By Steph Brawn and Debora Aru
Hundreds of European Union (EU) citizens in Renfrewshire were scrambling to apply for settled status in the final months before the June 30 deadline, new statistics show.
Between April and June, applications from people living in the region almost doubled compared to the previous three months.
Following the UK's exit from the bloc, EU citizens who wanted to legally live and work in the country had to apply for the Settlement Scheme by June 30.
People were entitled to settled status if they had been living in the UK for more than five years.
UK Government figures - which have been analysed by the Reach Data Unit - show that as of June, 6,750 applications had been submitted by people living in Renfrewshire.
But 760 of those had been sent from April onwards, 90 per cent more than the 400 submitted between January and March.
There were other rushes recorded last year between July and September - just after the extension of the Brexit transition period - with 350 applications lodged, which was 13 per cent more than in the previous three months.
And in the following quarter before the end of the transition period on December 31, applications nearly trebled to 930.
Data also shows Brexit has led to a decline in the number of EU citizens living in Renfrewshire as the number fell by around a third between 2019 and 2020.
There were an estimated 4,000 living in the region last year compared to 6,000 the year before.
Mhairi Black, MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, said the data showed how Brexit created a cliff edge for EU citizens.
She said: "I have highlighted many times- as have the rest of my SNP colleagues - that ending freedom of movement would be a disaster.
"I have also highlighted the Settled Status scheme was a cliff edge for many EU nationals who live in Renfrewshire. The surge in application rates reflects that."
As of September 30, more than 6.2 million applications had been made to the EU Settlement Scheme across the UK, including 172,200 filed after the June 30 deadline.
Of the 6.2m, 5.8m have already been reviewed and completed with 3m granted settled status, 2.4m given pre-settled status and around 165,600 applications binned.
Pre-settled status is a temporary status given to those who have not yet lived in the UK for five years. Once they have lived in the country for half a decade, they will then need to apply for settled status.
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The remaining applications were either withdrawn or considered invalid. It leaves a backlog of around 400,000 applications, which is down from approximately 600,000 in June.
But the government is still accepting late applications under “reasonable grounds", such as those from children whose parents did not apply for them.
A Home Office spokesman said: “In line with the Citizens’ Rights Agreements, a person eligible for the EU Settlement Scheme can make a late application where there are reasonable grounds for missing the deadline.
“We have published guidance on reasonable grounds and have made clear we will take a pragmatic and flexible approach to considering these.
“Those who submit a valid, late application will have their rights protected until their application and any appeals are decided.”
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