The Comites of London in collaboration with us and with the charity Settled organized a webinar dedicated to family reunification within the EU Settlement Scheme, with free participation.
The speakers were Cesare Ardito (Settled EUSS Legal Advisor and chairman of the communication commission of the Comites of Manchester), Veronica Bortolato (Settled EUSS legal advisor) and Manuela Travaglini (solicitor, consultant to the Embassy on Brexit and citizens' rights). The meeting was moderated by Elena Remigi (Comites London councilor).
The meeting started with an overview of the EUSS joining family members scheme, talking about who is entitled to obtain it, how to apply in the various cases, what evidence to attach to the application, and what to do in case of refusal. Ardito spoke of EEA citizens with a biometric document (or non-EEA with BRCs), and Bortolato focused instead on non-EEA citizens, or EEA citizens with paper documents. Subsequently, the lawyer Travaglini further investigated some particular aspects: applications for minor children, applications for durable partners (unmarried partners), and the evidence to be presented to prove dependence on one's sponsor for financial or health reasons.
After that, the speakers answered questions received by Comites in London via email in the previous weeks regarding various topics.
In real time, Cristina Tegolo (Settled Service coordinator and chair of the Brexit commission of the Comites of Manchester) offered useful information in written form and links to obtain more information.
Here you can download the slides used during the event in Italian or in English:
Below, you can watch the complete recording of the webinar. For questions relating to your personal situation regarding family reunification, please contact Settled directly. For any other questions, feel free to contact us!
Update (July 24, 2022): Compared to what was stated during the webinar, Home Office confirmed that the guidelines for durable partners (couples that were not married nor in a civil union on December 31, 2020) can also apply to relationships that began after December 31, 2018, as long as they were already stable on December 31, 2020.
Below you can find Settled's press release on the subject:
Update (November 18th, 2024): compared to what was stated during the webinar, Home Office has changed the interpretation of the guidelines, requiring greater caution for those who find themselves applying for family reunification having previously visited the UK as a tourist.
Here is the press release from the charity Settled on the subject:
There’s a recent change to the rules for Joining Family Members (JFM) applying under the EU Settlement Scheme. Now, all JFM applications must be submitted within 3 months of the very FIRST visit to the UK after 31 December 2020. This new rule, stated in the guidance, applies whether you’re making the application from inside or outside the UK.
If the joining family member visited the UK as a tourist after 31/12/2020 and did not plan to stay, they will need to explain this clearly. Home Office might reach out by email to ask why the JFM is applying late.
For this reason, if the JFM visited UK prior their current application (and after 31/12/2020) it’s very important to prepare a letter with:
The dates of any previous UK visits,
A statement confirming these visits were for short stays, such as tourism or family visits, and that there was no intention to settle at that time.
The change in circumstances that can explain the reasonable ground of the current “late” application.
Please be aware: Late applications are not straightforward. Under these new rules JFM may become a Late Application. If the Home Office doesn’t find the reason for the delay acceptable, they may reject the application.
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