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EEA Nationals (Indefinite Leave to Remain) Bill [HL] 2017-19

davidsmithp1000
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Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project

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Have I missed something here, is this part of, or in addition to the settled status scheme?

EEA Nationals (Indefinite Leave to Remain) Bill [HL] 2017-19

https://services.parliament.uk/bills/2017-19/eeanationalsindefiniteleavetoremain.html

Elliot Kent
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It’s a private members bill - not law and not government policy. Members of the Commons and Lords can introduce private members bills on pretty much anything they like but they very rarely come to anything (as you can see, it has taken this one over two years to get as far as 2nd reading). If this bill is successful in its current form, then it will render the settled status scheme mostly redundant as it will give all EEA nationals present in the UK at exit day a right of abode.

(On a very geeky point, the title of the bill is wrong - because it is trying to give EEA nationals a right of abode and not indefinite leave to remain which are two different concepts. The bill generally is pretty poorly drafted - e.g. it appears to accidentally grant the right of abode to non-EEA family members of British citizens who have nothing whatsoever to do with Brexit. All this suggests that the point is more to provoke political debate than genuinely change the law).

[ Edited: 3 Jul 2019 at 05:42 pm by Elliot Kent ]
HB Anorak
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Benefits consultant/trainer - hbanorak.co.uk, East London

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Although it won’t become law, I think it does contain a clever bit of drafting as regards British citizens.  The way I read it, the reference to British citizens is necessary in order to cover Surinder Singh-type family members (because they would otherwise be missed by the definition of EEA national); and it doesn’t accidentally capture spouses and relatives of British citizens generally because they would not satisfy the definition of “family member”.

Even so, cannot see it getting anywhere.  At the very least it would only survive if amended to confer ILR rather than right of abode.  ILR/right of abode conferred by operation of law without any need for documents … hmmm, sounds familiar.  What could possibly go wrong?