EU citizens will need ID cards to stay in UK – and £18k salary to bring spouse
ALL three million EU citizens living in Britain will have to apply for ID cards to give them the right to remain after Brexit.
The plan is part of Theresa May’s offer to let EU citizens who have lived the UK for five years stay on.
A new EU “settled status” residence document will be in the form of an ID card backed up by an entry on a Home Office central database. It was revealed yesterday as the PM detailed Government proposals on EU citizens after the UK leaves the bloc.
May urged EU citizens living in the UK not to leave and pledged that “no families will be split up” as a result of Brexit.
In what appeared to be a major concession, she revealed that the relatives of those granted settled status could also gain the right to live and work in Britain. She told MPs: “I want to reassure these 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. No families will be split up.
“Family dependants 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 UK nationals.”
May did not spell out that under her plans, EU citizens with settled status will have to earn at least £18,600 to bring a spouse here.
A 15-page policy paper proposes a new “light touch” online system to process applications that will give applicants the same
“indefinite leave to remain” status as many non-EU nationals who have lived in Britain for five years.
The document also reveals that EU nationals who have applied for permanent residence status since the referendum – thought to number more than 150,000 – will be asked to apply again in a streamlined process.
May said her plan represents a “serious and fair” offer to resolve the future of EU citizens in Britain and UK citizens living in the EU.
But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn denounced the proposals as “too little, too late”, saying the Government should have guaranteed the rights of EU nationals after last year’s referendum vote to leave the EU.
He added: “By making an offer only after the negotiations have begun, the Prime Minister has dragged the issue of EU citizens and families deep into the complex and delicate negotiations of our future trade relations with the EU, which she herself has been willing to say may result in failure.
“This isn’t a generous offer. This is confirmation the Government are prepared to use people as bargaining chips.”
SNP immigration spokesman Stuart McDonald MP said: “The UK Government must now be waking up to the huge skills and recruitment problems that an end to free movement will bring.”
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said Brussels’ goal was for citizens to enjoy the same level of protection as under EU law – and May’s plans fell short.
He added: “More ambition, clarity and guarantees are needed than in today’s UK position.”