Accredited official statistics

How many people have been granted settlement via the EU Settlement Scheme?

Published 22 August 2024

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1. How many people have been granted settlement via the EU Settlement Scheme?

The EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) enables EU, other European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss citizens who were resident in the UK by the end of the transition period at 11pm on 31 December 2020, as well as their family members, to obtain permission to remain in the UK. Further information about the EUSS can be found on the GOV.UK EU Settlement Scheme webpage.

There have been 8.1 million EUSS applications made since the scheme was launched on 28 August 2018. These applications relate to 6.3 million people (some people will have multiple applications). Of these, 5.7 million people had obtained a grant of status through the scheme (3.9 million settled status and 1.8 million pre-settled status).

Figure 1: EU Settlement Scheme: Total and cumulative number of applications received and concluded by quarter since the start of the scheme

Source: Table EUSS_MON, EU Settlement Scheme summary tables , year ending June 2024.

Figure 1 shows the number of applications were high at the start of the scheme, particularly Q3 and Q4 (July to December) of 2019 averaging 308,772 applications per month. There were further peaks in Q4 (October to December) 2020, and Q2 (April to June) 2021 , averaging 284,805 and 248,387 applications respectively per month leading up to the deadline for individuals who were resident in the UK before the end of the EU exit transition period (11pm on 31 December 2020).

The deadline for most people to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme was 30 June 2021. Individuals who already have pre-settled status are still able to apply for settled status after the deadline. Applications post 30 June 2021 have continued at an average of over 56,000 per month, see section 2.1 below.

2. Applications concluded

This section relates to the number of applications concluded, not the number of people.

In some instances, individuals may have submitted multiple applications, for example, an initial application granting pre-settled status and a subsequent application to move to settled status. The statistics outlining the number of people with settled status and pre-settled status can be found in the Repeat applications section.

7.9 million applications had been concluded up to 30 June 2024, of which 50% (3.9 million) were granted settled status, 36% (2.8 million) were granted pre-settled status and 15% had other outcomes (including 711,976 refused applications, 205,421 withdrawn or void applications, and 234,121 invalid applications).

Of the refusals, 99% were refused on eligibility grounds (issues with the application, such as providing no evidence of residence) and less than one per cent were refused on suitability grounds (issues with the applicant, such as being subject to a deportation order). Full definitions of eligibility and suitability can be found in the EU Settlement Scheme caseworker guidance.

2.1 Applications made and concluded by type, post 30 June 2021

Of the 2 million applications received from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2024, 1.9 million had been concluded by 30 June 2024.

Of the 2 million applications received from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2024:

• 640,890 were late applications

• 868,140 applications were from repeat applicants (including those moving from pre-settled to settled status)

• 479,822 applications were from joining family members

• 13,577 applications were from derivative rights applicants (see section 4 for more information on these)

Romanian nationals accounted for a third (34%) of all applications received from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2024.

Of the 1.9 million applications concluded from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2024:

• 600,458 were from late applicants (with 37% granted status). The number of late applications peaked in Q4 2022 (72,908); but reduced to 20,243 in Q2 2024, which is just over a quarter of the numbers reported at the peak

• 813,237 were from repeat applicants (with 89% granted status)

• 441,161 were from joining family members (with 47% granted status)

• 13,250 were from derivative rights applicants (with 44% granted status)

The number of concluded repeat applications in Q2 2024 (100,327) is at the highest level since the scheme began. This reflects the increase in individuals moving from pre-settled to settled status. Many repeat applicants will be people initially granted pre-settled status who are subsequently applying for settled status and therefore the number of repeat applicants will to some extent reflect the number of people granted pre-settled status in earlier years.

Figure 2: EU Settlement Scheme: Concluded applications submitted after 30 June 2021, by type of application, 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2024

Source: Table EUSS_POST_30_JUNE, EU Settlement Scheme - summary tables, year ending June 2024

Applications concluded as invalid have increased since August 2023 following changes to the validity criteria. More information on the validity criteria is available in the Immigration Rules.

