Around 3m EU citizens 'face legal limbo' after Brexit

Around 3m EU citizens will face a “legal limbo” and risk losing free movement, housing and social security rights after Brexit revealed a parliamentary report from parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights.

Home Office legislation, called the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination bill, that will be introduced to regulate immigration following Brexit could affect millions of EU citizens already living in the UK despite government reassurances that their privileges will be protected.

The JCHR also cautions that Irish nationals’ rights, guaranteed by separate common travel area agreements, would be “diminished”.

To prevent EU citizens from being exposed to uncertainty, the committee has drafted amendments to the Home Office bill to ensure protection is guaranteed.

The committee said it fears EU citizens will miss the registration deadline because of difficulties accessing the scheme and their rights should not depend on a bureaucratic time limit.

"Although the government has said that it is not its intention to strip EU Citizens resident in the UK of their rights, that is the effect of this Bill as it stands," the committee said. "It is not right to leave those individuals in a rights limbo, subject to a subsequent negotiation."

The Labour MP Harriet Harman, who chairs the JCHR, said: “When it comes to rights, promising that everything will be worked out in the future is not good enough, it must be a guarantee, which is why the committee have reinserted rights guarantees back into the wording of the bill.”

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "The Government has already committed to protecting the rights of the millions of EU citizens living in the UK.

"We want them to stay and, whatever the outcome of the ongoing discussions about our exit from the EU, we will protect their rights and ensure they get the UK immigration status they need."