Accredited official statistics

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

Published 28 November 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 before the end of the post-EU exit 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 8.2 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 currently hold a grant of status through the scheme (4.0 million settled status and 1.7 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 September 2024.

Figure 1 shows the number of applications were high at the start of the scheme, particularly Q3 and Q4 2019 with 952,985 and 899,650 applications per quarter respectively. There were further peaks in Q4 2020 which coincides with the end of the EU exit transition period (11pm on 31 December 2020) with 854,326 applications, and Q2 2021 leading up to the deadline for most people to apply to the EUSS with 745,163 applications.

Since the deadline of 30 June 2021, the number of applications submitted each quarter to the scheme has sharply declined. In the latest quarter, Q3 2024, there were 156,614 applications, a 79% reduction compared to the 745,163 applications submitted at the Q2 2021 deadline. However, the number of applications post-deadline has remained stable in the subsequent quarters, averaging 166,666 applications per quarter.

The deadline for most people to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme was 30 June 2021, However, 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 55,555 per month, 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.

As of 30 September 2024, 8.0 million applications had been concluded, of which 50% (4.0 million) were granted settled status, 35% (2.8 million) were granted pre-settled status and 15% had other outcomes (including 734,869 refused applications, 212,778 withdrawn or void applications, and 247,348 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 1% 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

A total of 2.2 million applications had been received post June 2021 deadline up to 30 September 2024, of which 2.0 million had been concluded by 30 September 2024.

Of the 2.2 million applications received from 1 July 2021 to 30 September 2024:

• there were 662,555 late applications

• 973,980 applications were from repeat applicants (including those moving from pre-settled to settled status)

• 508,055 applications were from joining family members

• 13,939 applications were from derivative rights applicants (see section 4 for more information on these)

There has been a significant shift in the composition of application types submitted after the 30 June 2021 EU Settlement Scheme deadline. As of September 2024, repeat applications represent the largest proportion of applications increasing from 34% in the year ending September 2022 to 63% by September 2024. In contrast, late applications have decreased from 38% to just 17% over the same period. This shift is driven by the increasing number of applicants eligible to transition from pre-settled to settled status.

Of the 2.0 million applications concluded from 1 July 2021 to 30 September 2024:

• 621,210 were from late applicants (with 37% granted status). The number of late applications concluded peaked in Q4 2022 (72,906); but reduced to 20,813 in Q3 2024, which is just over a quarter of the numbers reported at the peak

• 905,884 were from repeat applicants (with 89% granted status)

• 465,792 were from joining family members (with 46% granted status)

• 13,602 were from derivative rights applicants (with 46% granted status)

The number of concluded repeat applications in Q3 2024 (92,659) remains close to the peak level recorded in Q2 2024 (100,362). Many repeat applicants will be people initially granted pre-settled status who are subsequently applying for settled status. Therefore, the number of repeat applicants will to some extent reflect the number of people granted pre-settled status in earlier years. An individual may receive a grant of settled status, having previously held pre-settled status, after completing a continuous qualifying period of five years residence in the UK. This period includes their continuous residence in the UK before obtaining pre-settled status.

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

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

The number of applications concluded as invalid has risen since August 2023, following updates to the validity criteria. More information on the validity criteria is available in the Immigration Rules.

Of the 140,307 applications found to be invalid from 1 July 2021 to 30 September 2024, 79,674 (57%) have been decided under the revised validity criteria, of which a majority of these were late applications without reasonable grounds for delay.

3. Repeat applicants

Individuals 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 are referred to as ‘Repeat applicants’ within this report. Where figures are provided on the status of individuals these are for the latest outcomes. Where this report references ‘people’, this refers to individuals, including ‘repeat applicants’ and those who have made only one application, rather than the separate application. More information on details of repeat applications is provided in EU Settlement Scheme section of the Immigration system statistics user guide.

An estimated 6.3 million people have applied to the scheme since it began in 2018, of which 75% (4.8 million) made one application and 25% (1.5 million) made at least one repeat application. It is estimated that a total of 5.8 million EEA nationals and 511,500 non-EEA national applicants had applied to the scheme.

EEA and non-EEA nationals are eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme as family members of someone from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, or Liechtenstein, if both arrived in the UK by 31 December 2020. Those arriving after this date, or yet to arrive, can also apply if their EU, EEA or Swiss close family member was living in the UK by 31 December 2020 and has settled or pre-settled status and if the family relationship existed by 31 December 2020 (unless a child has been born or adopted since then) and continues to exist at the date of application. See GOV.UK EU Settlement Scheme.

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

• 89% (1.4 million) had received a grant of status

Of which:

• 64% (995,090) had moved from pre-settled to settled status

• 9% (135,350) were granted settled status following another outcome

• 16% (252,900) were granted pre-settled status following another outcome

Additionally, 11% (164,230) had received an outcome of refused, invalid, void or withdrawn, and less than 1% (2,170) 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 September 2024

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

Figure 3 shows since the scheme began there has been an increase in the numbers of individuals moving from pre-settled to settled status, this is as more individuals with pre-settled status are completing the qualifying period of five years residence in the UK.

Figures on repeat applicants by nationality can be found in summary 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 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 September 2024

	Chen	Family member of a British citizen	Ibrahim/Teixeira	Zambrano
Applications received	2,500	14,903	520	15,414
Applications concluded	2,433	14,683	495	15,080
of which:
Settled	704	5,786	215	1,497
Pre-settled	1,089	7,231	115	879
Refused	534	1,139	136	11,937
Withdrawn or void	67	280	16	409
Invalid	39	247	13	358

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

Notes:

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

2. Table 1 shows that the number of refused Zambrano applications (11,937) accounted for 87% of total number of refusals for derivative rights applications (13,746).

5. Other related data

There were 14,477 EUSS family permits granted in the year ending 30 September 2024, around two-thirds of the number granted in the year ending 30 September 2023.

EU Settlement Scheme family permits were launched alongside the EU Settlement Scheme. The permit enables certain family members of EU, other EEA and Swiss citizens who were resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 and have status under the EUSS, to join them in the UK. Once here, the family member can then apply to the EUSS to continue living in the UK. Further information can be found in the Family section of the user guide.

Applications for EUSS family permits have shown a steady decline in recent years, decreasing consistently from a peak of 117,035 in the year ending September 2021 to 30,535 by year ending September 2024. The fall in applications is closely reflected in the corresponding drop in grants, which peaked at 54,973 (year ending December 2021) and have since steadily decreased to 14,477 in the year ending September 2024.

Since its launch, a total of 139,636 EUSS permits have been granted, with the highest numbers issued to nationals from India (27,815), Pakistan (27,428), and Bangladesh (10,584) - all non-EU countries.

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. Most applicants to the scheme are EEA nationals, but non-EEA nationals are also eligible to apply to apply in some cases. Non-EEA nationals who have applied to the scheme are included in these statistics.

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 September 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 September 2024, is available in:

• EU Settlement Scheme - summary tables, year ending September 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 September 2024. EUSS_LA_01 to EUSS_LA_03

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