Date Legislation considered: 7 August 2026
Date Legislation in force: 30 July 2026 – for the purposes of the changes considered in this report
Potential Right(s) Affected: Residence
What does the legislation do?
The Immigration Rules are statements by the Secretary of State as to how she will exercise her power to regulate immigration.
The Statement of Changes make several changes to the Immigration Rules, not all of which are relevant to the EU Settlement Scheme (“EUSS”). This report only considers those key changes that fall within the remit of the IMA.
The detailed rules for the EUSS are contained in Appendix EU.
The EUSS enables EU, EEA EFTA and Swiss citizens living in the UK by the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, and their relevant family members, to obtain UK immigration status (either pre-settled status or settled status) to live in the UK.
Appendix EU (Family Permit) mainly governs applications by relevant family members who wish to travel to the UK to join an EU, EEA EFTA or Swiss citizen with EUSS status. The detailed rules are contained in Appendix EU (Family Permit).
Of relevance to the work of the IMA is:
Appendix EU (Family Permit)
Change to the EUSS travel permit requirements
An EUSS travel permit enables an EUSS status holder to travel to the UK where they are currently unable to update their UK Visas and Immigration account, e.g. with details of a new passport, from outside the UK.
Provision is made in HC 259 to remove the requirement for an applicant for an EUSS travel permit to provide fingerprint biometrics.
This change is made by the amending of the definition of ‘required biometrics’ in the Definitions section of Appendix EU (Family Permit).
As explained in the Explanatory Memorandum to the SoC, “this aligns the requirements, as far as is operationally possible, with those applicable to an EUSS status holder updating their UKVI account in country.”
Appendix EU
Deadline clarification for family members of a qualifying British citizen
The change made to Appendix EU confirms that where the pre-settled status of a family member of a qualifying British citizen has been varied to another form of immigration permission, they can still apply for settled status under the EUSS at any point prior to that permission expiring, or later if they have reasonable grounds for the delay.
This change is made by amending the Definitions section in Appendix EU by adding to the definition of ‘required date’.
The changes made by the Statement of Changes are summarised in the Explanatory Memorandum presented to the UK Parliament.
Comments
The IMA does not raise any issues of concern at this stage.
Any citizen experiencing difficulties in exercising their rights is encouraged to report a complaint through the IMA Portal.
Further information about the IMA and guidance on how to report a complaint can also be found on the website.