EU nationals’ close family will be able to come to the UK just days before Brexit and stay for life, Theresa May says
EVERY EU national living in Britain will be able to bring in their family just days before Brexit and guarantee them full residency, under plans revealed today.
Theresa May vowed “no family will be split up” as she outlined a 15-page document detailing the Government’s “fair and serious” offer to Brussels on citizens’ rights.
She added that any EU national already sending child benefit back home to the Continent can continue to do so for years to come.
Experts predicted a migration surge as tens of thousands look to take advantage of the PM’s offer.
Mrs May today outlined the first details of the proposal to EU leaders in Brussels made late last week. Speaking in the Commons, she confirmed all three million EU nationals living in the UK now will be able to gain “settled status” and stay here forever.
But she also revealed that any of their close relatives, even from outside the EU, can also stay if they arrive before a Brexit cut-off.
Mrs May said: “I want to completely reassure people that under these plans no EU citizen currently in the UK lawfully will be asked to leave at the point the UK leaves the EU. We want you to stay.”
She added: “EU citizens make an invaluable contribution to our United Kingdom, to our economy, our public services, and our everyday lives.
"That’s why I initially sought an agreement on this before we triggered Article 50, and it is why I’m making it an immediate priority at the beginning of the negotiations.”
The PM said even those EU nationals arriving after a cut-off for eligibility will still get another two years to apply for a work permit in a bid to remain.
But the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier immediately branded the offer “unambitious”.
He tweeted: “More ambition, clarity and guarantees are needed than in today’s UK position.”
European Parliament negotiator Guy Verhofstadt claimed a number of “limitations remain worrisome”.
Opposition MPs also warned that the Home Office faced an administrative nightmare.
Under today’s proposals, EU nationals will have to apply for a residency document over a two-year window — an average of 4,100 submissions a day.
They will have to pay around £65 each — generating £195million.
The PM insisted: “The Home Office is well able to deal with the issues that it will be addressing.”
Brexit Secretary David Davis insisted the document was not an ID card as they would not “have to carry it around all the time”.
The Government’s offer relies on a reciprocal deal from the EU for the 1.2million Brits living on the Continent.
Mrs May again insisted the UK will not accept any say from the hated European Court of Justice — a key demand in the Commission’s proposals two weeks ago.
She repeated that the cut-off point for an EU national to qualify for settled status could change depending on negotiations with Brussels. It may be the end of March 2019 — the moment we leave the EU.
Or it could be brought forward to March 29, 2017, the day Mrs May invoked Article 50 and began the two-year countdown to Brexit.
Anyone who arrives before a cut-off date will be given a chance to run up the five years and apply for the same "settled status".
During the application process, the Home Office may need to "capture evidence of EU citizens' biometric information" to protect against fraud - which could amount to a form of ID card.
Experts claim the Government is almost certain to agree to the 2019 date if the Commission waives its demands on the ECJ.
Theresa May's statement on EU nationals
Mr Speaker, turning to citizens’ rights, EU citizens make an invaluable contribution to our United Kingdom – to our economy, our public services and our everyday lives. They are an integral part of the economic, cultural and social fabric of our country and I have always been clear that I want to protect their rights. That is why I initially sought an agreement on this before we triggered Article 50. And it is why I am making it an immediate priority at the beginning of the negotiations.
But Mr Speaker, that agreement must be reciprocal, because we must protect the rights of UK citizens living in EU Member States too. At the Council I set out some of the principles that I believe should underlie that reciprocal agreement – and there was a very positive response from individual leaders and a strong sense of mutual goodwill in trying to reach such an agreement as soon as possible.
So today, we are publishing detailed proposals to do exactly that. And let me set out the key points for the House.First, we want certainty. I know there has been some anxiety about what would happen to EU citizens at the point we leave the European Union.Today I want to put that anxiety to rest. I want to completely reassure people that, under these plans, no EU citizen currently in the UK lawfully will be asked to leave at the point the UK leaves the EU. We want you to stay.
