What has been agreed on citizens' rights? See full press release from the European Commission
"The right for every EU citizen and their family members to live, work or study in any EU Member State is one of the foundations of the European Union. Many EU and UK citizens have made their life choices based on rights related to free movement under Union law. Protecting the life choices of those citizens and their family members has been the first priority from the beginning of the negotiation.
The Withdrawal Agreement safeguards the right to stay and continue their current activities for over 3 million EU citizens in the UK, and over 1 million UK nationals in EU countries.
Who is protected by the Withdrawal Agreement?
The Withdrawal Agreement protects those EU citizens who were residing in the UK and UK nationals who were residing in one of the 27 EU Member States at the end of the transition period, where such residence is in accordance with EU law on free movement.
The Withdrawal Agreement also protects the family members that are granted rights under EU law (current spouses and registered partners, parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren and a person in an existing durable relationship), who do not yet live in the same host state as the Union citizen or the UK national, to join them in the future.
Children will be protected by the Withdrawal Agreement, wherever they are born before or after the UK's withdrawal, or whether they are born inside or outside the host state where the EU citizen or the UK national resides. The only exception foreseen concerns children born after the UK's withdrawal and for which a parent not covered by the Withdrawal Agreement has sole custody under the applicable family law.
Which rights are protected?
The Withdrawal Agreement enables both EU citizens and UK nationals, as well as their respective family members, to continue to exercise their rights derived from Union law in each other's territories, for the rest of their lives, where those rights are based on life choices made before the end of the transition period.
Union citizens and UK nationals, as well as their respective family members can continue to live, work or study as they currently do under the same substantive conditions as under Union law, benefiting in full from the application of the prohibition of any discrimination on grounds of nationality and of the right to equal treatment compared to host state nationals. The only restrictions which apply are those derived from Union law or as provided for under the Agreement. The Withdrawal Agreement does not prevent the UK or Member States from deciding to grant more generous rights.
Residence rights
The substantive conditions of residence are and will remain the same as those under current EU law on free movement. In the case where the host states opted for a mandatory registration system, decisions for granting the new residence status under the Withdrawal Agreement will be made based on objective criteria (i.e. no discretion), and on the basis of the exact same conditions set out in the Free Movement Directive (Directive 2004/38/EC): Articles 6 and 7 confer a right of residence for up to five years on those who work or have sufficient financial resources and sickness insurance, Articles 16 – 18 confer a right of permanent residence on those who have resided legally for five years.
In essence, EU citizens and UK nationals meet these conditions if they are: workers or self-employed; or have sufficient resources and sickness insurance; or are family members of some other person who meets these conditions; or have already acquired the right of permanent residence and are therefore no longer subject to any conditions.
The Withdrawal Agreement does not require physical presence in the host state at the end of the transition period – temporary absences that do not affect the right of residence and longer absences that do not affect the right of permanent residence are accepted.
Those protected by the Withdrawal Agreement who have not yet acquired permanent residence rights – if they have not lived in the host state for at least five years – will be fully protected by the Withdrawal Agreement, and will be able to continue residing in the host state and acquire permanent residence rights also after the UK's withdrawal.
EU citizens and UK nationals arriving in the host state during the transition period will enjoy exactly the same rights and obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement as those who arrived in the host state before 30 March 2019. Their rights will be subject to the same restrictions and limitations, too. The persons concerned will no longer be beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement if they are absent from their host state for more than five years.
Rights of workers and self-employed persons, and recognition of professional qualifications
The persons covered by the Withdrawal Agreement will have the right to take up employment or to carry out an economic activity as a self-employed person. They will also keep all their workers' rights based on Union law. For example, they will maintain the right not to be discriminated against on ground of nationality as regards employment, remuneration and other conditions of work and employment; the right to take up and pursue an activity in accordance with the rules applicable to the nationals of the host state, the right to employment assistance under the same conditions as the nationals of the host state, the right to equal treatment in respect of conditions of employment and work, the right to social and tax advantages, collective rights, and the right for their children to access education.
The Withdrawal Agreement will also protect the rights of frontier workers or frontier self-employed persons in the countries where they work.
Additionally, when a person covered by the Withdrawal Agreement who had his or her professional qualifications recognised in the country (an EU Member State or the UK) where he or she currently resides or, for frontier workers, where he or she works, will be able to continue to rely on the recognition decision there for the purpose of carrying out the professional activities linked to the use of those professional qualifications. If he or she has already applied for the recognition of his or her professional qualifications before the end of the transition period, his or her application will be processed domestically in accordance with the EU rules applicable when the application was made.
Social security
The Withdrawal Agreement provides for rules on social security coordination in relation to the beneficiaries of the citizens' part of the Withdrawal Agreement, and to other persons who at the end of the transition period are in a situation involving both the United Kingdom and a Member State from the social security cooperation perspective.
Those persons will maintain their right to healthcare, pensions and other social security benefits, and if they are entitled to a cash benefit from one country, they may be able to receive it even if they decide to live in another country.
The social security provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement will address the rights of EU citizens and UK nationals in social security cross-border situations involving the UK and (at least) one Member State at the end of the transition period.
Those provisions can be extended to cover "triangular" social security situations involving a Member State (or several Member States), the UK and an EFTA country (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland). This will allow the rights of EU citizens, UK nationals as well as EFTA country citizens who are in that type of triangular situations to be protected.
