The staggering 7.4m applications to settle in Brexit Britain under the EU’s scheme

Is this why the Home Office doesn’t have time to solve the boat migrant crisis?

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

Brexit Facts4EU's exclusive report today blows apart the benefits to the UK of “EU Free Movement”

The Brexit Facts4EU.Org think-tank has conducted an exhaustive analysis of the latest UK Home Office figures for EU nationals taking advantage of the UK’s very generous “EU Settlement Scheme”. We reveal just how much EU citizens have benefited from ‘Free Movement’, compared to UK citizens.

In Part I of our two-part report below we show the enormous numbers of EU citizens who have taken advantage of Theresa May’s open borders agreement with the EU and the number of EU family members who have now added to the numbers. In Part II we will reveal the paltry number of UK citizens who applied to enjoy the same rights in the EU.

A Brexit Facts4EU.Org Series

Part I – The 7.4m EU migrant applications to live in Brexit Britain (This report)
Part II – The very small number of Brits who went to live in the EU

The EU Commission might hate Brexit Britain, but its citizens clearly love it

Despite the vitriol poured onto the United Kingdom by EU Commissioners and other officials since the British people voted to leave their empire, it seems that EU citizens have voted with their feet in enormous numbers, and have chosen to live in the UK.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Total number of applications under the ‘EU Settlement Scheme’ to live in the UK

Romania : 1,538,980
Poland : 1,208,030
Italy : 641,390
Portugal : 491,080
Bulgaria : 434,080
Spain : 421,130
Lithuania : 299,300
France : 258,310
Germany : 181,740
Hungary : 178,190
Netherlands : 160,090
Greece : 159,100
Slovakia : 155,750
Latvia : 154,650
Sweden : 112,820
Czech Republic : 85,360
Belgium : 50,370
Cyprus : 33,890
Denmark : 33,220
Austria : 27,240
Finland : 24,570
Ireland : 17,150
Estonia : 16,250
Croatia : 15,330
Malta : 8,940
Slovenia : 5,900
Luxembourg : 2,050
Other nationalities : 685,810
GRAND TOTAL : 7,400,720

[Source: Latest UK Home Office official data, released 24 Aug 2023.]

These numbers are astonishing

Some of these numbers are simply breath-taking. Over 1.2 million applications from Poles. Even more astonishing are the more than 1.5 million applications from Romanians.

Romania only joined the EU in 2007. Its population is now down to 19 million, which would imply that over 7% - principally its young men - emigrated to the UK the moment they could.

By 2016 there was a crime epidemic in London by organised Romanian gangs. According to the National Crime Agency this is a continuing problem.

Since the deadline passed 2 years ago, the Home Office has processed an extra 0.5m

Late applications : 505,330

[Source : The Home Office, 21 Oct 2023.]

Can any reader imagine the French authorities allowing British people to file their applications to stay in France, two years after the deadline passed? They would have been laughed out of their local Préfecture.

In France the deadline was 30 June 2021. (Every EU country had different rules.) Applicants had to make an appointment at the Préfecture, provide a large number of documents, be fully finger-printed, and then wait six months to receive their official documentation. If applicants missed this deadline then applications were only accepted if the person concerned could prove they were incapacitated or had been unable to return to France from abroad due to Covid restrictions.

In the UK, however, the Home Office has simply ignored the deadline and continued to accept applications for pre-settled and settled status. This is still going on.

The ticking time-bomb of ‘Family Reunification’

Brexit Facts4EU.Org has long pointed out that for every migrant accepted into the UK – either from the EU, or Africa, or wherever - this person will have family back home. In time, a significant proportion will then apply to come to the UK for ‘family reunification’, which is something granted under UN and EU rules.

We are now starting to see the data on this – at least in relation to the EU Settlement Scheme.

In our listing below, ‘Derivative Rights’ applicants are applicants who did not qualify for a right of residence under the Free Movement Directive but “may have had a right to reside in the UK before the end of the transition period derived from other EU law.”

‘Derivative Rights’ : 11,360
Joining family members : 340,640
TOTAL : 352,000

[Source: Latest UK Home Office official data, released 24 Aug 2023.]

That’s more than a third of a million extra migrants, so far.

We have shown the number of applications, not the number approved

It is important to note that in our figures above we have shown the number of applications received by the Home Office, not the total numbers approved. The reason is because we wanted to show the sheer workload of the Home Office in adhering to the demands of the EU Withdrawal Agreement.

