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HALFWAY THROUGH TRANSITION: WHERE ARE WE?
We take stock of the state of citizens' rights for UK citizens in the EU and EEA and explain what British in Europe is doing to fight for them.
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Dear Briton in Europe,
This is a long newsletter because at BiE we have been absurdly busy. Why, you may ask, when the world's focus is on the health emergency and most sane people have almost forgotten the dreaded 'B word'?
The reason is clear. We are approaching halfway through the transition period before the UK's definitive departure from the EU and very little has happened to clarify how the Withdrawal Agreement will be implemented for Britons in the EU.
The Guidance Note, published last month, has helped - see Kalba Meadow's first instalment of what it means for us. However, we still have no definitive list of member states which will take the constitutive route and which will follow the more benevolent declaratory route for registering UK citizens. With only six months before the end of transition, few EU countries have even announced their implementation plans, let alone put them into practice, so we are pressing national governments as hard as we can. Meanwhile, BiE is continuing its long-standing campaign to get the UK government to treat returning British citizens fairly.
We are also at a delicate point politically, with EU/UK negotiations turning sour, thus putting us in danger, once more, of becoming piggy in the middle. As a result, BiE has been hyperactive in both Westminster and Brussels. Our amendment to the UK Immigration Bill did not prosper, but having it put forward was a major step forward - and there will be further opportunities to amend and submit again. Jeremy Morgan's oral evidence to the House of Commons Committee about the bill's effects on UK citizens, came on the heels of our written evidence to the Select Committee on the Future Relationship with the EU. In the European Parliament, after intense lobbying, we influenced the final resolution on the EU/UK negotiations.
Since June 2016 - yes, yesterday was the fourth anniversary of that referendum - we have learnt much about hard political realities. We have discovered that, even in a situation as clear as the UK's departure from the EU, citizens' rights must be fought for every inch of the way. This is a long, hard battle and we still must ensure that the rights of every single UK citizen in the EU are protected in practice (not just in theory) by the Withdrawal Agreement, that everybody can register simply and fairly, that nobody is discriminated against or unfairly treated.
If you think the same, that we need to keep up the pressure, to remain vigilant and to keep on fighting tooth and nail, please consider donating to us.
We hope that you are all well.
Take care and best wishes,
BiE Steering Group
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BiE INFLUENCES KEY EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION
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The European Parliament on 18 June.
Our advocacy team spent some weeks lobbying hard behind the scenes for amendments to be made to the crucial European Parliament resolution that was voted on last Thursday 18 June, dealing with the EU's current negotiations with the UK.
Reflecting the increasingy fraught state of relations between the UK and the EU, initial drafts of the resolution had left out any mention of UK citizens and only focused on problems with Britain's treatment of EU citizens. Working closely with the3million, BiE pressed for reference to be made to UK citizens. We ensured that the amendment was supported by four key committees including that chaired by David McAllister (the UK coordination group).
The final text of the resolution 'urges the Member States to fully respect and protect the rights of UK citizens living in the EU under the Withdrawal Agreement and to give them all the information they need and legal certainty about their situation and rights, including whether they are implementing a constitutive or a declaratory residence scheme.' It was adopted with 572 votes for, 34 votes against and 91 abstentions.
As most of us are no longer EU citizens and have lost our vote, it is only through the strong relationships that our advocacy team has built up in the European Parliament, coupled with our close partnership with the3million, that we can continue to influence in this way.
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OUR RIGHT TO RETURN TO THE UK WITH NON-UK FAMILY MEMBERS
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On 12 June the SNP presented an amendment to the Immigration Bill, drafted by British in Europe, on our right to return to the UK with close non-UK family members (known as Surinder Singh rights) on the same terms as now. The debate was preceded by intense lobbying and the presentation to the major political parties of a BiE briefing paper outlining the issues.
As things stand, we will no longer be able to go back to the UK with our non-UK family after 29 March 2022 under the current, and more generous, EU immigration rules. This is grossly unfair as we moved to the EU/EEA under the legitimate expectation of being able to return with our families. Currently, EU citizens living in Britain can go back to their country of origin with their UK family members - so the government is perversely discriminating against its own citizens on the grounds of nationality
Moving the goalposts and changing the rules after we have settled and raised families can in no way be justified. Some of us now face the heart-rending decision of whether to stay with our families or return to support elderly parents which, given the care crisis, is a real concern.
Predictably, the amendment was rejected by the majority Conservative party, but it was an important step to get this issue onto the political agenda in Westminster. We are now looking with opposition parties at how we could redraft and resubmit at future stages in the legislative process.
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JEREMY MORGAN GIVES ORAL EVIDENCE ON THE IMMIGRATION AND SOCIAL SECURITY BILL
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On 9 June Jeremy Morgan gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on the Immigration and Social Security Bill. There was no video link so Jeremy had to participate by phone and had huge difficulty in just hearing the questions put to him by MPs.
Despite the terrible connection, Jeremy kept his cool and, with great clarity, pressed two of our key objections to the bill:
- how it will remove our rights to return to the UK with non-UK family.
- how it gives unrestrained Henry VIII powers to amend EU Social Security (and healthcare) law which could jeopardise the citizens' chapter of the Withdrawal Agreement.
You can listen to the full session here. You can also hear the Select Committee chair's petulant remark to the Immigration Minister at the beginning of the session - 'Why couldn't they be bothered to come in?'
The chairman knew very well that Jeremy lives in Central Italy and would only have been able to give evidence in person by breaking his own government's quarantine rules. This incident says a lot about the attitudes towards Britons in Europe amongst certain sections of UK society.
