EU citizens and Brexit: a Government guide

A toolkit for employers and their employees, as well as leaflets for employers to hand out, and posters, has been published by the UK Government. The toolkit, dated January 2019, deals with what will happen in the event that there is an agreed EU exit deal. EU citizens with five years’ residence as of 31 December 2020 will be able to apply for permanent settlement status. They will have until June 2121 to submit an application.

The Government’s latest policy document on EU citizens if the UK crashes out without a deal says: “To remove any ambiguity, the UK Government guarantees that EU citizens resident in the UK by 29 March 2019 will be able to stay and we will take the necessary steps to protect their rights even in an unlikely ‘no deal’ scenario”. There are no guarantees that there will be reciprocal agreements.

The toolkit is accompanied by the following:

• EU Settlement Scheme Briefing Information: communicating the facts to your employees
• Leaflet 1: important Information for EU citizens in the UK
• Leaflet 2: EU Settlement Scheme Application
• Leaflet 3: Glossary
• Factsheet : EU Settlement Scheme application
• Three information posters
• Social media link

All of these can be accessed via this link.