Of the 127,024 applications found to be invalid from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2024, 70,572 (56%) have been decided under the revised validity criteria, the large majority of which were late applications without reasonable grounds for delay. Table EUSS_POST_30_JUNE, EU Settlement Scheme summary tables, year ending June 2024.

3. Repeat applicants

Individuals who have made repeat applications to the EUSS are referred to as ‘Repeat applicants’ within this report. These include people moving from pre-settled to settled status, those granted pre-settled or settled status after another outcome and those to whom no status is granted (EU Settlement Scheme, table 4 EUSS_RA_01). Where this report references ‘people’, this refers to individual applicants, including ‘repeat applicants’ and those who have made only one application. More information on details of repeat applications is provided in EU Settlement Scheme section of the Immigration system statistics user guide.

There have been 1.5 million repeat applications since the scheme opened, meaning an estimated 6.3 million people have applied to the scheme since it began in 2018, of which 77% made one application. It is estimated that a total of 5.8 million EEA nationals and 505,000 non-EEA national applicants had applied to the scheme.

Of the repeat applicant cohort, as of 30 June 2024:

• 89% (1.3 million) had received a grant of status

Of which:

• 71% (916,960) had moved from pre-settled to settled status

• 10% (132,930) were granted settled status following another outcome

• 19% (239,940) were granted pre-settled status following another outcome

Additionally, 11% (159,480) had received an outcome of refused, invalid, void or withdrawn, and less than one per cent (2,040) were awaiting an outcome.

Figure 3: EU Settlement Scheme: Repeat applicants moving from pre-settled to settled status by month, 28 August 2018 to 30 June 2024

Source: Table EUSS_MON, EU Settlement Scheme summary tables, year ending June 2024

Figure 3 shows there has been an increase in the numbers moving from pre-settled to settled status since the scheme began, as more individuals with pre-settled status complete a continuous qualifying period of 5 years of residence in the UK. This period is not 5 years from the date they were granted pre-settled status; it also includes their continuous residence in the UK before obtaining pre-settled status.

Between Q4 2020 and Q4 2022, there was an average of 47,126 applicants per quarter moving from pre-settled to settled status. Numbers have increased since, with 83,060 applicants moving status in the latest quarter Q2 2024, a similar figure to the previous quarter.

Figures on repeat applicants by nationality can be found in data tables EUSS_RA_01 - EUSS_RA_04.

4. Applications based on a derivative right to reside

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 applicants can apply to the EUSS under one of the following routes:

• Chen
• Ibrahim and Teixeira
• Family Member of a British Citizen (Lounes and Surinder Singh)
• Zambrano

The Surinder Singh and Zambrano routes were generally closed to new applications at 11:59pm on 8 August 2023. More information on these routes and their eligibility requirements can be found in the EU Settlement Scheme caseworker guidance.

Table 1: EU Settlement Scheme: Derivative Right to Reside applications by route and outcome type, 28 August 2018 to 30 June 2024

	Chen	Family Member of a British citizen	Ibrahim/Teixeira	Zambrano
Applications received	2,461	14,613	519	15,381
Applications concluded	2,393	14,405	492	15,043
of which
Settled	676	5,555	212	1,468
Pre-settled	1,088	7,196	115	867
Refused	525	1,142	136	11,947
Withdrawn or Void	68	278	16	408
Invalid	36	234	13	353

Source: Table EUSS_DR_01, EU Settlement Scheme summary tables, year ending June 2024.

Notes

1. Lounes and Surinder Singh applications are recorded as Family Member of a British citizen in the statistics.

Table 1 shows that the number of refused Zambrano applications (11,947) accounted for 87% of total number of refusals for derivative rights applications (13,750).