This must have affected the ability of staff to process all the other migrants flooding in.

Readers may also wonder about the 685,000 applications from non-EU nationals under the EU Settlement Scheme. This is because the scheme also covered those living in the EU who were not EU nationals but who had some form of right to reside there. This was all agreed by Theresa May when she was PM.

Observations

We invite readers to pause for a moment and consider the practicalities that lie behind the official data we have summarised above.

The UK Home Office has processed 7.4 MILLION applications under the EU Settlement Scheme. This is a phenomenal number to have dealt with since 2020. Each application had to be handled individually and the logistics involved are mind-boggling.

Meanwhile, outside this EU scheme, a massive backlog of UK asylum applications has built up from applicants coming from many other countries. Is it any wonder?

Regular readers know we have been fiercely critical of the top tier of civil servants. In the case above, however, we should pay tribute to the Home Office staff below them who have been forced to cope with a massive workload in a short period of time. It looks to us that they have done the job they were asked to do admirably, even if we have major reservations about the directives they were given.

In Part II we will publish our analysis of ‘the other side of the coin’ : How many Brits wanted to live in the EU following Brexit? (Spoiler alert: We doubt many readers will be too surprised but the numbers are starkly minimal by comparison with all those who applied for settled status in Brexit Britain.)

We must get reports like this out there

Reports like the one above take far longer to research, write and produce than many people realise. If they were easy, readers would see other organisations also producing these daily. However, there’s little point in the Facts4EU.Org team working long hours, seven days-a-week, if we lack the resources to promote them effectively – to the public, to MPs, and to the media. This is where you come in, dear reader.

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[ Sources: UK Home Office | EU Commission ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Oct 2023

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Reader Comments 6

1. Stephen Jenner , Sunday, October 22, 2023, 07:46:

One telling statistic is that in the early 1900's, the overall cost of government as a percentage of GDP was in the region of 8-10%.
I believe that this figure is now closer to 70%.
Jesu Christo.... Ye gods... etc. etc..

2. terence patrick hewett , Sunday, October 22, 2023, 10:24:

The government cannot solve the boat crisis because they are part of a class to whom presentation is the point of politics: it was Brussels that did stuff. Now we are out of the EU, doing stuff has them stumped. Clearing these parasites out will entail determination, legislation and the services of a good private sector hatchet man, who will set up parallel depts and kick the difficult into long-term arbitration. Nothing will be done until this parasite class are out of Westminster irrespective of political genus.

3. KB , Sunday, October 22, 2023, 11:15:

Once again I have to say this. We are told by the ONS that we shouldn't equate the number of EU settlement applications granted to the number that are living here.
The census seems to show that number is about half of the settlement applications granted.
So what is the real truth here ?

4. LuxuryBalloon , Sunday, October 22, 2023, 17:16:

I reckon there were at least another 3 mln EU citizens who thought about applying for settled status … on top of the 7.4mln who did apply.

5. Diane , Monday, October 23, 2023, 09:31:

KB - Indeed, what is the true situation. I'd like to think that settled status might signify a majority living full time with settled work and the paying of taxes in this country. I seem to recall a report a short while back that of the 7.4m, the majority had now been "concluded". I suppose we tend to forget these huge numbers our authorities have had to deal with when we criticise the situation of the many, many thousands of illegals & asylum seekers still in the pipeline awaiting processing & decisions as to their eligibility.

6. Perplexium Maximus , Monday, October 23, 2023, 13:38:

With Poland about to eclipse the UK economically, we can expect many more Polish to return. Why would they stay if the economy is all they came for? Brexiteers & 'think-tanks' ought to be plastering on billboards the benefits of the EU instead of scaring their citizens from going back. Unless, of course, the primary interest is not to send anyone back, just to score political points & raise funds to lobby for private interests.
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1. Would you mind telling us where you got that telling statistic? In exchange, I can give you a link to a statistic that shows that a lot of that is due to the triple-lock & health spending..Under austerity plus Covid, these have increased while the bulk of other spending was reduced. Would you like that link?
2.The only way to apply for asylum per the current government policy is to turn up on our shores - so people are turning up on our shores. That & the Brexit benefit of no longer having to be a part of the Dublin Regulation is largely why the government can't solve this.
3. A lot of those who applied did so at a time when travel back home was restricted by Covid. Many, especially the qualified, seem to have returned as we saw with medical staff, logistics personnel, etc

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