EU: Deadline Approaching for Residence Applications for UK Nationals under the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement

May 21, 2021


The deadline to apply for a residence document in several EU Member States is 30 June 2021.  This applies to UK nationals already resident before 1 January 2021 in Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands and Slovakia. For details on the residence procedures for UK national in all EU Member States under the Withdrawal Agreement, view our comprehensive guide.

Summary

The Withdrawal Agreement protects the rights of UK nationals who made use of the freedom of movement of people in the EU before the end of the transition period.

  • UK nationals who were resident in an EU member state, as well as those employed locally or self-employed in but resident outside an EU member state (frontier workers) before the end of the transition period continue to be protected after the transition period.
  • Residence rights apply to UK nationals who are workers or self-employed, or are enrolled as a student with health insurance, or have sufficient resources and health insurance, or are family members of someone who meets these conditions, or are permanent residents.
  • Those who have not yet lived in the host state for at least five years and therefore have not yet acquired permanent residence status, can continue residing in the host state and acquire permanent residence after five years of residence.
  • These residence rights cease after a leave of absence of more than five years.
  • The right of residence is only valid in the country of residence.
  • Qualifying frontier workers with a local employment contract or self-employees can obtain a document certifying their status and recognising their right to work in the state of work.
  • Separate agreements with Switzerland and with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway mirror the citizens’ rights provisions in the Withdrawal Agreement.
  • EU member states may require resident UK nationals to register or apply for a residence document. Details vary between countries.

Croatia

  • Applications to register residence status under the Withdrawal Agreement can be submitted at a police office by 30 June 2021.
  • It will still be possible to submit applications after this deadline, however, the beneficiaries of the Agreement who do so might be fined for an administrative offence.
  • UK nationals and their family members who lived in line with free movement rules in the Republic of Croatia and continue to do so, but never registered their residence status and are not holders of registration certificates or residence cards issued under free movement rules; will need to submit documentary evidence of their residence in the Republic of Croatia.
  • Where a UK national and their family member who are Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries have been continuously resident in the Republic of Croatia for five years, they will be eligible for permanent residence and a subsequent residence document evidencing this. Once acquired, the right of permanent residence shall be lost only through absence for a period exceeding five consecutive years.
  • Frontier workers on local employment contract or self-employees will be able to apply for the issuance of a document confirming their right of a frontier worker

France

  • UK nationals and their family members (spouse, children and parents) living in France prior to 31 December 2020 need to apply by 30 June 2021 via the Interior Ministry online residence permit application service (http://invite.contacts-demarches.interieur.gouv.fr/).
  • They are issued with a residence permit marked “Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union”.
  • UK nationals who are lawfully residing in France before the end of the transition period and have been doing so for more than five years are entitled to a permanent ten-year residence permit.
  • UK nationals lawfully residing before the end of the transition period for less than five years can obtain a permit valid for one to five years depending on their circumstances.
  • Residence permits issued in accordance with the withdrawal agreement will be provided free of charge.
  • UK nationals over the age of 18 are required to be in possession of a Withdrawal Agreement residence permit as of 1 October 2021, irrespective of their date of arrival in France. EU residence permits issued to UK nationals and their family members will no longer be valid from 1 October 2021.
  • Applicants will need to upload a scanned copy of their passport and other supporting documents.

Germany

  • UK nationals living in Germany on 31 December 2020 and continuing to live in Germany after that date must report their residenceto the foreigners authority responsible for their place of residence by 30 June 2021 in order to be able to obtain the new residence document. Many authorities enable this to be done online. Applicants do not need to make an application. Registration with the residents’ registration office is not sufficient.
  • Those entitled under the Withdrawal Agreement will receive a card valid for a minimum of five years and a maximum of ten years. The card must be renewed when this period expires, but the residence right does not need to be renewed.
  • For those certified as having a right of permanent residence, the word “Daueraufenthalt” (permanent residence) will be found on the second line on the back of the card, below “Erwerbstätigkeit erlaubt” (permitted to pursue an economic activity).
  • Upon application, the foreigners authority may issue a provisional residence document (Fiktionsbescheinigung).
  • Frontier workers with local employment contracts or self-employees may have rights under the Withdrawal Agreement and must apply for a special document in the form of a card from the foreigners authority responsible for their place of work in order to continue to be able to work in Germany.

Greece

  • UK nationals and their family members who were already resident in Greece and wish to remain after the end of the transition are covered by the provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement for as long as they remain resident in Greece.
  • Τo facilitate proof of residence status under the Withdrawal Agreement, UK nationals and family members are encouraged to obtain the new residence document (biometric card).
  • The application process for UK nationals and their family members to acquire the new residence document required by the Withdrawal Agreement in Greece began on 1st of January 2021 and will provisionally end on 30 June 2021.
  • Third country nationals who entered Greece after 1st January 2021 and are family members of a UK national, beneficiary of the Withdrawal Agreement, should have submitted an application within three months from their date of arrival in the country.

Latvia

  • UK nationals and their family members who are residing in Latvia since at least 31 December 2020 and who wish to continue residing in the Republic of Latvia must submit, before 30 June 2021, a sample application by post, courier or electronically with a secure electronic signature to the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (OCMA) and obtain a new residence permit.
  • Approximately 4 weeks after submitting the application, the applicant will receive an email with the OCMA decision and should then contact OCMA and arrange an appointment at an OCMA office.
    • They should take their passport and old ID card or registration certificate to the appointment and photos, fingerprints and a signature will be taken.
    • Payment can be made either at the end of the appointment of on collection of the card.
    • The card can be collected in 2 days (30 EUR) or 10 days (15 EUR), with another appointment.
    • Those not employed in Latvia and not a family member of an employed person must take their private health insurance policy to the collection appointment.

