Other European nationals
Contents:
Who does this page apply to?
The law about the rights of EEA nationals to live, work and claim access to housing, benefits and other services changed on 1 January 2021 when the Brexit transition period ended. You have the rights described on this page only if:
- you are a citizen of an EEA member state other than Ireland
- you are not the family member of a British citizen
- you do not qualify as a EEA worker or self-employed person
- you applied to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) on or before 30 June 2021 or you made a late application which has been accepted, and
- either:
- you have been granted EU pre-settled status; or
- you are waiting for a decision about your EUSS application.
If all of these apply, this page describes your rights to housing and benefits until you get EU settled status or your EUSS application is decided.
In other cases, you can find out if you are entitled to housing and benefits on other pages, as follows:.
- if you are an Irish citizen, or the family member of a British citizen, see: British and Irish citizens
- if you are a worker or self-employed person see: EEA workers
- if you have been granted EU settled status see: people with indefinite leave
- if you entered the UK for the first time after 31 December 2020 see people with limited leave or people with indefinite leave, according to the type of leave you were given or
- if you failed to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme before 1 July 2021, you may have lost your right to live and work in the UK and may be an overstayer: see people who are destitute.
Who are 'other European nationals'?
If you are a person to whom this page applies (see section above) you may have the right to access housing and benefits if:
- you are a student, or
- you are living here off your own resources (self-sufficient), or
- you are the parent of an EEA child in education here and you or another parent has worked in the UK, or
- you are a long-term resident who has acquired a permanent right of residence.
If you have worked in the UK for at least 12 months but are registered unemployed or are temporarily out of work or unable to work due to illness or accident you might still have been treated as an EEA worker.
What documents might you be asked for?
To qualify for housing or benefits you will need to show evidence of:
- your EU pre-settled status – you can do this with either your eVisa by applying for a share code or, provided it hasn’t expired your biometric residence card, or
- if you applied to the EU Settlement Scheme but you have not yet received a decision, your certificate of application and evidence of your nationality (passport, national residence card).
You will also need to show evidence of your status as a student, as self-sufficient, as having long-term residence or of being parent of an EEA worker’s child in education. There is no specific set of documents that do this and your status as student etc, is simply a matter of fact.
After five years as a resident, you will normally have qualified for a permanent right of residence, and you could have your residence permit endorsed to show this. If you qualified, you had the right to reside even if you do not have a permit to prove it.
What are your rights to housing and benefits?
In each case the rules below only apply to if you have EU pre-settled status, or you applied to the EU settlement scheme, but you have not yet received a decision.
All EEA nationals
You can apply for accommodation direct from a housing association or from a private landlord.
If you are a student
You can apply for housing, assistance if you are homeless and for universal credit/housing benefit, but you will only get them if:
- you are habitually resident in the British Isles or Republic of Ireland
- you fit the definition of an EEA student
- your circumstances have changed since you started the course and signed the declaration that you could support yourself
- you fit the general qualifications for the benefit or service: most students cannot claim universal credit/housing benefit, for example, and you cannot get help as homeless if you have a home in another country.
To qualify as an EEA student, however, you must have comprehensive sickness insurance.
You must also have signed a declaration that you were able to support yourself. So if you later need to claim benefits or apply for help as homeless, you may need to show how it is that your circumstances have changed since then. This is not necessary if you are just applying to go onto the council waiting list.
If you are a self-sufficient person
If you are self-sufficient provided you are also habitually resident in the British Isles or Republic of Ireland you can get universal credit (UC) or housing benefit (HB), apply for housing or get homelessness assistance.
You can apply for housing once you are habitually resident. But in most cases if you apply for homelessness assistance or UC/HB you are told that you are no longer self-sufficient and therefore not entitled to help.
However, in the case of claims for UC or HB the guidance suggests that if you have lived in the UK for some time and have never claimed before, the fact that you have previously been self-sufficient should be a factor in deciding whether you are an 'unreasonable burden,' as should the length of time you are likely to be claiming.
Similarly, with homelessness assistance: this should not be refused if the homelessness has occurred as a real emergency (a fire, for example, or domestic violence). The council may, however, limit its help to providing temporary accommodation and advice about finding your own housing.
If you are the parent of an EEA child in education
If you are the parent of an EEA child in education and at least one parent of that child has been an EEA worker in the UK when the child was in the UK, you are eligible for a housing allocation and homelessness assistance, and for universal credit/housing benefit if you are habitually resident (which as the parent of a child settled in a UK school you probably will be).
If you have a permanent right of residence
You are eligible for housing allocation, housing benefit and homelessness assistance as long as you are habitually resident in the British Isles or Republic of Ireland.
If you got your permanent right to reside as a result of working and are no longer working, or as a result of being the family member of someone who has stopped working or has died, then you do not need to be habitually resident to be eligible for a housing allocation, universal credit/housing benefit and homelessness assistance.