A written request for a corrective statement to rectify the misleading impression created by the chair's comment has gone without a reply.
Jeremy at a previous oral evidence session in Parliament:
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In Brexpats - Hear Our Voice, (a pan-European group), we have recently carried out two polls.
The first was to find out what employment sectors UK citizens in the EU are in and how they are currently affected by the coronavirus crisis.
The second poll was to find out how Britons are being affected by the combination of the looming end of transition and the ongoing ramifications of the pandemic.
The results have been met with interest from several embassies. For more information see: https://brexpatshov.com/ourdocuments
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Life for British citizens in Estonia is returning to normality as the Covid crisis is offically over, with the Baltic Bubble seeing travel restrictions lifted between the Baltic States in time for our mid-summer holiday season.
As we near the midpoint of the transition period we have seen an uptake in membership requests from British residents and amongst Estonian citizens intending to return with UK family members before the end of transition. We are still awaiting news from the Ministry of Interior about the implementation of the declaratory system and the expected ministerial degree, which will kick off the issuing of residence cards.
BIEst is in regular contact with our FCO citizens rights officer who has informed us that the Police and Border Guard are still developing their system to issue new documents for UK citizens. We expect a further news update in September, once the summer break is over.
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Over 31,000 Deutsch Briten since the Brexit referendum
14,600 UK citizens gained German citizenship in 2019 bringing the total since the Brexit referendum in June 2016 to 31,600. The vast majority will have kept their British citizenship. These are unprecedented numbers as between 2011 and 2015 the total was just over 2,000. Applications from the many who wish to keep their full EU rights are expected to be high again in 2020.
Germany normally allows EU citizens to have dual citizenship but disallows it for everybody else. The right to dual citizenship for applications from UK citizens was extended up to the end of the transition period by a special law passed in April 2019. After that, those applying will be subject to the same rules as third-country nationals (i.e. dual citizenship is not normally allowed, except in exceptional circumstances).
More information on the citizenship numbers in Germany: https://britishingermany.org/2020/06/12/2019-citizenship-numbers-released/
More information on applying for German citizenship: https://britishingermany.org/2020/06/19/applying-for-german-citizenship-2/
The second draft of the German law on the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement has now been published. The British in Germany position paper is also now published on the website of the Ministry of the Interior (Bundesministerium des Inneren).
More information: https://britishingermany.org/2020/04/20/posttransitionupdate/
Ministry website (in German): https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/gesetzgebungsverfahren/DE/entwurf-eines-gesetzes-zur-aktuellen-anpassung-des-freizuegigkeitsgesetzes.html
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The Netherlands has adopted a constitutive system with regard to residence post-transition and invitations to apply have been sent out to UK citizens since mid-February, in order of date of arrival in the Netherlands. The process has continued unabated during lockdown, invitations being sent at the rate of around a thousand a week. Lockdown restrictions with regard to the gathering of biometrics (fingerprints and photograph) are now easing and officials are inviting people who already have EU permits; a streamlined process will apply and residence cards will be exchanged for no fee.
Throughout, British in The Netherlands has been in regular contact with the British Embassy and senior representatives of the Dutch government, principally Immigration and Foreign Affairs, to monitor progress, give feedback and discuss improvements in the process. Our next meeting on WA implementation is expected next month.
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The good news is that Spain will go down the declaratory route in which citizens merely have to confirm, as opposed to re-apply, for their rights. Over the last few weeks EuroCitizens has been in contact with senior officials in the Spanish government to organise a meeting, following up on our contacts with them earlier on in the year.
We have produced another detailed report for the administration about issues affecting UK citizens, such as how information will be communicated and the details of the registration process. We have pointed out the need for the new third-country-national (WA) ID cards to clearly identify the status of Permanent Residents. We have also asked for clarification on work and social security entitlements and the rules related to UK citizens covered by the Withdrawal Agreement who are also family members of an EU citizen.
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Last month BiE member group France Rights ran a survey to find out how British residents in France are feeling about having to apply for a new residence status and card. France is adopting a constitutive system and the French government is on target to begin implementation in July, though we still don't know exactly when. Anticipating that, we wanted to steal a march on what the biggest concerns are, where potential issues might lie, and what kind of information people need to help them through the process.
A massive 2,727 people took part, and the results are not just interesting, but sobering too ... Almost half of all respondents feel nervous to a greater or lesser degree about the application process that lies ahead, rising to 57% of those who have no current residence card (holding a card is not compulsory in France for EU citizens).
We analyse the full survey results in our report and present our conclusions and recommendations. You can read the report on our website, here:
https://www.francerights.org/survey-may-2020.html'
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British in Austria has been in contact with their Citizens' Rights Officer at the FCO to ask for support and to coordinate events. BiA is planning an online Q&A session for the early autumn to coincide with the next wave of Embassy outreach events.
BiA will also be getting in touch with the Austrian government about the current lack of information about registration and to obtain clarification about the situation after the end of Transition on December 31. Another objective of the group is to get an interview on the national English-speaking radio channel FM4, and perhaps to start up a small web-site to reach those people who don't do facebook.
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INTERVIEW WITH BIE CO-CHAIR, JANE GOLDING
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BiE co-chair Jane Golding was interviewed by Dr Michaela Benson for the latest Brexit Brits Abroad Podcast. They discussed how BiE has got to where we are, what we have learnt along the way and what is ahead of us with the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement. It is a fascinating discussion between two people who have lived and breathed citizens' rights for the past four years.
See more podcasts from Michaela here.
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