Family members of British citizens who were living in the EU by 1 February 2020

This page is for new arrivals. If you are a housing adviser please click here for information more relevant to you.

A British citizen who never left the UK does not have any 'extra' rights arising from their being a former citizen of the EU. But a British citizen who was living in another EEA member state with their family members before 1 February 2020 could bring them back to live here using the same EEA family member rights they would have had if they accompanied an EEA national instead of a British citizen. Those rights were called ‘Surinder Singh’ rights after the case that established them.

The family members of a British citizen with ‘Surinder Singh’ rights could apply to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) to continue living in the UK after 31 December 2020 (the end of the Brexit transition period). However, the conditions and deadlines are somewhat different from other EUSS applications:

• the British citizen they accompany must have lived in the EU country at any point up to and including 31 January 2020 and have returned to live in the UK before 1 January 2021 and:
• either:
  • they (the family member) must have arrived in the UK and applied to the EUSS on or before the 29 March 2022, or
  • they (the family member) must have arrived in the UK on or before 31 December 2020 and applied to the EUSS on or before 30 June 2021.

But in either case, a late application to the EUSS could be accepted if there was good cause and it was made on or before 8 August 2023.

The later deadline (29 March 2022) applies if they are related to the UK national in one of these ways:

• they are the husband, wife, civil partner or unmarried partner of the UK national and the relationship started before 1 February 2020 and that relationship continues at the date of the application; or
• they are a child, aged under 21, of the UK national (or of the UK national’s husband, wife, or civil partner if the marriage or partnership was entered into before 1 February 2020 or after that date if they were in a durable relationship before the marriage or partnership); or
• they are a dependent parent or grandparent of the UK national (or of the UK’s national’s husband, wife, or civil partner if the marriage or partnership was entered into before 1 February 2020 or after that date if they were in a durable relationship before the marriage or partnership) and if all family relationships continue to exist at the date of the application.

The earlier deadline (31 December 2020/30 June 2021) applies if they are related to the UK national in one of these ways:

• they are the husband, wife, or civil partner or unmarried partner of the UK national and the marriage or partnership was entered into, or the relationship started, between 1 February 2020 and 31 December 2020 and that relationship continues at the date of the application; or
• they are a child, aged under 21, of the UK national’s husband, wife or civil partner (where the marriage or civil partnership was entered into between 1 February 2020 and 31 December 2020); or
• they are a dependent parent or grandparent of the UK national’s husband, wife or civil partner (where the marriage or civil partnership was entered into between 1 February 2020 and 31 December 2020), and were a dependent parent or grandparent on 1 February 2020 and continue to be that person’s dependent parent or grandparent; or
• they are a dependent child, parent or grandparent of the UK national, or of the UK national’s husband, wife or civil partner (where the marriage or partnership was contracted on or before 31 December 2020) and their dependent relationship to the UK national (or his or her husband, wife or civil partner) existed before they returned to the UK with the UK national, or before 31 December 2020, and the dependency continues to exist at the date of the application.