CHRISTINE Cobb has been living in Scotland for nearly 30 years and it is her home.

But like hundreds of thousands of other EU citizens, Brexit means she has had to apply to the Home Office in order to continue living in the UK by June 30 this year.

With the deadline for applications now just over a month away, there are concerns over the possibility of EU citizens who fail to secure settled status losing their rights “overnight”.

Campaigners have warned vulnerable groups are most at risk of falling through the gaps and of the possibility of a “new Windrush scandal”.

Cobb, who is from France ­originally, said the process of applying to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) last ­Monday had been relatively simple – but she is now living with the uncertainty of waiting for a decision.

“I have been in Scotland for nearly 30 years. Scotland is my home. I am dreading the verdict of the application for settled status,” she said.

“My husband is disabled, he is in a care home in Glasgow, which makes things even more difficult. And ­because I don’t work, I don’t know if that is going to have an impact on the decision.

“I don’t sleep at night. It is this ­uncertainty and it is not knowing.”

Latest statistics published by the Home Office show in the UK there have been 5.12 million applications to the EUSS as of April 30. Just over half have been granted settled status, with 44% given pre-settled status, which lasts five years. Around 1% of applications have been refused – adding up to 70,500, with another 1% deemed invalid - adding up to 69,600.

Alba MP Neale Hanvey last week organised a cross-party letter to ­Boris Johnson, signed by 50 parliamentarians, including SNP, Labour and ­Liberal Democrat MPs, which called for the EUSS deadline to be lifted and for all EU citizens to be given automatic settled status.

The letter states this is the “only way for you to keep your promise made during the 2016 Leave Campaign that ‘EU citizens will automatically be granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK and will be treated no less favourable than they are at present’.”

Hanvey said he was first made aware of the issues through local groups highlighting cases of elderly residents in care homes who were ­unaware of the scheme or did not have the means to apply.

He said: “It’s the most vulnerable EU citizens who are most at risk of missing the UK Government’s ridiculous arbitrary deadline.  

“Since coordinating the cross-party campaign, I’ve heard more shocking stories about the way our friends and neighbours are being treated, ­simply because they happen to be EU ­citizens.

“One woman came to the UK over 50 years ago, married a Scot, has grown children who are UK ­citizens, and has worked and paid taxes throughout her time here. She’s faced so many issues trying to prove her right to stay in the UK that she’s had to engage a specialist solicitor.”

Campaign groups have also raised concerns.

Elena Remigi, founder and ­director of the In Limbo Project, said: “Tens of thousands of people could ­become illegally resident in the country ­overnight, particularly the most ­vulnerable ones: the children, the ­elderly, the victims of domestic abuse or the minorities such as the Roma community.

“This is a long way from the Vote Leave’s promise that ‘there will be no change for EU citizens’, which was signed by Boris Johnson, Priti Patel and Michael Gove.”

Maike Bohn, co-founder, of the3million citizens’ rights group, said it was regularly hearing from ­

concerned EU citizens who are still waiting for a decision on their application. “It is not clear to them how they will prove their rights to work, rent or access benefits in the UK after 1 July,” she added.

A spokesperson for Settled, which is helping EU citizens stay in the UK ­after Brexit, said: “With little over a month remaining to the deadline by which all EU citizens in the UK must apply to the EU Settlement Scheme, we’re concerned thousands are set to lose their rights.

“While the government has ­recently updated its guidance to consider the reasons some may apply late, there remain some areas of concern. There are many long-term residents of the UK who do not realise they need to apply.”

The Home Office did not respond to ­a request for comment on the cross-party letter.

For some EU citizens in Scotland, even securing the right to stay is not enough to make them want to stay in a post-Brexit Britain.

Tomasz Orynski, from Poland, who has been living in Glasgow since 2006, said he and his girlfriend had applied to the EUSS without any problems.

But he added: “I believe it is ­unfair to ask us to apply for being able to stay in the country when we have been paying taxes for 15 years. I was off work for a year which had an ­impact on finances. If it was not for that we would already be living in one of the Nordic countries.”