Brexit

For a transitional period after Brexit on 31 October 2019 until 31 December 2020, law abiding EU citizens and their family members will be able to move to the UK and live, study, work and access benefits and services as they do now. This rule is valid also in case of a no-deal (hard) Brexit.

That basically means that although the majority of introduced carers come from Poland, you don’t need to worry, they will still be able to live and work in the United Kindgom.

EU citizens who are residents in the UK before Brexit

EU citizens who are the UK residents before Brexit (before 31^st of October 2019, 23:00) are welcome to stay in the UK until the end of 2020, with their rights unchanged. To be able to stay after that date, they would only have to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme before that date. The application is free and easy to complete online. It is already possible to apply for this.

A successful application under the EU Settlement Scheme will enable the applicant to obtain one of two settling statuses:

Settled status – granted if a person has a 5 years continuous residency in the UK. This status will last indefinitely and enables the person to apply for British citizenship.

Pre-settled status – granted if a person has not yet gained 5 years’ continuous residence in the UK. This status may last up to 5 years and after this period the person may apply for the settled status.

UE citizens entering the UK after Brexit

For a transitional period after Brexit on 31 October 2019 until 31 December 2020, there will be no changes regarding living, studying, working and accessing benefits and services for the EU citizens living in the UK.

Those EU citizens and their close family members who move to the UK after Brexit and wish to stay beyond 2020 will need to apply for a UK immigration status granting them permission to stay. Therefore, during the transition period, a voluntary scheme would be open, to provide a route to apply for this immigration status in the future – the European temporary leave to remain (Euro TLR) Scheme.

Applications will involve a simple online process and identity, security and criminality checks. The successful applicants would be granted a temporary immigration status for 3 years, running from the date the leave is granted.

After the transition period – from January 2021 – a new immigration system will be introduced (most probably point-based australian system). The Euro TLR holders will have a bridge into the new immigration system after their TLR expires.

To recap, the carers from the EU will definitely be allowed to work in the United Kingdom after Brexit, even with no deal. Carers are part of the fragile UK care system, of which the majority comes from the EU and are not the UK nationals.

For more information on Euro TLR and the no deal immigration arrangements, please visit this government’s website.

To find out more about the EU Settlement scheme, please visit EU Settlement Scheme website.