Hello, I’m Cam. I’m from Romania
and I’ve been living in Scotland for the last five years
Since Brexit happened, I have to apply for my settled status
and I decided to keep a video diary of the process
to maybe help other people going through this application
This is a new immigration system the UK government has introduced
that will allow EU, EEA and Swiss nationals to continue to live and
work in the UK, after Brexit
Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty
this is how it works. If you’ve been living
in the UK for more than five years by the deadline
of this application process, then you can wait to reach
the five year mark and apply for settled status
If you’ve lived in the UK for at least one day before the deadline
then you can apply for pre-settled status
I’m now on the government’s site and I’m looking for information
I’m trying to find the application that I need to download
“How to prove your identity” “To help us confirm
your identity and nationality you can use the
EU Exit ID Document Check iPhone or Android
app on your phone”. Ok, I’m just gonna
download this app. Ok, I found it
I didn’t expect to have difficulties before
even beginning this application process
Ok, I can’t download this app
It says, “This app requires specific
features not available on this device”.
Right, I don’t know exactly what the problem is
but it looks like the app is not compatible with my phone
I’m gonna try and use my boyfriend’s
phone to see if that works
It’s the next day, I couldn’t download the
application because my boyfriend’s phone did not
have the right operating system
You need basically an iPhone 7 or above
and the latest operating system so that it works
But I’ve got my passport, I’ve got the app
so I’m just gonna start the application
Once I had access to the EU Exit app
the application was really user-friendly
the whole entire process took about ten minutes in total
Sending off the application was followed by a few
anxiety riddled days, I was uncertain of what
the future holds, I didn’t know what kind of
status I was gonna get, I didn’t know if I was gonna
be rejected or not. I think everything was a
possibility and I just couldn’t wait to have an answer
I just got an email from the government, this could be the one
I’m kinda nervous, I don’t know if it’s gonna be a yes or a no
“We have found tax history that shows you’ve been a
resident in the UK, but we have not been able to
confirm that you’ve been continuously a
resident for five years in a row
This may be because of gaps in our records”
la la la la la. I’m not sure what that is
I thought that maybe because they had my national insurance
number they would be able to just track when I moved here
which was in September 2014 or so, or August
So I thought they would be able to find me with my
national insurance number, but they can’t
My friend Liliana recently went through her settled
status application so I’m gonna phone her and see what kind of
evidence she sent over to the government
Ideally you have to provide one document to prove you’ve been
there for the 3 months gap I had, and I used my council tax bill
I think that’s what I’m gonna do, I’m gonna email the council
Then I hit some road blocks I hadn’t anticipated
It’s been 2 weeks, I finally heard from the
council in regards to my council tax records
and it appears there’s an issue
they can’t find my first address where I lived for two years
Which is a problem because that would be two years out of the five
that I’ve been in the country, so I really need them to find
the records they have for me
They’ve basically just requested further information
and I gave them details about my flatmate and so on
As you guys know, I’m Romanian and I’ve been
in Scotland for five years and a few months at this stage
and the reason why I’m really really hoping to get settled
status, is because once you have settled status
you then can apply for British citizenship, a year after having
had this document. If you get pre-settled status,
you then need to wait for that to turn into settled,
and then a year later you can apply for
British citizenship. That’s a big difference
between the two right there. But now that the council
can’t find my records, I’m starting to get a
little bit worried. I’ve got some good news today,
I finally heard from the council, they managed to track down my payments for
my first address, and they sent me a letter detailing all the
payments that I made since 2014, so I can use this as
evidence that I’ve been here. I forwarded it on to the
government and hopefully this is the last hoop
I have to get through. I’m really excited today,
a lot more hopeful than last week. Cross your fingers
for me guys. I just received an email
from the government, I think this is probably it.
I’m really, like, nervous. I hope it’s a yes,
I hope I get settled status. “Dear Georgiana-Camelia Cazan,
I’m pleased to inform you that your application under the
EU Settlement Scheme has been successful and that you’ve
been granted indefinite leave to remain
in the United Kingdom. This is also referred to
as settled status” I got it!
I got it!
Oh my god, I got it!
I got it
It was just kinda stressful
not knowing if I’m gonna get settled status or not.
I think I just mostly feel relieved. Looking back at this entire process, I think
the most shocking and frustrating thing, was the
fact that the EU Exit app was not compatible
with my phone. Later I found out that there
are certain centres across the UK where you can go and
scan your passport, they will have phones compatible
with this EU Exit app there. And another option is to send
your passport and documentation over post to the government,
and the government will send them back to you in
a few weeks’ time. I’m really happy to say I’m
now settled in Scotland. It was a big deal for me because
I’ve been living here for five years, and I consider Scotland to be my home, and
it was really nice to get some official documentation
that proves it. I feel I’m now an official
“New Scot”, I suppose. Good luck with
your application guys, I hope everything goes well,
and if it doesn’t always refer to
www.gov.uk. This is where you
get your real answers