What are the rules for EU citizens working in the UK?

Rosa Dos Santos • May 7, 2021

If you’re planning to hire an EU national or if you’re an EU national looking to work in the UK, the following rules now apply regarding Settled Status.

If you arrived in the UK after 31 December 2020 it will become mandatory to evidence your EU Settlement Scheme status after 30 June 2021. If you already have Settled or Pre-settled Status, you can choose to use that status to prove your right to work now (instead of your passport or national identity card).

Who should apply?
 In the majority of cases, you need to apply for Settled Status if:

  • you’re an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen. (The EEA includes the EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway)
  • you’re not an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, but your family member is (or is an eligible person of Northern Ireland).

This means you need to apply even if you:

  • were born in the UK but are not a British citizen – you can check if you’re a British citizen if you’re not sure
  • have a UK ‘permanent residence document’
  • are a family member of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen who does not need to apply – including if they’re from Ireland
  • are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen with a British citizen family member.

It is important to note that if you have children, you need to apply for them separately.

If you’re an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen and you have a family member who is an eligible person of Northern Ireland, you may be able to choose which way you apply.

Who else can apply?
You can apply to join your EU, EEA or Swiss family member if they started living in the UK before 31 December 2020. You also may be able to apply if you’re not an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, but:

  • you used to have an EU, EEA or Swiss family member living in the UK (but you’ve separated, they’ve died, or the family relationship has broken down)
  • you’re the family member of a British citizen and you lived together outside the UK in an EEA country
  • you’re the family member of a British citizen who also has EU, EEA or Swiss citizenship and who lived in the UK as an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen before getting British citizenship
  • you have a family member who is an eligible person of Northern Ireland
  • you’re the primary carer of a British, EU, EEA or Swiss citizen
  • you’re the child of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen who used to live and work in the UK, or the child’s primary carer.

Who doesn’t need to apply? 
You don’t need to apply if you have:

  • indefinite leave to enter the UK
  • indefinite leave to remain in the UK
  • Irish citizenship (including British and Irish ‘dual citizenship’).

You cannot apply if you have British citizenship.

If you’re an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen and you moved to the UK before it joined the EU, you only need to apply if you don’t have indefinite leave to remain. If you do have indefinite leave to remain, you’ll usually have a stamp in your passport or a letter from the Home Office saying this.

Rosa dos Santos, owner of Exact Sourcing, believes that her team are perfectly placed to match EU candidates with UK employers providing all the recruitment boxes have been ticked. ‘Based as we are in Cambridge and Newmarket, we often work with candidates from the EU, as well as client businesses who like to recruit overseas talent,’ says Rosa. ‘Following Brexit, the process has become more complicated, but candidates are certainly able to achieve Settled Status, if required, and employers can ensure that they are abiding by the latest legislation.

‘It’s important for candidates in this position to know that they need to register online before the end of July 2021, even if they have been working in the UK for years. A candidate we were placing recently had worked in the UK for the same company for five years and still had an EU passport, but because they’d been here for so long they didn’t realise that they also had to register their details online.’

Exact Sourcing is a recruitment agency in Cambridge and Newmarket, and we also serve Ely, Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill, Royston and Sawston. If you’re an EU national looking to work in the UK or you’re looking to recruit an EU citizen to your team, why not contact us for an initial conversation?

The post News first appeared on Exact Sourcing.

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