Luxembourg

  • Those covered by the Withdrawal Agreement will need to apply for a specific residence document, which certifies their status as beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement.
  • Applications for a new residence document must be submitted within 6 months of the end of the transition period provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement, i.e. 31 December 2020 – so no later than 30 June 2021.
  • Applicants must fill in and sign a residence document application form and send it by post to theImmigration Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.
    • To facilitate the processing of applications, all members of the same family (e.g. spouses and children) are asked to submit their residence permit applications together, at the same time.
    • Applications are processed in order of receipt.
    • When their application has been processed, applicants will receive a letter inviting them to make an appointment with the Immigration Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairsin order to have their photograph and fingerprints taken, which will be incorporated into the residence permit. The applicant may also bring a recent photograph compliant with OACI/ICAO standards (‘biometric passport standards’).
    • A few days after the biometric data have been collected, the applicant can pick up the residence permit in person at the Immigration Directorate, by appointment.
  • The residence document takes the form of a chip card containing biometric data.
    • It will be valid from the first day after the end of the transition period – in principle, then, from 1 January 2021. The duration of validity of the residence document varies according to the type of document it replaces (either 5 or 10 years).
    • As long as the conditions for obtaining the residence document continue, it will be renewable on request.
  • Current residence documents (registration attestation, permanent residence certificate, residence permit for family members of an EU citizen, permanent residence permit for family members of an EU citizen) will remain valid until:
    • the end of the transition period; or
    • their new residence document is issued, for those people who have not received their new residence document by the end of the transition period.
  • Qualifying family members of a UK national beneficiary of the Withdrawal Agreement, coming to Luxembourg to settle after 1 January 2021, are also beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement.
    • In order to assert their rights under the Withdrawal Agreement, the persons concerned must have a residence document certifying their status as beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement.
    • The application to obtain the new residence document must be submitted no later than 3 months after arrival in Luxembourg.
  • UK nationals who are employed or self-employed as cross-border workers in Luxembourg at the end of the transition period (31 December 2020) provided for in this Withdrawal Agreement, retain their right to work as cross-border workers after the end of the transition period.
    • In order to attest to this status, the UK nationals concerned may apply for a specific document to be issued after the end of the transition period.
    • This document, valid for ten years and renewable on request, will be issued only on request, from 1 January 2021. It is not a compulsory document and is not a prerequisite for continuing to work in Luxembourg as a cross-border worker.

Malta

  • UK nationals settling in Malta prior to the last day of the transition period may apply for their new residence status after three months of their arrival in Malta and before 30 June 2021.
  • Applicants are required to personally submit their application by calling at Identity Malta’s Expatriates Unit EU Section in Valley Road, Msida on the dates indicated in the letter they will be receiving. Applicants residing in Gozo would need to apply at the eResidence Unit, St. Francis Square, Victoria, Gozo.
  • This new Withdrawal Agreement residence document will be valid for 10 years, and renewable thereafter by further application, as long as the conditions under which the Residence Document was issued, continue to subsist.
  • Existing residence documents remain valid until the new residence document is issued.
  • UK frontier workers who, prior to the end of the transition period, were employed or self-employed in Malta whilst still residing in the UK, to which they returned at least once a week as a rule, need to apply for the relative frontier worker document in order to continue with such activity.

Netherlands

  • UK nationals and their family members already living in the Netherlands before 1 January 2021 need a residence document to prove they are entitled to continue to live in the Netherlands under the Withdrawal Agreement.
  • Applications should be submitted online as soon as possible, and anyway by 30 June 2021.
  • By the end of 2020, all UK nationals living in the Netherlands who had a permanent EU residence document had been offered a new residence document.
  • Family members of UK nationals covered by the Withdrawal Agreement can travel to the Netherlands under the applicable provisions after the transition period. It is possible that they first need to apply for a facilitation visa. UK national residents under the Withdrawal Agreement can apply for a residence document for their family members after they enter the Netherlands.

Slovakia

  • UK nationals and their family members registered in Slovakia as EU citizens / family members of EU citizens by 31 December 2020 who had resided in the EU for less than five years were, on 1 January 2021, automatically granted a new residence status under the Withdrawal Agreement.
  • UK nationals and their family members registered in Slovakia as EU citizens / family members of EU citizens by 31 December 2020 who had resided in the EU for more than five years had their residence status automatically updated and maintained in the Slovak system from 1 January 2021.
  • EU residence permits issued before 31 December 2020 will remain valid until 30 June 2021.
    • By 30 June 2021, EU residence permit holders must visit the Foreign Police to apply for a new residence permit.
    • The Foreign Police will process new residence permits within 30 days of application and no fee is paid for exchanging the EU residence permit for the relevant new document. However, it is possible to pay either for the expedited issuance of a residence permit or for delivery of a new residence permit, instead of collecting in person.
  • Permanent residence permits issued for five or ten years before the end of 2020 will not need to be exchanged by 30 June 2021.
  • UK nationals and their family members who have been residing in Slovakia since before 31 December 2020 but are not yet registered with the Foreign Police must apply for residency registration and proof of residence in accordance with the Withdrawal Agreement. At the time of registration, they will have to submit documents proving that they came to the territory of the Slovak Republic during the Transition Period, such as a tenancy agreement or utility bills.
  • UK nationals and their family members who do not reside in Slovakia but have performed cross-border employment and self-employment registered in the country since before the end of the transition period, will be able to do so as before. Slovakia will not require temporary residence from such persons for the purposes of employment or any other document.
    • Those interested in obtaining a document identifying the cross-border workers´ rights may request such a document at the competent department of the Foreign Police from until 30 June 2021

Our Advice

Individuals who may be affected are advised to contact a Newland Chase immigration specialist for case-specific advice.