EUSS: the Challenges of Digital Inclusion and the Rights of Vulnerable EU Nationals

The EUSS (EU Settlement Scheme) is a Home Office scheme which implements the citizens’ rights provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement. It does this by granting UK immigration status to EU citizens and their families who are living in the UK under EU free movement law. The application for and proof of the EUSS is digital-only and it's heavily reliant on the Home Office automation system of issuing a digital immigration status. By drawing on qualitative data with key stakeholders, policy and legal documents, as well as participation in an EUSS implementation monitoring body (Independent Monitoring Authority), this paper examines how and the extent to which the application and use of the EUSS generates the exclusion of vulnerable EU nationals, such as the elderly, the Roma, children in care, and the homeless. It is shown that the EUSS has a built-in digital exclusion of vulnerable groups due its reliance on automation and digitalisation. This further perpetuates digital inequalities, second, by excluding these groups, who cannot access or prove their digital status, from access to services and rights entitlements. Third, the EUSS assigns significant discretion and power to landlords, employers and various local agencies to act as "immigration guards", who have the responsibility of checking the digital status of EU nationals, without putting in place mechanisms to safeguard EU citizens against discrimination and abuse. Finally, the current processing delays experienced by EU nationals applying for family permits and expecting the outcomes of administrative reviews (when their EUSS application was rejected) further negatively impact the rights and services that EU nationals can access post-Brexit in the UK.