MEPs sent a letter to UK Secretary of State raising concerns about the online application system to register the 3.5 million EU citizens living in the UK after Brexit. 

The EP Brexit Steering Group and MEPs from five committees in charge of citizens’ rights recently met with representatives of the UK Home Office. 

In the letter to the Home Office Secretary of State Sajid Javid, Members suggest that particular attention should be paid to vulnerable groups. They recommend that citizens should be able to register in paper format and that there should be a network of contact points across the country where passports can be scanned in a secure environment. 

MEPs recommend that all citizens should be able to access the application system, including ID scanning (for older passports, children that need biometric passports, users of IOS operating system). The procedure should avoid passports being sent in the post. It should include an option to register members of the same family together on one form. Full compliance with EU data protection regulations should be ensured, they add.