IMA marks fourth year in operation

Your rights are protected by the EU Withdrawal Agreement or the EEA EFTA Separation Agreement and include:

• your right to live and work in the UK and Gibraltar
• your right to have qualifications you gained in an EU or EEA EFTA country recognised in the UK and Gibraltar
• your right to access housing, healthcare, education and benefits
• your right to be treated equally

If your rights have not been honoured and you have faced problems because your rights have not been recognised, please let us know. We cannot investigate every complaint we receive or offer personal redress. However, the information we receive through complaints helps us to identify wider systemic issues which we can address through our other statutory powers.

You can register and report a breach of your rights through our complaints portal. If you are unable to report your complaint using our online portal, you are able to do so by post or telephone.

If you would like to complain in a language other than English, we have recently published links to our postal complaint form which has been translated into many EU languages on our website. They can be accessed here.

We are currently reviewing our complaints portal with the aim of making it easier for citizens to use. We will keep you updated once changes have been made.

These changes are part of wider work we will be undertaking in 2025 to improve accessibility for all citizens afforded rights under the Withdrawal Agreement. We will continue to identify additional materials to be translated with a view of improving knowledge about the rights of citizens. All our translated materials can be found here.

Our annual survey, open to EU and EEA EFTA citizens living in the UK or Gibraltar, will be launched in the coming months. Our aim is to hear from a diverse range of citizens to find out more about the lived experience of European citizens. We are exploring ways in which we will be able to make the survey as easy as possible to complete and submit information.

This year we have taken action in a number of different ways to ensure the rights of citizens, and their family members, are being upheld by public bodies. This has included:

• Engaging with citizens across the UK and Gibraltar to better understand the issues affecting citizens. This included hosting drop-in events for citizens in Gibraltar and Northern Ireland (NI) and refreshing our citizens’ panel which has been running since 2021. Members give us feedback on our activity and share their experiences to help us shape our work.
• Writing to the Home Office seeking clarification after receiving information that citizens who hold a valid Certificate of Application (CoA) are having issues at the UK border, including being denied entry to the UK or are subject to removal directions.
• Calling for a resolution on a landmark judicial review judgment against the UK Home Office relating to the implementation of parts of the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS).
• Securing a new Practice Note in Scotland which came into force on 1 December 2024. This means that when a party initiates or defends court proceedings which raise an issue relating to citizens’ rights, we should be notified. This will help us better understand the experience of citizens in Scotland and where they may not be able to fully access their rights.
• Assuring ourselves that the rights of future generations of citizens living in the UK are being protected. As part of this work, we completed our initial review into English Local Authorities for Looked After Children. We also examined how Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland are protecting the rights of looked after children and care leavers. All our published reports can be found here.
• Issuing a reminder to citizens with status under the EUSS about how they can spend time outside the UK without it affecting their status.
• Issuing reminders to EU citizens of what to expect at the UK border – this was following further reports of difficulties at the UK border.

Information on all of our work can be found on our website.

The start of the new year will see a new Chair at the IMA after the appointment of Nicole Lappin was confirmed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor on December 20^th. Nicole will take up her appointment from January 1^st, 2025.

Miranda Biddle, IMA Chief Executive said: “It’s really important to us that EU and EEA EFTA citizens and their family members who believe their rights are not being upheld contact us.

“When the IMA launched four years ago it was with a clear intent to do all we can to make sure the lives of citizens and their family members living here and in Gibraltar, raising their families, working, studying and receiving support could continue as normal after Brexit.

“We are always keen to hear from citizens and stakeholders about any issues they might be facing so that we can continue to work with public bodies where we can to ensure we can bring swift resolution to any issues so that citizens receive those rights to which they are entitled with as little inconvenience and interruption as possible.

“We look forward to continuing to work with public bodies and our stakeholders to ensure that citizens and their family members can continue to exercise their rights as well as welcoming our new Chair, Nicole Lappin in 2025.”