THOUSANDS of people are at risk of becoming “illegal” immigrants in the UK as the deadline approaches for them to register with the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS), immigration experts and charities have said.

The warning came with the deadline just two months away, amid claims many of its repercussions are hidden. A round-table discussion on the EUSS, organised by the charity Work Rights Centre (WoRC), heard it had received hundreds of queries about the scheme and its impact on people’s employment prospects.

WoRC director Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol said the issues with the process were twofold: “The digital nature of the EUSS poses real difficulties for a significant minority of EU nationals.

“Making this application requires a level of digital competence, hardware, and internet connectivity that is simply not within everyone’s reach.

“Also, because this is an application that requires regular digital maintenance. EU nationals have to notify the Home Office if they change their contact details, name, or ID, and all of this happens online ... For millions of EU nationals, the right to reside in the UK has become a test in digital literacy.

“I worry that the inability to prove their right to work will push vulnerable EU nationals into precarious informal employment.”

Lizzie Wilkinson, from the charity Europia, said there had been a rise in the number of people unable to prove they have been in the country prior to December, which made it more difficult for them to attain pre-settled status. She said: “This is a problem for both men and women. However, in my experience, women find it much harder, particularly if they have assumed caring roles within their family and are not in employment or seeking commonly used services.”

According to the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), one in seven care workers surveyed online did not know what the EUSS was, while one in three was unaware of a deadline. JCWI project officer Caitlin Boswell said: “If even 1% of the estimated amount of eligible people don’t apply, that’s tens of thousands more undocumented people vulnerable to harmful hostile environment policies, for whom the consequences will be devastating.”

Immigration lawyer Colin Yeo said the problems caused by the EUSS may not become apparent immediately, especially when it comes to children.

“If you’re a child born in the UK and one parent is British, you’re automatically British,” he said.

“Where both parents are EU citizens, under the old system before Brexit they didn’t have to have any proof that they were ‘settled’ ... and assume they’re British. They’re later going to realise – when applying for university for example – that they need five years of evidence (parents’ bank statements, for example) to prove it. I’m concerned that a lot of the repercussions of all this are going to be hidden.

“There’s going to be no apocalypse on the day of the deadline. It’s going to take years and, for the people who are going to be affected, their lives will just be quietly ruined.”