Join EU or EEA Family Member

You can apply for a family permit to join your family member who is an EU, EEA, Swiss citizen, British citizen who lived in a member state, or a person from Northern Ireland. Your family relationship must have started by 31 December 2020. You must be outside the UK to apply for your family permit.

You can apply either under;

• the EU Settlement Scheme family permit, or
• the EEA family permit

A family permit is only valid for 6 months and you can work, study and travel. Without a family permit you may be refused entry into the UK. Usually, the extended family members apply under EEA family permit; whereas the direct or close family members apply under the EU Settlement Scheme family permit if their EU, EEA or Swiss citizen was living in the UK by 31 December 2020.

The EEA family permit is ending on 30 June 2021 and you will not be able to make an application after 30 June 2021.

You can apply for an EU Settlement Scheme family permit to come to the UK before 29 March 2022 if you have lived in an EU or EEA country or Switzerland with an eligible family member who’s a British citizen.

Permanent residence status and citizenship from 1 January 2021

 From 1 January 2021, you can only apply for British citizenship with permanent residence status if:

• you already have a permanent residence document
• you do not also have settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme

You cannot apply for a permanent residence document after 31 December 2020.

If you have settled status, you must apply for citizenship with this status instead of permanent residence status. Do not apply for citizenship with your permanent residence status if you have settled status. If you do, your application will be rejected.

You can apply for citizenship with settled status 12 months after you first got permanent residence status. You do not need a permanent residence document.

Staying in the UK after 30 June 2021 if you’re an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen

You must apply for permission to continue living in the UK after 30 June 2021.

If you have not been granted citizenship and had a citizenship ceremony, apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to continue living in the UK after 30 June 2021.

Citizenship applications usually take around 6 months to process and may take longer. You cannot stay in the UK after 30 June 2021 while you wait for citizenship, unless you have permission to stay here in another way. For example, if you have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

You can apply for citizenship after you get settled status.