Deadline for applications closes in under two months
By: Anttoni James Numminen
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Students who are EU, EEA or Swiss citizen and will continue living in the UK after 30 June, are urgently encouraged to apply for settled or pre-settled status.
The deadline for applying is 30 June 2021 and applicants should usually have started living in the UK by 31 December 2020.
The EU settlement scheme can, for example, grant pre-settled status to students who have not lived in the UK for 5 years in a row (known as ‘continuous residence’), though there are certain exceptions to this rule.
If their application is successful, the student will be able to continue living and working in the UK after 30 June 2021.
The application is free and can be started here.
In an email to students, Nick Edwards, the head of student support, said: “Unless you have entered the UK on a Student visa; have entered as a Visitor for 6 months; or have already obtained status under the EU Settlement Scheme and this is still valid, you must take action as soon as possible to apply before the 30 June 2021.
“EU/EEA/Swiss students who are in the UK without any of the above and who do not apply for status before 30 June 2021, will become overstayers on 1 July 2021. This means that they will be here illegally and cannot submit an application from within the UK after this date.”
Edwards also reminded students that the University has an FAQ page regarding Brexit and the settlement scheme which can be accessed here.
“Please be assured that you are part of the Aberdeen family and we want you to stay if you feel at home in Scotland” continued Edwards.
EU students make up a large proportion of the University’s student population and the institution will be hard hit by lower numbers of applicants, exacerbated by the fact that new EU students will no longer be eligible for free tuition from September 2021.
However, the University of Aberdeen has created a new EU scholarship which is an £8,000 tuition fee discount for students who would have previously been eligible for Home (Scottish/EU) fee status.
