The secret backdoor bringing migrants into Britain – and the £1.8bn EU ‘stitch-up’ behind it

The findings concluded that while mass public attention remains on illegal migrant crossings, the “Joining Family Members” route for EUSS migrants serves as a permanent, open-ended visa conveyor belt.

The route has opened the back door to entering Britain for hundreds of thousands – over one-third of them from outside the EU.

Unlike the main scheme, it has no statutory closing date. The route allows those with a connection to existing applicants to apply for permanent residency in the UK.

Despite Labour’s claims that immigration numbers are coming down, the last year saw successful grants of Settled Status under this route more than double.

Official Home Office data on the EU Settlement Scheme has revealed that 8,941,726 cumulative applications have been processed.

Some 8,837,667 applications have been decided, and around 6.1million applicants have been approved.

Processing this continuing mountain of paperwork comes at a high cost. Over the last five financial years, from 2020/21 to 2025/26, Home Office data shows the department has spent £5.8billion purely on immigration and visa decisions.

The scheme’s 8,837,667 concluded applications have accounted for 31.1 per cent of the department’s total casework.

The pro-rata share of managing this single scheme has therefore cost an astronomical £1.8billion (£1,795,551,752) since 2020.

The £1.8billion cost is only for the processing, not for any benefits the migrants will be applying for and receiving.

Responding to the report, former Brexit Minister the Rt Hon David Jones argued that several years after the referendum, an immigration route created under the Brexit settlement is in fact “open to people from across the world”.

He said: “Very few Britons who voted to leave the EU envisaged that an agreement on the rights of EU citizens would have consequences on this scale, extending so far beyond the shores of Europe.

“Britain is struggling to provide enough homes, infrastructure and public services for its existing population. Yet successive governments of all political colours have clearly been content to allow these arrangements to continue with little or no public scrutiny.

“Ministers must now come clean about how many more people may be entitled to enter under the scheme. If the Withdrawal Agreement prevents Britain from exercising proper control of immigration, a future UK Government must do whatever is necessary to restore that control.”

Former Secretary of State Lord John Redwood hit out at the Government, declaring that “8.65 million extra people coming to live in the UK this century is far too many”.

He said: “Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat Ministers have allowed more than 6.1 million to come from the EU, the big majority of the new arrivals. Romania and Poland led this movement.

“Now Facts4EU reveal the shocking news that the EU Family Scheme is still being used to invite in many more, years after the Brexit vote to stop this.

“A third of the new visas are granted to people who originate outside the EU, using it as a stepping stone to living in the UK. Voters have voted in large numbers to say No to this, so why is the Government spending billions of taxpayer money inviting the world to Hospitality Britain via this EU scheme?”