PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Immigration Controls: Married People (29 June 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many grants of leave to remain in the UK were made based on the principles set out in the 2008 Metock judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union in each of the last five years.

Asked by:
Sir John Hayes (Conservative)

We do not hold data on the number of grants of leave to remain based on the principles of the Metock judgment.

At the end of the transition period, on 31 December 2020, free movement law will be repealed by the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill and the UK will no longer be bound by the Metock and Surinder Singh judgments.

On 19 February, the Government published its policy statement on the UK’s global points-based immigration system and this new system will apply to EEA citizens and their family members coming to the UK from January 2021.

The Government has confirmed family members of British citizens lawfully resident in the UK under the ‘Surinder Singh’ route by the end of the transition period are eligible to apply for status under the EU Settlement Scheme. Family members resident in the UK by the end of the transition period based on the principles of the Metock judgment are also eligible to apply for status under the scheme.

In addition, British citizens who are living in the EU by 31 December 2020 may return to the UK with their close family members under the current arrangements until 29 March 2022, where the family relationship existed before the UK left the EU.

Answered by:
Kevin Foster (Conservative)
7 July 2020