How do you move to the UK Post-Brexit?

If you belonged to an EU country and already lived in the UK prior to the rule change in 2020, you may have applied for settled status. To be eligible for this, you should already have been living in the UK for 5 years or more. You may also have applied for pre-settled status if you had not quite met that 5 year criteria. This pre-settled status allows you to stay in the UK for that 5 year term.

To remain in the UK in a post-Brexit world, the government asked that you apply for settled status before the end of June in 2021. They will still consider you if you had reasonable grounds for forgetting.

There are other ways to move to the UK. The following list will help you find out if you qualify for a visa or other scheme.

The Family Permit Vs the Family Visa

If you have family who are settled within the UK, and who settled before 2020, you can apply for the EU settlement schemes family permit. This permit allows you to stay with your UK family members for up to 6 months. Other countries include Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.

The UK Family Visa allows you to stay with family members for as long as 2 years and 9 months. After 2.5 years they can apply for settled status. There are strict eligibility requirements for this type of visa.  For example you must be married to your partner or have a parent or child who lives in Britain.

The Graduate Visa

You can apply for your student visa to study here, but what happens when you graduate? The Graduate Visa plan allows you to stay for up to 2 years after graduation to try and find work in your new career.

Skilled Worker Visa

Once you graduate and your two years are up, you can extend your stay using a skilled worker visa. This document validates that your skills are in demand within the UK, and that you being here is beneficial to the country. You will need a sponsoring employer, a job on the list of eligible occupations, and fluent English to continue.

Applicants with Potential

If you fall into the High Potential Individual Visa category, you must have graduated from one of the top international universities within the last 5 years. You must have a bachelor’s degree, a post grad, a PhD, a doctorate, or the equivalents in your country. This can last for 3 full years if you are a doctor.

The Frontier Worker

If you normally live in the EU or allied country and you travel to the UK to work seasonally, the Frontier Worker Permit enables you to certain benefits on the UK system.

If you want to move to the UK to start a business, you could apply for the Innovator Visa. There are numerous conditions to this which revolve around you starting your business in the UK. You can see this page for further details.