EU citizen registration starts amid uncertainty, stress
(VOVWORLD) - Millions of EU citizens living in Britain can now register for settled status after Brexit but a research group warned that many could still be left out in the cold and some EU nationals are attending support groups to cope with the stress.
Britain’s interior ministry on Monday began the first public testing of the registration system for all EU citizens who hold a valid passport and any non-EU citizen family members who hold a valid biometric residence card. Research group British Future said the scheme could harm vulnerable groups such as the elderly and people with limited English or computer skills, and warned of a new Windrush scandal unless the government addressed its shortcomings.
Britain is home to about 3.5 million EU nationals and many of those will need to apply for inclusion on a new “settled status” register before July 2021 if they want to stay.