UK Government Acts to Discourage EU Citizens

That the Parliament understands that, on 15 May 2020, the UK Government Home Office updated its guidance on naturalisation as a British citizen by discretion; further understands that the new guidance determines that now “grant of settled status (also known as indefinite leave to enter or remain) will not confirm that they were here lawfully under the EEA Regulations during that time, as defined by the British Nationality Act 1981 as this is not a requirement of the EU Settlement Scheme”; believes that Home Office staff are given discretion to “request further information from the applicant to demonstrate this” for those who hold Indefinite Leave to Remain via Settled Status and “must” request it from applicants who hold Pre-settled Status; notes with concern the instruction that “where appropriate”, they “must also be satisfied that the person was lawfully in the UK, with comprehensive sickness insurance (CSI)” during periods when they were studying or self-sufficient, a requirement that it understands is not part of the Settled Status nor the Pre-Settled Status application process; denounces that the new policy will, it understands, be applied retrospectively to all current outstanding applications with, it considers, the UK Government effectively moving the goalposts; believes that what it views as an unnecessary and unreasonable requirement was surreptitiously introduced to discourage EU nationals from applying for and obtaining the same basic rights as UK citizens, including both active and passive voting rights in UK Parliament elections and any other elections or referenda under the UK Parliament franchise, and urges the UK Government to reverse what it sees as this damaging policy with immediate effect and to offer refunds of the £1,330 application fee, the £19.20 biometric data fee and the £50 Life in the UK Test fees, and to compensate any legal costs incurred in the process by those who would not have applied if they had, at the time of their application, been asked to provide evidence of CSI.