How much residence applications have yet been submitted by UK residents? Does the Government think that it would be desirable to extend the period of residence application, in order to give more time for people to submit their application?

Mister President,

We hereby have the honor to inform you that, in accordance with article 84 of the regulation of the Chamber of Deputies, we would like to ask an urgent question to the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs regarding residence applications by UK nationals.

As of 1^st February 2021, UK nationals are no longer considered citizens of the European Union. While the right of residence and associated rights will remain similar to those they enjoyed as a Union citizen, they must have a new residence document, which will replace the current one, that will certify their status as beneficiary of the Withdrawal Agreement.

The association “British in Europe”, which gives a voice to British citizens in the Brexit negotiations, issued a press release on 31^st May 2021 stressing that according to the “Third joint report on the implementation of residence rights under part two of the withdrawal agreement”, thousands of British citizens currently residing legally in their host country of the European Union risk waking up on 1^st July 2021 as undocumented migrants.

Indeed, according to the report, which illustrates the respective figures of residence applications received and processed by Member States, 68% of UK nationals in Luxembourg have applied for residence, and 80% of them have received a decision on their application (figures dating from 13^th April 2021). Taking into account the expiration date of June 30 2021 for submitting an application, as well as the figures for residency applications submissions dating from 13^th April 2021, the current deadline could prove problematic for UK residents living and working in Luxembourg.

In order to remedy the similar problem, the Netherlands decided to extend the application period by three months until 1^st October 2021, thus giving more time to those who still have to apply.

It is in this context that we would like to ask the following questions:

• Can the Government provide the latest figures on residence applications submitted by UK residents? How many of them have been processed to date?
• Based on the answer to the question above, does the Government think that it would be desirable to extend the period of residence application, as the Netherlands did in order to give more time for people to submit their application?
• If so, by how many weeks or months will this period be extended?
• If not, can the Government tell us the reasons? In this case, what does the Minister plan to do?

Please accept, Mr. President, the assurances of our highest consideration.