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<p>EU citizens and their family members resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 will
be able to apply for UK immigration status under the EU Settlement Scheme, in line
with the draft Withdrawal Agreement with the European Union published on 19 March
2018.</p><p>As set out in paragraph 3.4 of the Statement of Intent on the scheme published
on 21 June 2018, ‘resident in the UK’ will include those who are outside the UK on
31 December 2020 but who have maintained continuity of residence here, generally as
set out in current free movement rules for those who have not already acquired EU
permanent residence rights, and up to five years’ absence for those who have. Once
granted, settled status under the scheme will not lapse unless the holder is then
absent from the UK for more than five consecutive years.</p><p>We are considering
carefully how we can ensure that EU citizen Crown servants and their family members,
the EU citizen family members of British citizen Crown servants and EU citizen family
members of HM Forces personnel, are not unfairly disadvantaged under the scheme by
absences from the UK as a result of overseas postings. We are working closely with
other departments on this issue and will set out further details in due course.</p>
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