16:21 18 January 2020
Over half a million Poles apply for settled status in UK
With Britain scheduled to leave the European Union on January 31, more than 500,000 Polish citizens living in the United Kingdom have applied for “settled status” to enable them to remain in the country after the Brexit transition period ends, the British Home Office announced on Thursday.
Statistics show that at the end of December 2019, 2.8 million EU citizens had applied for settled status, of whom 2.5 million had already received it.
The applications submitted by Poles constituted about 19 percent of all applications, making the eastern Europeans the largest national group among settled status claimants.
In order to claim settled status, which enables EU citizens and their families to remain in the UK after it leaves the EU, it is necessary to prove identity, show that the claimant lives in the UK and declare any convictions.
EU citizens have until June 30, 2021, to submit an application.
Statistics show that a little over 900,000 Polish citizens are living in the UK.
Brexit is the impending withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. In a referendum in June 2016, a majority of British voters supported leaving the EU. If all goes according to plan, the UK will be out of the EU by February 2020.
