The UK Home Office has started taking away residency rights from EU citizens who live in Britain, telling at least 100 people they were granted permission to stay "in error." These letters arrive just as these individuals are nearing the end of a five-year temporary status and preparing to apply for permanent residency. The Guardian

When the UK left the European Union, it set up a system called the EU Settlement Scheme to let EU citizens already living in Britain keep their rights. As of 31 March 2026, 5.8 million people had status under this scheme. Of those, 1.3 million held "pre-settled status," a temporary version given to people who had been in the UK for fewer than five years before Brexit. After five years of living there continuously, they can apply to upgrade to "settled status," which is permanent. GOV.UK

One of the people affected is Gabriela, a Brazilian-Portuguese woman who works in the NHS and is researching a PhD in Britain. She was given pre-settled status but did not have a Portuguese passport when she applied. The Home Office sent her a five-page letter saying she was granted status without the evidence needed to confirm she was a qualifying EU citizen before the deadline of 31 December 2020, when the UK formally left the EU. Gabriela says her father is Portuguese, which would make her an EU citizen by birth. The Guardian

The Home Office is reviewing old cases, focusing on people who needed to apply for upgraded status, including children, people who are not from EU countries, and anyone who arrived after 31 December 2020. A campaign group called the3million used a freedom of information request to find out that 95 people were contacted in March alone. The group knows of dozens of cases but worries that hundreds of thousands of people could receive similar letters threatening removal from the UK. The Guardian

Monique Hawkins, the acting head of the3million, said the review's impact has been devastating for many people. The Guardian Since 1 July 2021, EU nationals in the UK must prove they hold settled status to rent a home, open a bank account, or claim benefits. The Guardian Citizens Advice points out that EU citizens check their status online and do not receive a physical card. Citizens Advice

This review follows a broader crackdown announced in April 2026, when UK ministers said they planned to remove residency rights from EU citizens who were no longer living in the UK continuously. The Guardian The Electronic Immigration Network reported that the Home Office plans to remove pre-settled status from people who have clearly stopped living in the UK. Electronic Immigration Network

In July 2025, the Home Office changed its rules to allow people to qualify for settled status by showing evidence of continuous residence. the3million Government guidance says the Home Office will contact applicants before making a decision so they can correct an error. GOV.UK

These enforcement actions echo warnings from EU citizens' rights groups back in August 2017, which said the Home Office "cannot be trusted" and suggested local councils could certify EU citizens who are already settled, removing the need to apply for immigration status at all. The Guardian A January 2023 Guardian report found that more than 140,000 EU citizens in the UK may have received benefits they were not entitled to because of a Home Office error. The Guardian

The broader context here is a government department shifting from signing people up to looking back at whether they should have been approved in the first place. That matters for 1.3 million people with pre-settled status. The key question shaping the next phase is whether these cases involve simple paperwork mistakes or something more serious. For people like Gabriela, whose claim to EU citizenship comes through her father rather than her own passport, the Home Office now expects her to prove what she previously did not have to. The focus on non-EU citizens, children, and recent arrivals suggests officials are working through unusual cases where the original approval may not have met strict evidence requirements.

What we do not yet know is how far this review will go beyond the hundreds of letters already sent. If the3million's estimate of hundreds of thousands of affected people turns out to be right, the system handling these cases will be under enormous strain. Because EU citizens hold their status digitally with no physical card, losing it means losing not just the right to stay in the UK but also the ability to rent a home, work, and open a bank account.