Freedom of Movement vs. No Freedom to Move
The idea behind this blog is essentially to 1) outline the
benefits of freedom of movement and 2) to explain what drawbacks being a third
country national has in regards to moving abroad.
Being a member of the European Single Market[1],
e.g., countries like Norway, Switzerland and Iceland means that those countries
have to sign up to the directive “Freedom of Movement”. Brexiters and Remainers
alike know this fact and can reel of the mantra without any information to what
freedom of movement actually means.
Critically, freedom of movement had been a directive
implemented by the UK for 26 years[2]
and has been cited by many businesses, independent polls as having been
beneficial to the UKs economy. Hundreds of thousands of British citizens have
taken the opportunity to live, work, study or retire abroad[3]
and have done this in good faith and if all goes to plan will be able to stay
put and live their lives as if nothing has happened. (We’ll see how this pans
out).
However, what has been utterly disregarded is the continued
freedom of movement for British citizens living in the UK. After Brexit
(transition period) a new immigration policy will be introduced which means
that the rights for British citizens being able to live, work, study or retire
in the EU will fall away. Their status will be downgraded to that of a third
country national – meaning that British citizens will have the same rights in
the European Union as Russians, Serbians, Australians, Mexicans, Syrians, Afghanis[4]
etc. – What does this all mean?
In simple terms, it means that UK citizens will no longer be
able to stay in an EU country for more than 3 months. A short-stay visa
entitles 3rd country nationals to stay for 3 months and does not
give then automatic access to the labour market in the respective country.
Let’s take a few examples of what we have now and compare it
with what will be needed post Brexit.
Now: Kathrine has
just finished her degree in social work from the University of Southampton and
is thinking of starting her career in the south of France. She’s been planning
this move, working for a few months, working part time to earn a bit of cash
and has also completed a B2 course in French and deems herself pretty fluent. She
has packed her bags and is going to move to Montpellier for a month or so
before looking for a job. She decides to fly there and takes a quick EasyJet
flight to France. Funnily enough she doesn’t have a place to live yet and
decides to just stay a hostel. When she arrives, she checks in to the hostel
and starts phoning up flat-shares to find a room, a week later she finds a nice
place and moves in – her housemates are French, Italian and German and Kathrine
finds it really cool to speak and learn these different languages – her French
is really improving too. Kathrine applies for a few jobs at the local hospital
and local social work institutes – the staff there review her CV and deem her
qualified. She holds a Bachelor of Social Work and speaks French to a good
enough level. She gets called in for an interview and begins work the next
week.
Post Brexit: Kathrine has just finished her degree in
social work from the University of Southampton and is thinking of starting her
career in the south of France. She’s been planning this move for a while,
working for a few months, working part time to earn a bit of cash and has also
completed a B2 course in French and deems herself pretty fluent. Kathrine is a third country national and will not be able to
go to France without being accepted by the French authorities, and therefore
requires a ETIAS visa[5] which she can apply for
online. A few days later she gets the email back to say she can officially go
to France on a holiday visa. Katherine knows that she also needs a work permit
for France[6] and applies online but
doesn’t have all the necessary paperwork needed for the online application
form. The application form is all in French and requires a small part to be
filled in by Katherine. She attempts this and waits for her reply. 2 weeks
later she receives an email saying she has been declined and if she wishes to
apply for a new work-permit she will have to reapply online. Kathrine reapplies
and adds the necessary paperwork needed. 2 weeks later she gets a reply and has
been granted a 1 - year work permit. Due to Catherine being a 3rd
country national and already having some issues with the French authorities she
decides to apply for a job online because she doesn’t want to go to France and
be left penniless and jobless after moving into an apartment.
After applying for a few jobs at the
local hospital and local social work institutes, many reply saying that they
need someone for more than a year and other reply saying she will need to get
her Bachelor of Social Work accredited by the French degree system as it is not
an EU degree, meaning that under French law she is currently not qualified to
do the job she has trained to do.
Kathrine is annoyed and decides
maybe she should just not go. However, she decides to get her degree accredited
/ recognised by the French authorities[7]. She sends her degree with
a French translation, as requested which cost her a further €250. 3 weeks later she receives an email saying
that her degree does not match up to the French style of degrees and in order
to work as a social worker in France, Katherine will need to complete a further
3 modules at a French university to enable her access to the job market.
Katherine gives up and decides that
perhaps it is a better idea to just stay home and start her career in the UK
but feels angry and disappointed that she has spent so much money on
administrative, bureaucratic procedures and ended up getting nowhere.
The reason for this post was to highlight that those
Brexiters who keep saying “we moved abroad before the EU” or something similar
to that nature, need to understand that the 60s – 70s were a different era. The
EU has evolved and there are strict processes in place that distinguish between
a third country national and an EU/EEA citizen. We can retain all the benefits
above by just remaining members of the Single Market. We do not necessarily
have to be part of the EU – for more information visit. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market_en
and review the areas regarding citizens’ rights.
Best wishes,
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