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### Important information
### Your status
Your pre-settled status is now valid until 15/03/2026.
You can apply for settled status as soon as you qualify for it. This is likely to be before the new expiry of your pre-settled status.
This status has been extended in accordance with the EU exit separation agreements following a High Court judgment which found that residence rights under these agreements are not lost for failure to make a second application to the EU Settlement Scheme. For EU citizens, and those applying as the family members of EU citizens, the relevant agreement is the Withdrawal Agreement. For EEA EFTA citizens, and those applying as the family members of EEA EFTA citizens, it is the EEA EFTA Separation Agreement. For Swiss citizens, and those applying as the family members of Swiss citizens, it is the Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement.
### Maintaining your pre-settled status
You must continue to meet the eligibility requirements for pre-settled status. More information on eligibility requirements can be found at:
http://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/eligibility. The main eligibility requirement for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens is to maintain their continuity of residence in the UK. You can find out more about what continuous residence here:
https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/what-settled-and-presettled-status-means. Family members generally need to maintain their continuity of residence and their relevant family relationship.
Please note that we may cancel this extension if we believe you no longer meet the eligibility requirements for it. In addition, we may cancel your status if we believe it was fraudulently obtained, if you have committed a serious criminal offence or participated in a marriage or partnership of convenience.
### Applying for settled status
You can apply for settled status for free as soon as you qualify for it at
https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/switch-from-presettled-status-to-settled-status. Here, you can follow the instructions on GOV.UK to start, and then prove your identity, however you will need to ensure that you are using the same identity document that is registered to your account.
If the identity document you want to use differs to that registered to your account you will first need to use the ‘Update my details’ service to change your identity document on your account here:
https://www.gov.uk/update-uk-visas-immigration-account-details.
If you wish to apply for settled status, you will generally need to demonstrate that you have been continuously resident in the UK for at least five years.
Time outside the UK does not here include time spent in the Islands (the Bailiwick of Guernsey, the Bailiwick of Jersey or the Isle of Man).
Continuity of residence is not broken by a temporary absence or absences from the UK of up to six months in any 12-month period; or by a single absence of up to 12 consecutive months for an important reason, such as pregnancy, childbirth, serious illness, study, vocational training or an overseas work posting; or by an absence of any length due to compulsory military service or on Crown Service. Absences that exceed these permitted absences may not break continuity of residence if they were due to COVID-19
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-eu-settlement-scheme-guidance-for-applicants.
In most cases, if you are the family member of someone from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, you must also prove your family member’s pre-settled or settled status. More information about who can apply as a family member, including other types of family relationship, can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/join-EU-EEA-Swiss-family-member.
There are some circumstances in which you may be able to qualify for settled status before building up five years’ continuous residence. You can find further information at:
https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/settled-status-less-than-5-years.
If you are not eligible for settled status because you have you not continued to meet the scheme’s eligibility conditions, you will keep your pre-settled status for now, but we may consider cancelling it.
Having settled status is the best way to prove your right to live in the UK indefinitely. However, in accordance with the EU exit separation agreements, you may acquire a right to reside permanently in the UK without making a further application to the scheme, if you were living in the UK by 31 December 2020 and have spent five years here as a:
- job seeker;
- worker;
- self-employed person;
- self-sufficient person; or
- student
If you are a family member you may acquire a permanent right to reside after five years residence in the UK with a qualified EEA citizen on that basis.
If you wish to rely on this acquired right of permanent residence you will need to provide evidence that you have met the relevant criteria at the time you seek to rely on the right.
### Evidencing your status
This letter is not proof of your status in the UK and cannot be used to prove your status with employers, landlords, or other organisations.
You can view your immigration status online, via the ‘view and prove your immigration status’ service:
https://www.gov.uk/view-prove-immigration-status. This online service provides a secure record of your immigration status which is held digitally by the Home Office and which is available to you at all times.
Employers, landlords or other organisations may need to check your immigration status to see if you are allowed to work, rent property or access services. The online view and prove service can be used to share your immigration status information with third parties.
