As the numbers show, residents of Poland and Romania have applied to the EU settlement system more than any other nationality.

EU citizens and their families are required to apply to the Home Office by June to continue living and working in the UK following the transition to Brexit and freedom of movement.

According to preliminary information from the Ministry of Interior, by the end of January of the program opening in March 2019, a total of 5,060,600 applications had been received.

Over 2.4 million of them (2,497,600) have attained branch status, which allows them to remain permanently.

Another two million people (8003900) were granted pre-defined status, which means that after five years in the country, they will have to apply for permanent residency again.

Meanwhile, 38,900 applications were rejected, 51,400 were withdrawn or declared invalid, and 50,600 declared invalid – if the Home Office finds a person ineligible or fails to provide sufficient proof of residency.

As of December 31, 2020, 4,916,280 applications have been received, 90% of which are in England, 5% in Scotland, 2% in Wales and 2% in Northern Ireland. According to the data published by the Ministry of the Interior, on Thursday.

In total, 4,569,010 applications were received from European Union citizens, 45,550 other EEA citizens and Swiss citizens and 301,660 non-EEA citizens.

The main nationalities were Polish (911,240), Romanian (836,980), Italian (472,300), Portuguese (354,190) and Spanish (301,790).

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According to the Home Office, the top five nationalities together accounted for about 60% of incoming applications.

Polish and Romanian citizens consistently ranked among the largest numbers of applications in England, Scotland and Wales, while Polish and Lithuanian citizens filed the most applications in Northern Ireland.

Future Borders and Immigration Minister Kevin Foster said: “European citizens are our friends, our family and our neighbors. So I am very proud that we have already passed five million applications for a very successful European Union clearing program.

I urge all eligible candidates to apply now to secure their status under UK law.

“The program is designed to be simple and straightforward, but support is available seven days a week by phone and email. We have funded 72 organizations across the UK to support those who need assistance with their applications.”