Brexit and the EU Settlement Scheme: Continuity and rupture with the European Union

Abstract

The EU Settlement Scheme, a product of Brexit, both continues and breaks with the EU legacy, offering dismantlement for the vulnerable and continuity for the rest. In its attempt to keep the rights of EEA and Swiss citizens as close to their EU format as possible, it borrows from Directive 2004/38 and, in doing so, manages to enhance the conditionality ingrained in the Directive, discriminating against the most vulnerable. At the same time, by breaking with the EU legacy, it also moves the most vulnerable even farther away from the ideal of an unconditional right to return. Through an exploratory opt-in online survey, I observe the Scheme’s intrinsic tension of offering both continuity and dismantlement and the emergence of some vulnerability traits. Non-linear employment histories, older age, and lower levels of educational attainment enhance the difficulty of the process and create the prospects for disentitlement.