- The Guardian Sat urday 31 Aug ust 2019
12
Alarm as EU
citizens denied
settled status
by Home Offi ce
“absolute certainty for the right to live
and remain” and said: “I repeat une-
quivocally our guarantee to the 3.
million EU nationals now living and
working among us.”
But since the scheme began the
proportion of people being granted
pre-settled status rather than settled
status – and therefore fi nding them-
selves in a more precarious position,
without the guaranteed permanent
right to remain – has risen from 32%
during the testing phase up to 34% in
the month after the national launch in
March, and to 42% in July.
The cause of the jump is unclear.Some applicants may have pressed
the wrong button during the online
application process, inadvertently
accepting the less secure status.
Campaigners have also questioned
whether the system is designed to
favour awarding pre-settled status
in complex cases, so the Home Offi ce
can avoid having to refuse any appli-
cations at a politically sensitive time.
In the past week a number of long-
term UK residents have gone public
with their concerns that they have
been wrongly given pre-settled sta-
tus. Among them was the chef Richard
Bertinet, who has lived in the UK since
1998 and said he felt “betrayed”. Mean-
while the pro-Brexit conservative MEP Continued from page 1National
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