Quanta Brexit Update – November 2020

As we draw closer to the year end it seems more likely than not that the Governments of the EU and the UK Government will reach an agreement on the terms for Brexit.  Of course, nothing is certain in politics, as we have seen from the USA elections!  However, whatever the outcome, we should all be making final preparations for Brexit, especially if you are working away from your home nation, or plan to do so after 1^st January 2021. 

If you are a UK national and currently working in the EU, and plan to continue to do so beyond the 31^st December 2020, you and your family may need to apply for a residence status to confirm that you were already resident in the EU country you live in before 31 December 2020.  You will have until the  30 June 2021 to do this.  The EU country where you live may set up a system for applying for a residence status.  The application should be short, simple and either free of charge, or cost no more than applying for a similar document, for example a national identity card or passport.  If you expect to live and work in an  EU country next year, Quanta would  strongly encourage you to make appropriate residence status applications as soon as possible to avoid delays.

If you are working in the UK and are a EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, you and your family may apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to continue living in the UK after 30 June 2021. If your application is successful, you would get either settled or pre-settled status. You would have until at least 30 June 2021 to do this. You may be able to stay in the UK without applying - for example, if you have indefinite leave to remain or are an Irish citizen.

Just as a reminder, work and travel between the UK and Ireland is governed by the Common Travel Area (CTA). This is a long-standing arrangement between the UK, the Crown Dependencies (Bailiwick of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Isle of Man) and Ireland that pre-dates both British and Irish membership of the EU and is not dependent on it. Under the CTA, British and Irish citizens can move freely and reside in either jurisdiction and enjoy associated rights and privileges, including the right to work, study and vote in certain elections, as well as to access social welfare benefits and health services.

For those of you who are working, or plan to work in Switzerland then the arrangements are different as Switzerland is not part of the EU. The UK and Switzerland have drawn up their own bilateral agreement on acquired citizen’s rights based on the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons (AFMP). More information about this can be found here.

The next couple of days is a critical period in the negotiations.  Both sides have come a long way in the discussions.  Let us all hope the politicians manage to conjure up an agreed solution in the short time remaining.  

Despite all the uncertainty and delays caused by Brexit and Covid-19 Quanta have continued to work hard to deliver our services to our contractors and clients.  There are a great number of job opportunities for our contractor community to choose from and so we have a very positive outlook for 2021.  If you are seeking your next European or UK project, please do review the exciting opportunities that we have to offer at the moment by clicking here - Happy hunting!