5. Other related data

EU Settlement Scheme family permits were launched alongside the EU Settlement Scheme. The permits enable family members of EU, other EEA and Swiss citizens who were resident in the UK by 31 December 2020, to join them. Once here the family member can then apply to the EUSS to continue living in the UK.

There were 13,746 EUSS family permits granted in year ending June 2024, less than half of those granted in year ending June 2023 (28,240).

There has been a decline in the number of applications to the scheme since the peak of 86,571 applications in the year ending Q4 2021. The number of applications in the year ending Q2 2024 (34,523) represents a 60% reduction against the peak. Additionally, almost 60% of family permit applications were refused in the year ending Q2 2024, with 20,445 refusals. It is anticipated that both applications and grants of EU Settlement Scheme family permits will continue to decline, as an increasing number of eligible individuals have already obtained one.

Further information can be found in the Family section of the user guide.

6. About these statistics

The findings presented here are based on data collected from Home Office administrative systems. These systems hold records of individual applications received to the EU Settlement Scheme and their outcomes (settled or pre-settled status, and other outcomes). As these are sourced from live operational systems, numbers may change and may not precisely reflect other published statistics produced at a different point in time. The majority of applicants to the scheme are EEA nationals, but non-EEA nationals are also eligible to apply in some cases. Non-EEA nationals who have submitted an application to the scheme are included in these statistics.

Due to developments in underlying systems, the number of applications from ‘Joining family members’, ‘repeat applications’ and ‘late applications’ from August 2023 up to June 2024 have been revised in this release. More information on these changes can be found in the EU Settlement Scheme section of the Immigration system statistics user guide.

The EU Settlement Scheme statistics were designated as ‘Official Statistics’ from May 2022. For more information, please see the EU settlement scheme data quality section of the Immigration system statistics user guide. In line with other official statistics published in the Immigration system statistics, figures are as of the release of data to June 2024, unrounded. This excludes figures presented on repeat applications which are estimates and remain rounded. In addition, detailed data tables have been provided as part of this publication to enable a more granular view of the data.

Figures in this publication refer specifically to flows of applications made to the EU Settlement Scheme, including repeat applications as people transition from pre-settled to settled status. These figures cannot be directly compared with estimates of the resident population of EU/EEA nationals in the UK. Figures in this report include non-EEA national family members, eligible EEA nationals not resident in the UK and some who may have subsequently left the UK. These are not usually included in estimates of the resident EU/EEA population, or the census where they are not in the UK. More information can be found at ‘Note on the difference between ONS population estimates by nationality and Home Office EU Settlement Scheme statistics’. Furthermore, the population estimates do not take account of people’s migration intentions and will include people who have come to the UK for a range of purposes, including some who have no intention to settle in the UK.

6.1 Repeat applications

The data in this report account for the number of applications to the system, including individuals making applications on more than one occasion. An individual granted pre-settled status can make a new application at a later stage for settled status. As these are separate applications with separate outcomes, they are counted separately in the statistics. There are several case working systems used to administer applications to the scheme, with each application having a unique application number but not a single person identifier to distinguish repeat applicants.

Analysis using probabilistic data matching methods have been developed to better understand the number of repeat applicants to the scheme. This allows us to provide more accurate figures on the number of people who have applied to the EU Settlement Scheme overall, including their outcomes. More information regarding the methodology is provided in EU Settlement Scheme section of the Immigration system statistics user guide.

7. Data tables

Data on the EU Settlement Scheme for the period 28 August 2018 to 30 June 2024, is available in:

• EU Settlement Scheme - summary tables, year ending June 2024. Tables EUSS_01 to EUSS_04, EUSS_DR_01, EUSS_POST_30_JUNE, EUSS_RA_01 to EUSS_RA_04, EUSS_MON

• EU Settlement Scheme local authority - summary tables, year ending June 2024. EUSS_LA_01 to EUSS_LA_03

• EU Settlement Scheme - detailed tables, year ending June 2024. EUSS_D01 to EUSS_D03