EUSS Application for Child Dependent

Table Of Contents:

1. What is the EUSS Application
2. What is the EUSS Child Dependent Application
3. Eligibility
4. Required Documents as Proof
5. Possible Scenarios
6. Summary

The EUSS (EU Settlement Scheme) was introduced as part of the UK’s post-Brexit immigration reforms. The scheme aims to safeguard the lawful status of EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens, along with their family members such as spouses, civil partners, dependent children, and dependent parents, to allow them to continue living in the UK. Under the EUSS, the main applicant and their family members, including EUSS child dependents, can apply for pre-settled or settled status.

The deadline to apply for EUSS was June 30, 2021. However, those who did not apply by the initial deadline (June 30, 2021) will need to provide reasonable grounds for the delay.

What is the EUSS Application?

The EUSS (EU Settlement Scheme) permitted EU, EEA, and Swiss nationals who were resident in the UK by the end of the post-Brexit transition period at 11:00 p.m. GMT on 31 December 2020, and their family members (including those from non-EU countries) to apply for UK immigration status (pre-settled status or settled status). They required one of these immigration statuses to continue to remain in the UK after 30 June 2021 – the last day to apply for EUSS.

Family members of someone from the EU, EEA, or Switzerland who were resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 and have got settled or pre-settled status applying from outside the UK need to first apply for an EUSS family permit to enter the UK, after which they can apply for settled or pre-settled status under the EUSS.

However, family members who started living in the UK by 31 December 2020 can directly apply for EUSS.

What is the EUSS Child Dependent Application?

Family members of qualifying EU, EEA, and Swiss nationals include dependent children. This means children of the qualifying nationals who were in the UK by 31 December and have pre-settled or settled status in the UK can apply for an EUSS child dependent application.

Eligibility

Your child may be eligible for pre-settled or settled status under the EU settlement scheme if they are:

• Under 21, or they were under 21 when they received pre-settled status, and they now want to switch to settled status
• From the EU, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, or Liechtenstein – or you, or your married or civil partner, are

Although the deadline for most applicants was 30 June 2021, if you were residing in the UK by 31 December 2020, you may still apply for your child, or your child can apply for themselves.

You must apply for your child within 90 days of your child being born or adopted on or after 1 April 2021 in the UK or your child’s first date of arrival in the UK after 31 December 2020.

Your child, who was born in the UK but is not a British citizen, will still need to apply for EUSS child dependent.

Required Documents as Proof

You will need the following documents as proof of:

• Your child’s identity, such as a passport
• Your relationship with the child
• Your pre-settled or settled status, or you being an Irish citizen, an eligible British citizen, or an eligible person of Northern Ireland who is exempt from immigration control.
• The time of your child’s birth or adoption – for example, their birth certificate or an adoption order
• The time when your child started living in the UK, if they started living in the UK by 31 December 2020
• Your child’s continuous residence in the UK

If your child began living in the UK by 31 December 2020, you’ll need to submit evidence that shows they were in the country in the last 6 months of 2020.

Possible Scenarios

There will be different approaches for your child’s EUSS child dependent application depending on whether you applied to the EUSS or not, you are an Irish citizen, you’re an Irish citizen and your child is not a British citizen, your Child does not have 5 years’ Continuous Residence, or you were the primary carer.

1. If You Have Applied to the EUSS (EU Settlement Scheme)

If you have already applied to the EUSS, then at the time you are applying for your child, you can ‘link’ their application to yours. This means that if your own application for EUSS is successful, your child will also usually get the same status as you.

You can apply for your child under the EUSS child dependent any time after making your own application. You do not have to wait for a decision.

If your child is eligible for settled status but you have pre-settled status, they will not get the same status as you.

2. If You Have not applied to the EUSS (EU Settlement Scheme)

If, despite being eligible for the EUSS, you did not apply by the deadline, you may still be able to apply. However, in such a situation, you’ll need to show reasonable grounds for which you are applying now and could not before the application’s deadline or in the time since the deadline passed.

If your child is eligible for the scheme but you’re not, you can still apply for them. For example, if your child lives in the UK and you do not.

3. If you’re an Irish Citizen

If you’re an Irish citizen and you were residing in the UK by 31 December 2020, you do not need to apply for settled or pre-settled status, but you can choose to do so.

If you apply for settled or pre-settled status, your children will also need to make their own application unless they have:

• Irish citizenship
• British citizenship
• Dual British and Irish citizenship

4. If you’re an Irish citizen and your child is not a British citizen

In such a scenario, your child will be eligible for either:

• The same status that you could get, on the basis of how long you’ve lived in the UK
• Pre-settled or settled status, based on their own residence

The same thing also applies if you’re from Northern Ireland and have British, Irish, or dual British and Irish citizenship, but your child does not have British, Irish, or dual citizenship.

5. If Your Child does not have 5 years’ Continuous Residence

If at the time of your child applying for EUSS child dependent does not have 5 years’ continuous residence, they’ll usually get pre-settled status.

If you’ve already been granted settled status by the Home Office, your child will be granted it too.

You can apply to change your child’s pre-settled status to settled status once they’ve completed 5 years’ continuous residence in the UK or the Home Office has granted you the settled status.

6. If you were the Primary Carer

You and your child can also apply for the EU settlement Scheme if by 31 December 2020 you were the primary carer of:

• A child of someone from the EU, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, or Liechtenstein who used to live and work in the UK. In this scenario, the child must be in education in the UK.
• A self-sufficient child from the EU, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, or Liechtenstein

How you apply for an EUSS child dependent is different for each of these criteria.

Summary

EUSS child dependent gives the opportunity to the children (even if they are from non-EU countries) of EU, EEA, and Swiss nationals who were residing in the UK by 31 December 2020 and have pre-settled or settled status to apply for one of these two statuses to live in the UK. If your child is applying from outside the UK, they first need to apply for an EUSS family permit to enter the UK, after which they could apply for pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

If your child had already lived in the UK for five years or more by the deadline, they were granted settled status, while if they had lived continuously in the UK for less than five years by the deadline, they were granted pre-settled status. They can transfer to settled status once they have met the five-year residency requirement.

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