More information for people who aren't necessarily aware of the full details, because there's already some confusion in this thread. Citizens of EU/EEA countri

More information for people who aren't necessarily aware of the full details, because there's already some confusion in this thread. Citizens of EU/EEA countries can currently travel to and work in other EU/EEA countries (including the UK) with essentially no restrictions. There are currently around 3 million citizens of other EU countries resident in the UK, taking advantage of freedom of movement to avoid the tedious, expensive, and time-consuming process of obtaining UK citizenship (or just never feeling the need). A system has been introduced allowing these residents to apply for something called "settled" or "pre-settled" status, indicating that they are habitually resident in the UK. This will give them the ability to remain in the UK legally, eventually being able to obtain the appropriate long-term rights. However, it's a virtual certainty that hundreds of thousands of these people will end up not being registered for various reasons. Additionally, there is AFAIK no process in place for performing checks using this system at the UK border. With the proposed approach, it's extremely likely that many people previously using free movement rights to travel between the UK and the rest of Europe will find themselves stuck in a limbo where they have been resident in the UK for a long time (and it's their home), but end up being unable to re-enter the country because they have no actual legal basis for that residency any more. This wasn't expected to be an urgent problem, as previous plans for departure from the EU were to continue allowing EU/EEA citizens freedom of movement into the UK until December 2020, eventually implementing controls as systems became available. This change in policy makes this much more urgent; there are a variety of issues affecting people who travel a lot, particularly in the immediate aftermath. The good news is that this approach will collapse in the face of reality because it's totally insane and will result in widespread chaos, and it's unlikely to even make it to the level of actual firm policy at any point.