If a valid application was made within the appropriate timescale then there should be no enforcement action until a determination has been made. What, however, is the legal status of someone who missed the deadline? The rule is that an EU citizen who is found to have missed the Settlement Scheme deadline may be given 28 more days to apply. The guidance says:
“From 1st July 2021, where a person without a status under the EU Settlement Scheme is discovered by an Immigration Enforcement officer (or referred to them, for example, by a Local Authority), the officer will provide them with a written notice giving the opportunity to make a valid application within 28 days of that date.”
The existence of a grace period has been widely reported after the Home Office put out a press release about it but this guidance has been in force now for several months.
During this grace period, “no immigration enforcement action will normally be taken”. The guidance is not so clear on what will happen if the person does not make an application within the further 28 days, however. By default, it is anticipated that the normal immigration enforcement processed — transfer to a detention centre and, ultimately, removal from the United Kingdom — will kick in at that stage.
Scarsdale Greater Manchester Immigration Solicitors
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