Fact-checking the Government’s EU Settlement Scheme ‘Mythbuster’.

the3million on the UK Government’s EU Settlement Scheme ‘myths’ purely made up and ‘truths’ blatantly misleading.

So, the UK Permanent Representation to the EU has put together an EU Settlement Scheme ‘Mythbuster’.  Some ‘myths’ purely made up some ‘truths’ blatantly misleading. Let’s look in detail...

Fact-Check #1.

To claim that Pre-Settled Status does not mean less security and lesser rights is incorrect. See our comparison. For example, it can be lost more easily and same access to benefits is subject to change.

Fact-Check #2.

No one claimed that Pre-Settled Status is incompatible with EU law. This is a totally made up myth. What people claim is that Pre-Settled Status does not match the Prime Minister’s unfulfilled referendum pledge of automatic indefinite leave to remain.

Fact-Check #3.

Here the UK Permanent Representation to the EU is using crafty language. Fact is that EU citizens have unwittingly received the lesser Pre-settled Status despite being entitled to full Settled Status. The correct rights should not hinge on an ‘option’. It should simply be a given.

Fact-Check #4.

Again a totally made up ‘Myth’. No one claims that most EU citizens end up with the incorrect status. Simply, some do unwittingly. And neither us nor the Government knows as they don’t ask applicants at the beginning of the process.

Moreover, UK Permanent Representation to the EU claims that the percentage of those receiving lesser Pre-Settled Status are in line with the ONS (internal) assumptions.

The Migration Observatory estimates – also based on the ONS – are very different. Busting a ‘Myth’ with unpublished internal analysis is not busting a myth. Publish it!

Fact-Check #5.

There are two issues with the claim of one refusal over 1.5 million applications:

Currently there is a 189,000-application backlog. We know some EU citizens have been waiting for weeks for a decision. How many refusals are hidden within the backlog? We don’t know.

Also questionable is whether providing a status – but the incorrect one – should not, in fact, be counted as a refusal – i.e. of the correct status EU citizens are entitled to...

Fact-Check #6.

And the last ‘Truth’ is completely misleading.

An automatic status for EU citizens would give EU citizens a status now. Combined with registration, it would give a document to prove their rights.

How an application system that would leave those who fail to apply without both a legal status AND document in 2021 can be better than a registration system that might leave EU citizens simply without documents but WITH a status is completely incomprehensible to us.🔷

Read more on how an automatic status with registration will work and how it would honour the Prime Minister’s referendum pledge: https://the3million.org.uk/automatic-rights

[This piece was first published as a Twitter thread and turned into the above article on 23 September 2019, with the author’s consent, with the purpose of reaching a larger audience. It has been minorly edited and corrected. | The author of the tweets writes in a personal capacity.]

(Cover: Dreamstime/Marchmeena.)