Over 140,000 Hungarians Seeking to Stay in Britain

So far, 140,460 Hungarian nationals have applied for permanent residency in the United Kingdom, according to figures published by the British Home Office on Thursday. Foreign nationals in Britain who had legally established residence in the country before the end of 2020 will be allowed to stay, but they are required to apply for resident status.

The United Kingdom left the European Union on January 31 last year, but EU citizens who have legally and habitually settled in the country until the end of 2020, the end of the transitional period that began after Britain's exit from the EU (Brexit), will be able to stay on with all their acquired rights. However, they will need to apply for a residence permit of indefinite duration - officially known as settled status, the Hungarian state nedws agency reports.

According to the UK Home Office's first detailed quarterly total for this year, released on Thursday, 5.3 million of the 27 EU citizens living in Britain had done so by 31 March.

Most Hungarians, 125 580, applied for permanent residence in the UK.

By March 31, the UK authorities had processed 4,977,740 applications, and just under 3% of those submitted were refused for one reason or another.

Of the applications decided, 53% of applicants were granted permanent resident status and 44% of cases were granted temporary resident status.

The latter status is available to those who arrived before December 31, 2020 with the intention of settling but who have not yet lived in the UK for five years at the time of submission. They can also wait until the five years have passed and then obtain permanent residence. During this period they will continue to enjoy the full rights they have acquired.