Brexit: '6,000' EU citizens in Wales yet to apply for settled status

Up to 6,000 EU citizens in Wales, including elderly and homeless people, have yet to apply to stay in the UK after Brexit, a charity has said.

Newport Mind has called on people who work with EU nationals to refer them to schemes funded to help.

The deadline for applications is 30 June 2021, six months after the end of the Brexit transition period.

The Home Office said £17m had been spent on support and it encouraged anyone eligible to apply.

More than 74,000 people in Wales applied for the scheme by the end of November, although applications fell to about 2,000 per month between April and August amid the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Tim Fox, a Newport Mind project worker in Wrexham, said: "It's quite difficult to say in terms of exactly who is left, but there are quite a lot of vulnerable groups who we expect probably still need to make applications."

Mr Fox said the pandemic made it "significantly harder" to get support for some people and has delayed the completion of applications.

Tiago Petinga, 32, who is originally from Portugal but has lived in Wrexham for 16 years, has successfully applied for settled status for himself, his partner and his eldest daughter.

But his youngest daughter, one-year-old Mirasol, is yet to apply because they have not been able to retrieve her documents from the Portuguese consulate during the pandemic.

"She was just born last January, and a few months after that all this started with Covid," he said.

"We have to go to Manchester to get her documents and you can't go from Wales to [England] as if it were a normal thing."

Other vulnerable groups who may need help to apply include disabled people, elderly people, people who have left care and the homeless, Mr Fox said.

Rhys Gwilym-Taylor, from homelessness charity Crisis, said the scheme should be extended beyond the June deadline.

"It's really, really difficult for people to claim and to get access to the evidence needed to make the an application," he added.

"We know from our services, that in some case people have waited more than a year for that evidence and we're six, seven months away from that deadline. So it's really challenging.

"We would welcome an extension to the deadline but our view is that there needs to be a permanent exemption for people with experience of homelessness, to recognise how difficult it is for people who have lost that information and evidence to make a successful claim."

The Home Office said people who have "reasonable grounds" for missing the application deadline will have further opportunity to apply, with more guidance to be published this year.

A spokesman said: "We are pleased that more than 4.1 million people have been granted status so far and would encourage anyone eligible to apply while there is still time.

"We have extensive support measures in place to ensure that nobody gets left behind. Up to £17m has been made available to 72 charities and local authorities across the UK to support vulnerable and hard to reach applicants, including rough sleepers and the homeless."

The Welsh Government said a co-ordination group brought together organisations providing advice and support to EU citizens.

"We post regularly on our official social media channels to highlight the need to apply to the scheme and provide Covid-safe support, working on a local level with the most vulnerable and seldom heard groups," a spokesman said.