The United Kingdom has approved 400,000 Portuguese residency applications

SAs of December 31, 436,650 applications had been received by Portuguese citizens, according to the British Home Office.

Of the 419,910 applications processed, 236,580 were granted permanent status and 158,370 temporary status, but 24,850 were rejected, invalid or invalid.

Permanent status (‘Settled Status’) is granted after five consecutive years of residency in the country, but short-term holders receive temporary status (‘pre-immigration status’) until the required time expires.

The report also points out that 43,710 Portuguese applications were repeated for recognition or for the transition from temporary to permanent.

Of the repeated Portuguese applications, 2,510 were rejected and 390 are awaiting a response.

Kuba Zaplonowski, an academic analyst, said it was difficult to understand the actual number of people in the EU’s citizen registration system. [EU Settlement Scheme, EUSS] Because the process is done.

“Since the Home Ministry does not assign a unique identifier to candidates, the analysis of candidate numbers should be based on probability methods and go through various registered laws. And this system is becoming more and more complicated,” he said. Lusa Agency ..

Japlonowski, who works on the EUSS project for the University of Exeter, raised the issue in October 2019, and said, “It may have been fixed. [porque] The system had some re-applications, but now it’s too late “.

Another problem is that “no one is keeping track of how many people with EUSS status are still in the UK” as many have left the country in the meantime.

The EUSS was opened in 2019 following the UK’s exit from the EU to guarantee residency status to EU citizens, Iceland, Switzerland, Norway and Liechtenstein and their close family members from third countries.

In total, the British Home Office has received nearly 6.4 million applications so far, of which 333,200 were 328,000 unfinished after the June 30 deadline.

The UK Government accepts applications as long as there are “reasonable grounds” for the delay, promising a “practical and flexible” approach.

Without proof of status or application certificate, European immigrants or their family members lose their right to stay, work and access health, education and community support services in the UK.

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