Possibility of Applying for Pre-Settlement if Moving to the UK after 2020

Hello all,

I recently received my EUSS Family Permit to join my wife in Scotland. It is valid from late November to late May. The plan is for me to apply for Pre-Settlement status once I arrive in the UK. However, I am still finalizing some things in Germany (Master's Studies, Moving things from Flat) and it does not seem likely that I can move to the UK until February/March of 2021.

I am wondering if I will still be allowed to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme if I am not in the UK by December 2020. My wife being from the France already has Pre-Settled status (it is how I got the family permit), but I am wondering if I too have to be in the UK before the end of the year.

Since we are in December already, I am pretty worried about this situation. I'm really grateful for my Family Permit, and it would be awful if I had any issues because of my arrival date.

Any help with this would be highly appreciated!

Welcome to the forum .

This is what the UK government website says about applying for pre-settled status:

If you’re overseas and a family member of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen living in the UK
The deadline for you to join your family member in the UK is 31 December 2020 (or 31 December 2025 if your partner is Swiss and you get married or form a civil partnership after 31 December 2020).

If you’re not living in the UK by the deadline, you’ll still be able to apply if all of the following are true:

- your family member has either settled or pre-settled status
- your relationship began before 31 December 2020
- you remain a close family member, for example a spouse, civil partner, unmarried partner, a dependent child or grandchild, or a dependent parent or grandparent

https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/not-EU-EEA-Swiss-citizen

Thanks a lot for your reply! 

The conditions luckily apply to me, so it will be fine to apply for pre-settled status once I arrive in the UK. That is very good news. Thanks for taking the time for helping me with this!