Criminal Convictions and EU Settled Scheme

EU Settled Scheme is a new system to confirm immigration status for European citizens residing in the United Kingdom. All Europeans living in the UK are required to obtain new status in order to legally reside in the country after Brexit.

It is very likely that most applications will be approved and applicants will receive either permanent immigration status or temporary status. However, under certain circumstances, the application might be refused. One of the most common reason for refusal is criminal record of the applicant.

All applications will be checked against British and European databases for criminal records. Such checks can reveal recently committed crimes and historical offenses committed in any EU country.

EU citizens may be refused on their application and be deported in the following cases:

∙ The applicant has served prison sentence in last five years;

∙ The applicant was imprisoned for twelve months (or more) no matter how long ago it was;

∙ If the applicant has received three or more convictions (with or without imprisonment) in the past three years (applies only to applicants who have lived in the UK for less than five years);

∙ The applicant has been charged and convicted of serious deception, such as a sham marriage or assistance to illegal immigrants.

The final decision on deportation can be made only after the Home Office staff thoroughly assesses the case, taking into account individual circumstances of the applicant, for example, the length of residence in the United Kingdom, family ties in the UK, etc.

In fact, Appendix EU states that if applicant has convictions, the status might be denied only if deportation order is issued. This means that the decision on the application will not be made until the case is transferred to the Immigration Enforcement Service. Thereafter, a decision is made whether to carry out the deportation procedure. Most likely, in practice, the decision on an application for immigration status will be postponed, possibly for a long time, while the case of deportation is being considered. Issuing deportation order is a complex and time consuming procedure. If it is approved, the initial application for the EU Settled Scheme will be rejected. It is yet unclear how the Home Office will act in such cases: whether the applicants will have the right to appeal, whether they will be notified in advance before of the deportation or whether they will be detained until the deportation order is issued.