EU Settlement Scheme - Changes To The Rules On Late Applications

The Home Office has again amended the rules and guidance on late applications made under the European Union Settlement Scheme. The new rules impose a far more restrictive regime than the previous guidance.

Initially all applications under the EU Settlement Scheme were to be made by the 30 June 2021 deadline, subject to the Withdrawal Agreement, with scope to make late applications accompanied by sufficiently reasonable grounds as to why the application was not made in a timely manner.

The Home Office demonstrated a generous understanding of the potential reasons that caused an applicant to fail to apply within deadline such as, in relation to children whose parents or local authority guardians were unaware of the deadline, ill health due to medical conditions that prevented an application or where a person was in an abusive relationship including those victims of trafficking or modern slavery. There was also a catch-all compassionate clause that invoked lack of