About Us
Settled is a charity set up in 2019 to help EU citizens living in the UK whose rights were affected by Brexit. We worked hard to ensure as many as possible secured their immigration status before the deadline in June 2021, so that their lives here could continue.
We now continue to provide information, advice and support to EU citizens, including people who are late applying to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS), who have had their application refused, or are moving from pre-settled to settled status once eligible. We also help when people are struggling to prove their immigration status or to access rights and services. These can include the right to bring family members to join them in the UK, and to access welfare benefits, healthcare, etc.
Since 2022, we also now provide advice on the UK’s Ukraine visa schemes. We cover immigration rights on the three schemes, and broader rights of housing, education, etc. (We do not assist in ‘matching’ directly).
Our charitable objects, approved by the Charity Commission, are: “The relief of European Union Citizens* in need, by reason of war, conflict, youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship, homelessness, being victims/survivors of domestic violence, being victims of human trafficking or other disadvantage by the provision of education, information, support, advice and representation. *For the purposes of of this clause, European citizens includes citizens and residents of all EU countries or EEA or Swiss nationals, or nationals of prospective or candidate countries to the European Union, or non-European Union citizens dependent on an European Union citizen for their current residence status”.
Settled is registered to give immigration advice at OISC Level 3. We have a small staff team of coordinators and lawyers, and a network of 100 dedicated volunteers based throughout the UK.
We speak over 20 European languages, including Romanes for our dedicated EUSS Roma service, and Ukrainian.
Read more about the range of our works and achievements in the last financial year as summary inforgraphics, or in our annual report.
Contacting Our Services
Advice for EU and Ukrainian citizens is provided free of charge by email or phone (Mon-Fri 9-5). We also manage interactive Facebook groups in a range of languages. Multilingual information is also available in the Help section of this website.
Contact us for free, accredited support
- EUSS Multilingual advice line*: 0330 223 5336
- EUSS advice service: [email protected]
- EUSS Roma advice service: [email protected]k
- If you live in Wales, and would like support making an application for pre-settled or settled status, please email [email protected]
- Ukraine visa schemes advice service: [email protected]
- Facebook online advice forums in Bulgarian, German, Italian, Spanish, and Ukrainian.
- Further contact information is here.
* With extensions in English (1), Bulgarian (2), Italian (4), Spanish (7), and Romanes (8). If calling from outside the UK, please dial +44 330 223 5336.
Our Staff Team
CEO
Immigration Advice Manager (Scotland)
Roma Adviser
Communications & Impact Manager
Outreach & Comms Officer (Ukraine Advice service)
Outreach & Comms Officer (Wales)
Advice & Outreach Worker (Wales)
Senior Immigration Adviser
Outreach and Volunteer Officer (Wales)
Service Manager (Wales)
Service Manager (England)
EUSS Applications Adviser (Wales)
Ukraine Schemes Adviser
Freelance Finance Manager
Our Trustees
Martine Petetin – Chair of the Board of Trustees
Martine Petetin is a retired company lawyer with experience in global organisations. She has held trustee positions for several charities before joining the board of Settled. Martine is Settled’s Chair of trustees.
Wiard Sterk – Secretary to the Board of Trustees
Wiard is a Dutch citizen and has lived in Wales for close to four decades. He’s an Art Historian with a career in senior management in the creative industries, commissioning artist-led public realm projects. More recently he was engaged by the3millon as an advocate, and worked for Settled as Information Manager. Now semi-retired, he balances a portfolio of freelance projects and voluntary board positions. He is a Non-Executive Director for Caredig housing association, and Chair of Sinfonia Cymru. In between, he regularly sails in-shore and occasional off-shore races, and spends time on his allotment, weather permitting. Wiard is Secretary to the Board of Trustees,
Christopher Desira
Chris Desira is a solicitor director specialising in immigration law and policy at the law firm Seraphus. He also provides advice through the Free Movement website, and is an advisor on Brexit immigration issues to the European Delegation to the UK. Chris is also an experienced business manager, providing advice on service delivery.
Jen Ang
Marcela Benedetti
Marcela is a European-Latin-American mentor, campaigner and activist specialising in gender-based violence and migrant women’s rights. Previously, she was a lawyer, a dance teacher, and worked on the frontline of domestic abuse services. Marcela believes that the way forward, in life and work, is collaboration. She has experience creating and implementing innovative safe spaces for individuals and organisations.
Mihai Bica
Alison Graham
Based in Scotland, Alison is an experienced governance practitioner and a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Over a career spanning nearly four decades in financial services she has held a range of non-executive director, trustee and other governance positions in organisations of various sizes and constitutional structures, including in the charitable and not-for-profit sector. Now in her ‘retirement’, while practising as a personal development and executive coach, studying part time at the OU for fun, and spending more time with her family and three cats, she is keen to put her governance experience and expertise to good use in the service of charitable organisations.
Dr Paul Nieuwenhuis
Paul is a retired academic with expertise in logistics and operations management, and still writes books and articles. He worked at Cardiff Business School, and has lived in the Welsh capital since 1990. He is a Dutch citizen and grew up in the Netherlands, before moving to Australia aged 16. He then studied modern languages in Belgium, Spain, and Scotland; before moving to England and then Wales. He has EUSS settled status, and is keen to help other European migrants who haven’t been able to get status easily, who have had problems accessing their rights, or who have been made to feel unwelcome in the UK after Brexit.
Our Volunteers
Settled was founded by volunteers back in 2019, and couldn’t operate without the extraordinary commitment of our amazing, accredited volunteer advisers, who give their time on our multilingual phone helpline, email, and Facebook services.
Many of our paid staff were previously volunteers.
Please see more about what they do, and how you might like to get involved, here.
