French citizens living in the UK are widely ignoring the Home Office's EU citizens registration scheme, the country's parliament has warned.
A report by the French senate foreign affairs committee says that three quarters of French nationals in Britain hadn't registered by the end of September, despite the elapsing of several Brexit extensions.
"As of 30 September 2019, just over 70,000 French have registered, only a quarter of the French population living in the United Kingdom," the senate committee report said.
The senators say the 300,000 French people living in Britain are taking a "somewhat wait-and-see" attitude to the situation with the UK's exit from the EU.
The latest Home Office statistics that also cover applications in October show that just a further 21,100 French nationals registered in the final month before the planned 31 October Brexit date, despite the government claiming that the UK would leave by the end of that month.
French citizens are lagging behind other nationalities in registering, with just over half of the 3.5 million from all 27 other EU countries signing up, according to official statistics.
The deadline for the EU settlement scheme is 31 December 2020 in the case of a no-deal, or 30 June 2021 if a deal is passed, meaning there is still time for the national to sign up.
The design of the scheme has been criticised because most population registration schemes throughout history have got nowhere near 100 per cent uptake, meaning some people will be left with no lawful immigration status.
Campaigners say that vulnerable people like the elderly and those living alone or who do not follow the news may fall through the net.
Critics say the system could lead to another Windrush scandal, with people who arrived in the UK legally unable to prove their right to be there and facing deportation.
Government ministers have threatened to deport EU citizens who do not make the deadline, and reports last week suggested there would be just a few exemptions for mitigating circumstances – such having a disability or being a child.
The Independent contacted the UK government for further comment on this story.
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