This section covers the effects of the EU Referendum in 2016 in the UK, and the issue of residency status for people from EU27 countries in the UK living under the reciprocal rights arrangement across the EU (also known as Freedom of Movement).
The UK Government is now rolling out its "Settled Status" scheme, whereby citizens of other EU countries (EU27) resident in the UK have to apply to remain in the UK.
Information about Settled Status:
Concerns relate to the necessity for application (not simple registration), Home Office errors, possibility of rejection, and the danger of those without documentation falling into the Hostile Environment. Some may simply not realise the need to register, possibly having been in the UK for many years, and thus become undocumented (BBC News Leeds and West Yorkshire, 2019) .
Comparisons have been noted with the changes in Immigration Law in the 1970s, and subsequent cases such as the Windrush scandal, which emerged around two years after the EU referendum (Yeo, Sigona and Godin, 2019). For links and summary information about legislation immediately prior to and subsequent to the 2016 referendum vote, see the previous section in this guide (UK Legislation 2010-).
Other points:
Hate Crime.
EU-Austritt. Mrmw, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EU-Austritt_(47521165961).svg (Accessed 11 March 2022). CC1.0 Public Domain. 
BBC News Leeds and West Yorkshire (2019) The Italians asked to stay in post-Brexit UK. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-46836957 (Accessed 18 June 2019)
Davidson Morris (2019) Settled status in the UK - FAQs. Available at: https://www.davidsonmorris.com/settled-status-uk/ (Accessed 18 June 2019)
Free Movement (2020) Free Movement. Available at: https://www.freemovement.org.uk/ (Accessed 29 June 2020)
Full fact (2018) Hate crime in England and Wales. Available at: https://fullfact.org/crime/hate-crime-england-and-wales/ (Accessed 19 June 2019)
Gardner, Z. and Rahman, M. (2019) Guaranteeing settled status for EEA nationals. London: Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.
Health Foundation (2019) Large drop in the number of new nurses coming from the EU to work in the UK. Available at: https://www.health.org.uk/chart/chart-large-drop-in-the-number-of-new-nurses-coming-from-the-eu-to-work-in-the-uk (Accessed 19 June 2019)
Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (no date) EU Settlement Scheme FAQs. Available at: https://www.jcwi.org.uk/Pages/FAQs/Category/eu-settlement-scheme-faqs (Accessed 25 June 2020)
O'Neill, A. (2017) Hate crime, England and Wales, 2016/17. Statistical Bulletin 17/17, 17 October 2017. London: Home Office. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652136/hate-crime-1617-hosb1717.pdf#page=11 (Accessed 19 June 2019)
The3million (2019) Applying for settled status. Available at: https://www.the3million.org.uk/settled-status (Accessed 25 June 2020)
United Kingdom (2020) Stay in the UK after it leaves the EU ('settled status'): step-by-step. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/eusettledstatus (Accessed 29 June 2020)
University of Birmingham (2019) Lack of trust in UK Government's settled status scheme pushes EU citizens to apply for naturalisation. Available at: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2019/06/lack-of-trust-in-settled-status-scheme-pushes-eu-citizens-to-apply-for-naturalisation.aspx (Accessed 19 June 2019)
Yeo,C., Sigona, N. and Godin, G. Parallels between ending Commonwealth and EU citizen free movement rights. Available at: https://eurochildrenblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/eurochildren-parallels-and-differences-between-ending-commonwealth-and-eu-citizen-free-movement-rights.pdf (Accessed 18 June 2019).