Irish citizens living in Scotland need clarity on their right to stay in Scotland following Brexit, the Scottish Government has said.
In a letter to Home Secretary Sajid Javid, External Affairs Secretary Fiona Hyslop said Irish residents of Scotland are "very concerned" about "mixed messages" on their post-Brexit status.
Calling again for charges for EU citizens to stay in the UK after Brexit to be scrapped, she raised concerns the £65 fee for signing up to the settlement scheme for adults and £32.50 for children could deter poorer families and the elderly from regularising their status.
In the letter, she said: "Our overriding concern has always been that EU citizens who came to Scotland to live, work, study and contribute to their communities should not be overly burdened when applying for a status they already have.
"I am clear that EU citizens should not have to pay a charge to retain the right to live and work in this country, especially children and young people."
She said the process and cost of applying for settled status is causing "anxiety" for EU families here.
Ms Hyslop highlighted the large number of Irish citizens in Scotland and throughout the UK as of particular concern regarding the settlement scheme.
She said: "It is vital that clarity is provided for Irish citizens about what status they will have, what rights will be attached to that status, and what the impact will be, if any, of applying or failing to apply for settled status.
"In conversations we have been having with EU citizens around Scotland, a clear message is that Irish citizens are very anxious about the lack of detail available about their future rights and about the mixed messages they are getting about any obligation to apply for settled status."
Ms Hyslop said Scotland's future population growth depends on inward migration and any additional barriers to this, or to allowing migrants to stay, would be "damaging to Scotland's future economic growth".
She urged continued engagement between the governments on the issue.
Meanwhile, the SNP has called on new Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab to give evidence before Holyrood's Europe Committee on Brexit plans, something his predecessor David Davis did not do.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel