Brandon Lewis says people who do not apply before 2021 may be removed from UK.

The security minister, Brandon Lewis, has threatened EU citizens with deportation from the UK if they do not apply for settled status after Brexit.

Home Office figures show a million of the estimated 3 million EU citizens in the UK have yet to apply for settled status, which will allow them to stay in the UK.

In an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt, Lewis said these people risked being deported if they failed to apply by the end of 2020. “If EU citizens have not registered by then without an adequate justification, the immigration rules will apply,” Lewis said.

Asked whether those who did not apply in the next 14 months would face deportation even if they fulfilled all legal conditions for a residence permit, Lewis said: “Theoretically yes. We will apply the rules.”

Campaigners said the comments suggested the government was planning to renege on a promise to EU citizens.

The3million, a group representing EU citizens living in Britain, said it was the first time the government had confirmed what would happen to those who did not apply for settled status.

Source: The Guardian, 10th October 2019 – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/10/eu-nationals-lacking-settled-status-could-be-deported-minister-says