those who have contributed to our economy, that they should be helped to make their immigration status certain.”

He added 4,500 people had been helped through the council’s programme with Citizen’s Advice Wandsworth since 2017, and the borough had pledged to continue to offer support.

In January, the council increased funding for the service using some of the Brexit preparedness funding provided by central government.

This will be used to allow Citizen’s Advice Wandsworth to double its staffing and provide more one-to-one casework and support targeted outreach of hard-to-reach and vulnerable EU nationals.

In Richmond, 11,750 EU citizens out of an estimated 20,000 have made their application for Settled Status.

After 30 June 2021 EU citizens who do not have Settled Status may experience difficulties using the NHS, renting a property or applying for a job, according to the Citizens Advice Bureau’s website.

In total across the UK, there were 2,597,320 applications received from EU nationals, 18,940 received from other EEA and Swiss nationals and 138,270 received from eligible non-EEA nationals. The nationalities with the highest number of applications received were:

• Polish (512,310)
• Romanian (435,690)
• Italian (290,990)
• Portuguese (231,130

There were 386,570 applications received from children under 18, over 2.3 million applications from those aged 18 to 64 and 59,100 applications from those aged 65 and above (14%, 84% and 2% respectively). Northern Ireland had a noticeably higher proportion (17%) of applications from applicants under 18 compared to the rest of the UK

Residents with Irish citizenship do not have to apply for Settled Status to stay in the UK, because both countries are part of the Common Travel Area.

The passing of “Brexit Day” on Friday February 1 heralded the so-called “Transition Period”, which lasts until December 31, 2020.

Over 2.4 million (2,450,220) applications had been concluded up to 31 December 2019. Of the concluded outcomes, 58% (1,430,820) were granted settled status, 41% (1,003,160) were granted presettled status and 1% had other outcomes (including 12,950 withdrawn or void applications, 3,280 invalid applications and six applications refused on suitability grounds).

For more information about applying for Settled Status, click here.

Sian Bayley - Local Democracy Reporter