EU citizens in Scotland make an 'invaluable contribution' to the country, according to the First Minister.
Nicola Sturgeon was speaking at an event in Edinburgh to celebrate the positive impact of EU citizens, where she also announced additional funding for the Stay in Scotland campaign.
The campaign has already awarded more than £570,000 to give practical advice, support and information to those from the European Union.
“We are stepping up efforts to support EU citizens and their families through our Stay in Scotland campaign," said Ms Sturgeon.
“Since the EU referendum, EU citizens have been forced to live with unacceptable levels of uncertainty as to how Brexit will affect their lives, their careers and their families.
“I want to make it clear today that we welcome EU citizens and celebrate the invaluable role they play in building our communities, economy and culture.
“Scotland needs to maintain inward migration to help grow our population and economy which is why everyone who wants to be part of Scotland’s progress is welcome to live, work and study here.”
Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) will now receive an extra £10,000 to expand legal support services for people applying to the EU Settlement Scheme who have more complex cases.
READ MORE: Jackson Carlaw launches bid to 'take down' Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP
Derek Mitchell, chief executive officer of CAS, said: “We have already provided support to over 4,100 people with their applications for the EU Settlement Scheme and in many cases, they will have complex issues which need legal support.
“We are delighted to be working collaboratively with other organisations in Scotland to help citizens remain in the UK after we leave the EU by providing free, confidential and impartial legal advice on immigration issues.”
JustRight Scotland, a legal centre for justice and human rights, will also get £7,000 to develop guidance for EU citizens explaining their rights to vote and access healthcare, education, housing and benefits.
Jen Ang, director of JustRight Scotland, said: “We are aware through our work and partnerships with frontline advocacy organisations that EU citizens continue to experience a great deal of uncertainty about their rights and how they will be impacted by Brexit.
“We are hopeful the multi-lingual and accessible resources we are able to produce with this funding will go some way to ensuring EU citizens feel more confident and supported in understanding their rights and in knowing where to access help and further information when they need to.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel