The number of EU citizens residing in Northern Ireland who have applied for the United Kingdom’s EU Settlement Scheme has surpassed 79,000, according to official figures.

The European Union Settlement Scheme is designed for all European Union, European Economic Area, and Swiss citizens who wish to continue to live in Britain, even though the UK is no longer a European Union Member Country, StudyinPoland.Info reports.

Based on the recent figures, until the end of December, a total of 72,610 persons filed an application for this program in Northern Ireland. About 97 percent of those applicants were given settled or pre-settled status.

The settled status is given to persons who can continuously prove that they have been in Britain for over five years. On the other hand, the pre-settled status is given to persons who have been living in the UK for shorter periods of time. However, the pre-settled status can be upgraded to the settled status once applicants reach the five-year milestone.

The United Kingdom’s government has recalled that the deadline for applications for the EU Settlement Scheme is June 30, 2021.

According to the recent figures, the highest number of applications in Northern Ireland comes from citizens of:

• Poland (21,420)
• Lithuania (10,690)
• Romania (8,360)

Armagh, Banbridge, Craigavon (17,230), Belfast (15,640) as well as Mid Ulster (13,550) are the main local authority districts in which the applications have been concentrated.

All persons who obtain Irish citizenship, including dual Irish and British citizenship, are not required to apply for the scheme.

In January, authorities in the United Kingdom called on the European citizens to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme in order to remain in the UK post-Brexit.

Back then, the UK’s Home Office revealed that until December 31, 2020, there had been nearly 4.9 million applications for the program.

Authorities in the United Kingdom launched the EU Settlement Scheme on March 30, 2019, processing over 20,000 applications per day.

According to the figures published in October 2019, Britain recorded the highest application processed number. At that time, over 400,000 applications were processed within a month.

Since it was introduced, the scheme pushed many EU citizens to fill an application in order to continue to live in Britain, despite the new changes.

During the same month, the UK’s Home Office announced that over four million applications were submitted for the program, reaching the milestone eight months before the deadline.