Second, any EU citizen in the UK with five years’ continuous residence - at a specified cut-off date - will be granted settled status. They will be treated as if they were UK citizens for healthcare, education, benefits and pensions. While any EU citizens with less than five years’ residence - who have arrived before the specified cut-off date - will be able to stay until they have the five years’ residence to apply for UK settled status.
Third, the specified cut-off date will be the subject of discussions – but it will be no earlier than the date we triggered Article 50 and no later than the date we leave the EU.
Fourth, no families will be split up. Family dependents who join a qualifying EU citizen here before the UK’s exit will be able to apply for settled status after five years.And after the UK has left the European Union, EU citizens with settled status will be able to bring family members from overseas on the same terms as British nationals.
Fifth, there will be no cliff-edge. There will be a grace period of up to two years to allow people to regularise their status. While those EU citizens who arrived in the UK after the specified cut-off date will be allowed to remain in the UK for at least a temporary period and may still become eligible to settle permanently.
Sixth, the system of registration that citizens go through will be as streamlined and light touch as possible and we intend to remove some of the technical requirements currently needed to obtain permanent residence under EU rules.
For example, we will not require anyone to demonstrate that they have held comprehensive sickness insurance.
Seventh, we expect this offer to be extended on a reciprocal basis to nationals of Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. And the reciprocal agreement on citizens’ rights will apply to the entire United Kingdom and Gibraltar.
Eighth, this is all without prejudice to the Common Travel Area arrangements that exist between the UK and Ireland. We will preserve the freedoms that UK and Irish nationals currently enjoy in each others’ state. And Irish citizens will not need to apply for permanent residence to protect these entitlements. Finally, the UK will continue to export and uprate the UK State Pension and provide associated healthcare cover within the EU. We will continue to protect the export of other benefits and associated healthcare cover, where the individual is in receipt of those benefits on the specified cut-off date.
And subject to negotiations we want to continue participating in the European Health Insurance Card scheme, so that UK card holders could continue to benefit from free or reduced cost healthcare while on a temporary stay in the EU and vice versa for EU card holders visiting the UK.
Mr Speaker, this is a fair and serious offer. Our obligations in the Withdrawal Treaty with the EU will be binding on the UK as a matter of international law. And we will incorporate commitments into UK law guaranteeing that we will stand firmly by our part of the deal. So our offer will give those three million EU citizens in the UK certainty about the future of their lives. And a reciprocal agreement will provide the same certainty for the more than one million UK citizens who are living in the European Union.
The Migration Watch think-tank said: “There is always a surge when immigration laws change. The Government are clearly trying to avoid that happening now by deciding not to commit to the cut-off for now.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn today branded the offer as “too little, too late”.
His Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer said: “This is an inadequate and conditional offer that will do nothing to end uncertainty for millions of people.”
Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake added: “Far from being ‘fair and serious’ this offers very little and shows the Government is continuing in its callousness.”
Jonathan Portes, professor of economics at King’s College London, said the PM appeared to finally “grasp the scale” of the task ahead.
But he added that while the offer would have been viewed as “generous” nine months ago it was now “likely to be seen at best as a belated step in the right direction”.
The Government's proposal today promised:
- No Europeans will have to leave Britain until after a post-Brexit transition period, no matter when they arrived
- All EU citizens who move to the UK before the cut-off point will be given "blanket permission" to stay for a period - expected to be up to two years
- All EU nationals living in the UK lawfully for at least five years will be granted "settled status" and can live, work and claim benefits just as they can now
- Brits will be able to get free healthcare while living or travelling in Europe under a continuation of the EHIC scheme
- European teenagers living in Britain will be eligible for discounted university fees and student loans, while current students will not see a hike in fees after Brexit
- Irish citizens will not have their rights affected by Brexit and will always be able to live and work in Britain freely
- Children born in the UK to parents from the EU will automatically become British citizens
- Brit pensioners living in Europe will have their pension payments increased every year just as if they were still in the UK
- Serious criminals will be booted out