If you need help accessing your status through the online status service assistance is available through our Resolution Centre on 0300 123 7379, or +44(0)203 080 0010 if you are outside the UK. Calls made to this number from within the UK may cost up to 10p a minute from landline telephones and between 3p and 40p a minute from mobile telephones depending on your provider.
To access your online status you will need the number of the identity document you used in your application – therefore please make a note of this number for future reference.
You must ensure that you update your online status with any new details of all valid travel documents (such as new passports or national identity cards) that you hold and intend to use for travel, to avoid any unnecessary delays at the border. You can do this online by going to
https://www.gov.uk/view-prove-immigration-status. You must also update your contact details, including your email address, if any of your personal contact details have changed. You can do this online by going to
https://www.gov.uk/update-uk-visas-immigration-account-details or by contacting the Resolution Centre.
You can also use this service to update your sign in details and passport, identity card or travel document details so that you can continue to access your immigration status information online.
### Work and access to benefits and services
You can continue to:
- work in the UK
- use the NHS
- study in the UK
- access public funds such as benefits and pensions, if you are eligible for them
- travel in and out of the UK
As a person with pre-settled status, you may engage in business or an occupation, or be self-employed, as long as you comply with any legal requirements for that activity. You do not need permission from a Government department to take or change employment, but you will still need to prove your right to work in the UK to employers.
You do not need permission to study.
You are entitled to NHS healthcare if you are ordinarily resident in the UK. In this context ordinarily resident means living in the UK on a lawful, voluntary and properly settled basis for the time being.
As a person with pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, your eligibility for any UK benefits and services depends on whether you meet the relevant eligibility requirements for the specific benefit or service (including any residence or presence conditions). Pre-settled status does not provide in itself a basis for entitlement to benefits and services under UK law.
You must demonstrate your pre-settled status when applying for benefits and services and to show your eligibility to work and (in England) rent when applying for a new job or entering into a tenancy agreement.
There is no requirement to demonstrate a right to rent where the property is in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
You can use the online status service now to evidence your right to work with employers or your eligibility to access benefits and services. You are also able to use the online status service to evidence your right to rent in England to landlords and letting agents.
The online status service is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/view-prove-immigration-status. You will be guided through a step by step process to view your status and then, should you wish to, share it with someone else by generating a ‘share code’ to give to them. The person you are sharing your status with will also need your date of birth.
More information about how to use the service is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/view-and-prove-your-immigration-status-evisa.
### Travelling
If you are an EEA citizen, when you come back into the UK after travelling abroad, you should join the queue for EEA citizens and present your valid passport or national identity card.
If you are a third-country national, when travelling internationally you must carry your valid biometric residence card (BRC) as well as your valid passport.
You must ensure that you update your online status with any new details of all valid travel documents (such as new passports or national identity cards) that you hold and intend to use for travel, to avoid any unnecessary delays at the border. You can do this online by going to
https://www.gov.uk/view-prove-immigration-status. You must also update your contact details, including your email address, if any of your personal contact details have changed. You can do this online by going to
https://www.gov.uk/update-uk-visas-immigration-account-details or by contacting the Resolution Centre.
If you are a third country national and your biometric residence card is expired, lost or stolen, you need to apply to replace your card before you travel abroad:
https://www.gov.uk/uk-residence-card/replace. If you are outside the UK when your biometric residence card needs replacing, you need to apply for an EU Settlement Scheme travel permit to travel to the UK:
https://www.gov.uk/euss-travel-permit .
### Family members
As a person with pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, your family members may be able to join or remain with you in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme. You can find further information about this at:
https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/eligibility.
Or you may be able to sponsor a family visa for them – you can find further information about this at:
https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa.
### Removal from the UK
Where a person who is not a British citizen commits a serious criminal offence, consideration will be given to whether they should be permitted to continue living in the UK.
### Data Protection
The Data Protection Act 2018 governs how we use personal data. For details of how we will use your personal information and who we may share it with, please see our Privacy Notice for the Border, Immigration and Citizenship system at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-information-use-in-borders-immigration-and-citizenship.
This also explains your key rights under the Act, how you can access your personal information and how to complain if you have concerns.
### Further Information
For further information or if you have any queries, our contact details are on our website:
https://www.gov.uk/contact-ukvi-inside-outside-uk.
