Pre-Settled Status to Settled Status: EU Settlement Scheme

Settled status gives you the right to live in the UK permanently. You can usually apply for British citizenship once you have had settled status for 12 months. Under the Immigration Rules, pre-settled status is five years' limited leave to enter or remain (rule EU3 of Appendix EU) and settled status is indefinite leave to enter or remain (rule EU2).

You are given either settled status, usually where you have lived in the UK for a continuous 5-year period, or pre-settled status. You are not asked to choose which you are applying for, and which one you get usually depends on how long you have been living in the UK when you apply.

With settled or pre-settled status you can:

• ✓Yes: Work in the UK
• ✓Yes: Use the NHS for free, if you can at the moment
• ✓Yes: Enrol in education or study in the UK
• ✓Yes: Access public funds such as benefits and pensions, if you are eligible for them
• ✓Yes: Travel in and out of the UK

You can also have the right to live in the UK permanently with pre-settled status, without having applied for settled status, if you can provide evidence that you are from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and started living in the UK by 31 December 2020 (or are their family member) and have spent 5 years in the UK working (or looking for work for up to 3 months), studying or self-sufficient. Getting settled status makes it easier to prove that right.

Before your pre-settled status is due to expire, the Home Office extends it by 5 years and sends you an email telling you when this happens. After that, it may be automatically converted to settled status. You get an email if the Home Office is considering this, then another to let you know whether you have been converted.

In January 2025 the Home Office introduced a process to convert eligible pre-settled status holders to settled status automatically where possible, without a valid application having been made. It can access travel information and uses your National Insurance number to check records of your tax or certain benefits to see whether you meet the continuous residence requirements.

You can apply for settled status as soon as you are eligible instead of waiting to be moved automatically. This means applying again to the EU Settlement Scheme and proving you meet the requirements, and it is free to apply. Do not apply if you have had an email saying you are being considered for conversion.

You must have 5 years' continuous residence, and you may be eligible to convert to settled status as long as you have not been outside the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for more than either of these:

• ✓Yes: 30 months (2.5 years) in the last 5 years
• ✓Yes: 6 months in any 12-month period within any 5-year period

Some absences of more than 6 months in a 12-month period do not count as a break in your continuous residence:

• ✓Yes: One period of up to 12 months for an important reason, such as childbirth, serious illness, study, vocational training or an overseas work posting
• ✓Yes: Compulsory military service of any length
• ✓Yes: Time spent abroad as a Crown servant, or as the family member of a Crown servant
• ✓Yes: Time spent abroad in the armed forces, or as the family member of someone in the armed forces working in the UK marine area

To apply for settled status you need to give the Home Office these. You can use the same types of evidence you used to apply for pre-settled status.

• Proof of your identity
• Evidence of your continuous residence
• Evidence of your relationship to a family member, if your pre-settled status was based on that relationship

If you arrived in the UK by 31 December 2020 you can give your National Insurance number to allow an automated check of your residence based on tax and certain benefit records, and the Home Office can also access travel information. If the check shows you have been here for 5 years in a row, you will not need to provide any documents as proof of residence.

If your identity document or personal details have changed since you applied for pre-settled status you must update your UKVI account, because you cannot update your identity document in the 'EU Exit: ID Document Check' app. Our guide to the UKVI account explains how to check, create and update one.

If your application is valid you get a certificate of application. If it is successful you get a decision letter by email or post and an eVisa, and you cannot use the letter itself to prove your status. Our eVisa guide explains how to view your status and get a share code.

You can make an appeal to an independent tribunal if your application is refused. You can start from GOV.UK's EU Settlement Scheme guide.

If you have settled status you can spend up to 5 years in a row outside the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man without losing your status. If you have pre-settled status you lose it automatically if you spend more than 5 years in a row outside them.

Your family members do not have to be Swiss citizens for the 4 year limit on settled status to apply to them.

Home Office caseworker guidance says that where a person granted limited leave under Appendix EU who was resident in the UK by the end of the transition period has been absent for more than 5 consecutive years (more than 4 for Swiss citizens and their family members), whatever the reason, that limited leave will have lapsed, and a biometric residence card is no longer valid even if it is within its expiry date.

With either status you can travel in and out of the UK. You do not need an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to travel to the UK if you have permission to live, work or study in the UK, including settled or pre-settled status. You can travel with your eVisa after you add your passport or travel document details.

You cannot use your biometric residence card (BRC) to travel from the UK to another country, and you will need to apply for a visa if the country you are travelling to requires one.

Our guides to proving your immigration status and the right to work share code explain how to get and use a share code.

If you lose your settled or pre-settled status you will usually need to apply for a visa to live and work in the UK, even if your biometric residence card has not expired. You can reapply to the EU Settlement Scheme if you are eligible as a family member of someone from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein.

Rule A3.3 of Annex 3 to Appendix EU says that limited leave granted under the Appendix may be cancelled on or before the person's arrival in the UK where the Secretary of State or an Immigration Officer is satisfied that it is proportionate to cancel that leave and the person ceases to meet, or never met, the requirements of the Appendix.

Your rights in the UK are not protected unless you have applied to the EU Settlement Scheme and received a certificate of application. The deadline for most people to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme was 30 June 2021, but you can still apply if the deadline for you is after 30 June 2021 or you have 'reasonable grounds' for why you are applying now.

Without an application and a certificate of application you cannot do the following.

• ✗No: Access benefits and services (including free NHS healthcare)
• ✗No: Work or study in the UK
• ✗No: Rent a property in England

The deadline does not apply if you already have pre-settled status and are applying for settled status.

Appendix EU of the Immigration Rules sets out the basis on which an EEA citizen and their family members, and the family members of a qualifying British citizen, will, if they apply under it, be granted leave to enter or remain. You might also be able to apply if you are the family member of an eligible person of Northern Ireland.

You can chat to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) using webchat, or phone 0300 123 7379 from inside the UK, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays) 8am to 8pm and Saturday and Sunday 9:30am to 4:30pm. GOV.UK explains call charges.