For this to be operational, three different agreements need to be applicable: an article in the Withdrawal Agreement protecting EFTA nationals, provisions protecting EU citizens in corresponding agreements between the UK and the EFTA countries, and provisions protecting UK nationals in corresponding agreements between the EU and the EFTA countries.
Only if the two latter agreements are concluded and applicable, the article in the Withdrawal Agreement protecting EFTA nationals will be applicable as well. The decision on the applicability of this article will be taken by the Joint Committee created by the Withdrawal Agreement.
Some specific cases covered by the Withdrawal Agreement
Case 1: Workers. You are an EU citizen who arrived in the UK two years ago, and you work in a local hospital. You will be allowed to stay in the UK after the UK leaves the EU. EU free movement law will continue to apply until the end of the transition period. Afterwards, the Withdrawal Agreement provides that, if you are residing in the UK at the end the transition period, you will be able to stay in the UK under essentially the same substantive conditions required by EU free movement law: you will continue to have residence rights if you continue to work (or if you involuntarily stop working in accordance with Article 7(3) of the Free Movement Directive), become self-employed, or become a self-sufficient person (i.e. you have sufficient financial resources and sickness insurance).
However, to this effect you will need to make an application to the UK authorities for a new UK residence status. Once you have accumulated five years of legal residence in the UK, you will be able to apply for your residence status in the UK to be upgraded to a permanent residence status that offers more rights and better protection.
Case 2: Frontier workers relying on professional qualifications. You are a British physiotherapist living in Belgium and working as a physiotherapist in the Netherlands, where you had your British professional qualifications recognised before the end of the transition period. EU free movement law will continue to apply until the end of the transition period. If you are still in the same situation, the Withdrawal Agreement provides that you will be able to continue residing in Belgium and carrying out your professional activities in the Netherlands as a frontier worker or, as applicable, a frontier self-employed person. You will be able to continue relying on the decision taken by the Dutch authorities to recognise your professional qualifications for the purpose of carrying out your professional activities.
Case 3: Students. You are citizen from an EU Member State, and you are currently in the United Kingdom for your studies. EU free movement law will continue to apply until the end of the transition period. Afterwards, if you are still studying in the UK at the end of the transition period, you will be able to stay in the United Kingdom – but you must apply for the new UK residence status. After five years of residence you will be able to apply for a new UK permanent residence status. Moreover, you will continue to be able to ‘switch' status: you will be able to start working or become a self-employed person.
Applicable procedures
The Withdrawal Agreement leaves the choice up to the host state whether to require or not a mandatory application as a condition for the enjoyment of the rights under the Withdrawal Agreement. The UK has already expressed the intention to apply a mandatory registration system for beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement. Those fulfilling the conditions will be issued with a residence document (which may be in electronic form).
Some EU Member States have indicated that they will also apply a mandatory registration system (so-called "constitutive system"). In other Member States, however, UK nationals complying with the conditions set out in the Agreement will automatically become beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement (so-called "declaratory system"). In the latter case, UK nationals will be entitled to request that the host state issues them a residence document attesting that they are beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement.
The EU has attached particular importance to the existence of smooth and simple administrative procedures for the citizens covered by the Agreement to exercise their rights. Only what is strictly necessary and proportionate to determine whether the criteria for lawful residence have been met, can be required, and any unnecessary administrative burdens will be avoided. These requirements are particularly relevant if the host state opts for a mandatory registration system. The costs of such applications must not exceed those imposed on nationals for issuing similar documents. Those already holding a permanent residence document will be able to exchange it for the 'special status', free of charge.
Administrative procedures for applications for the 'special status' that the UK or Member States will set up under the Withdrawal Agreement must also respect the above-mentioned requirements. Errors, involuntary omissions or non-respect of the deadline to submit the application have to be dealt with under a proportionate approach. The overall objective is to ensure that the process is as clear, simple and non-bureaucratic as possible for the affected citizens.
Implementation and monitoring of the citizens' rights part of the Withdrawal Agreement
The text of the Withdrawal Agreement on citizens' rights is very precise, so that it can be relied upon directly by EU citizens in British courts, and by UK nationals in the courts of the Member States. Any national law provisions that are not consistent with the provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement will have to be disapplied.
UK courts will be able to ask for preliminary rulings from the Court of Justice of the EU on the interpretation of the citizens' part of the Withdrawal Agreement for a period of eight years following the end of the transition period. For questions related to the application for the UK settled status, that eight-year period will start running on 30 March 2019.
The implementation and application of citizens' rights in the EU will be monitored by the Commission acting in conformity with the Union Treaties. In the UK, this role will be fulfilled by an independent national authority. This Authority will be granted equivalent powers to those of the European Commission to receive and investigate complaints from Union citizens and their family members, to conduct inquiries on its own initiative, and to bring legal actions before UK courts concerning alleged breaches by the administrative authorities of the UK of their obligations under the citizens' rights part of the Withdrawal Agreement.
The Authority and the European Commission shall inform each other annually through the Joint Committee established by the Withdrawal Agreement of the measures taken to implement and enforce the citizens' rights under the Agreement. Such information should include in particular the number and nature of complaints treated and any follow up legal action taken.
Presentation of the citizens' rights
The graph below explains in a concise manner the key terms of the Withdrawal Agreement. The figures used of 3.2 million EU citizens in the UK and 1.2 million UK citizens in the EU are estimates based on 2015 UN and UK figures. Actual numbers may vary.
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