I am currently trying to get my head around the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS). I currently hold pre-settled status but am concerned about not being able to switch to settled status.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been stuck outside of the UK for a long period of time. The timeline is the following:
- September 2017 - March 2020 - enrolled in a British university and studying in the UK for my bachelor's
- March 2020 - September 2020 - I continued to work on my degree remotely as my university required students to leave and return to their "home countries".
- September 2020 - August - 2021 - I have remained stuck in France. My flights to return to the UK over the Summer 2020 were cancelled. France implemented a rather harsh lockdown with strict restrictions on both domestic and international travels.
- September 2021-August 2022 - Master's degree in France. Even though I had secured a spot in a British university, given the impossibility for me to travel back to the UK, I decided to spend one year doing a master's in France.
- August 2022-Present - Moved back to the UK and secured a full-time job.
Even though I have been outside of the UK for a period exceeding two years, these absences, especially the first one, were not a choice of mine but rather imposed upon me given the COVID-19 pandemic. My objective has always been to move back to the UK as soon as possible. I have tickets of flights cancelled, letters from university advising to remain abroad, and application to different jobs to prove that moving back has always been the objective.
My question is:
(A) Do you think there is a chance that the Home Office will refuse switching from pre-settled to settled status because of this absence?
(B) Is there a chance that my pre-settled status is revoked when it expires in late 2024 and that I do not get the two-year extension the Home Office started implementing in 2023/4?
Thank you for reading, it's a complicated problem so I couldn't find any references in the existing posts.