Except in a few cases, you need to apply if:

• you’re an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen
• you’re not an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, but your family member is

This means you need to apply even if you:

• were born in the UK but are not a British citizen – you can check if you’re a British citizen if you’re not sure
• have a UK ‘permanent residence document’
• are a family member of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen who does not need to apply – including if they’re from Ireland
• are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen with a British citizen family member

Who else can apply

You may be able to apply if you’re not an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen but:

• you used to have an EU, EEA or Swiss family member living in the UK (but you’ve separated, or they’ve died)
• you’re the family member of a British citizen and you lived outside the UK in an EEA country together
• you’re the family member of a British citizen who also has EU, EEA or Swiss citizenship and who lived in the UK as an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen before getting British citizenship
• you’re the primary carer of a British, EU, EEA or Swiss citizen
• you’re the child of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen who used to live and work in the UK, or the child’s primary carer

Read guidance on how to apply if you’re not an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen.

Who does not need to apply

You do not need to apply if you have:

• indefinite leave to enter the UK
• indefinite leave to remain in the UK
• British or Irish citizenship (including ‘dual citizenship’)

If you’re an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen and you moved to the UK before it joined the EU

You only need to apply if you do not have indefinite leave to remain. If you do have indefinite leave to remain, you’ll usually have a stamp in your passport or a letter from the Home Office saying this.

If you work in the UK but do not live here (‘frontier worker’)

You do not need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme if you’re a ‘frontier worker’.

Read the guidance for frontier workers to find out:

• whether you qualify as a frontier worker
• what your rights will be
• what your family members need to do to stay in the UK

If you’re exempt from immigration control

You cannot apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. You do not need to do anything to continue living in the UK while you’re exempt from immigration control.

You’ll have been told if you’re exempt from immigration control, for example because you’re:

• a foreign diplomat posted in the UK
• a member of NATO

If you stop being exempt, for example if you change jobs, you will usually need to apply to the scheme within 90 days. You’ll be able to apply after the deadline of 30 June 2021, as long as you were living in the UK before 31 December 2020.