NEARLY 20,000 EU citizens in Southampton have applied to live and work in the UK after Brexit, according to the Home Office.

The EU Settlement Scheme allows resident EU and Swiss citizens, plus those from the European Economic Area countries to apply to continue living and working in the UK.

The Government has hailed the process as a success, saying it has received more than 3 million applications so far.

But EU citizens’ rights campaign group the3million says even a small percentage of individuals missing out means misery for thousands.

Official figures show that 19,100 applications were made in Southampton up to the end of last year, of which 17,120 were finalised.

Of those, 10,270 applicants were granted settled status, meaning they have a permanent right to remain in the UK.

A further 6,760 were handed pre-settled status, which gives them permission to keep living in the country and the chance to reapply once they have done so for five years.

The rest of the applications had other outcomes, such as being refused, withdrawn or void, or invalid.​

More than 3 million EU citizens have applied to live and work in the UK after Brexit, according to the Home Office, and more than 2.7 million have been granted permission to remain.

The national figures cover up to the end of January.

Home Secretary Priti Patel described the programme as the “biggest of its kind in British history”, which would mean “EU citizens can evidence their rights for decades to come”, adding: “It’s now time for EU countries to adopt a similar scheme.”

But Maike Bohn, co-founder of the3million, said the figures do not shed light on those who don’t apply, are refused unlawfully or discouraged from applying.

She added: “Just a small percentage of individuals falling through the cracks means misery for tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people.

“Those people will face the full force of the hostile environment and the Government have so far avoided to say how it will handle those cases.”

In Southampton, Polish nationals made the most applications up to the end of December (7,410), followed by people from Romania (2,630) and Portugal (1,710).

Italy and Spain were also common places of origin for applicants, with 990 and 880 respectively.

Across the UK, Polish (512,310), Romanian (435,690) and Italian (290,990) nationals submitted the most applications.