New rules could make moving from one country to another easy.
In the future, the EU wants to make it easy for people who don’t live in the EU to move around the bloc.
It also wants to cut from five to three years the amount of time you have to live in a partner state before you can get long-term resident status.
Recently, the European Parliament said it wanted to make the changes, but it will need agreement from the states before it can happen.
How do you get the right to live in the EU for a long time?
Non-EU citizens can get long-term resident status in the bloc if they have lived legally in an EU country for at least five years. They can’t have left for more than six months at a time or more than ten months over the time they’ve lived there.
They must also show they have health insurance and “stable and regular sources of income.” Some countries also want people who want to live there permanently to show that they have adapted to the country by taking tests on language skills or cultural knowledge.
But unless you ask for it, most states only give out national permits, not EU-wide ones. This can also mean that more checks need to be done.
What do the changes mean for people not living in the EU?
Last year, the European Commission said these rules should be made easier. MEPs also said this week that they want to cut the time non-EU citizens have to live in the bloc before they can get residency from five years to three.
They also said that people should be able to add up their time in different states, like when they went to school, worked seasonal jobs, or were in temporary shelters like Ukrainian refugees.
People who have lived in the EU for a long time could also move to another member state without any extra work limits or checks on how well they fit in. The same position would also be given to children who depend on their parents.
But MEPs said that people who only have a residence permit in an EU country because of an investment plan shouldn’t get the same treatment.
A statement from the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee says, “Under the new rules, people who have been living in the EU for a long time will be able to move to a second member state to work or study without having to meet other requirements, like checks on the labour market or integration requirements.”
Will the changes get the green light?
MEPs have made it clear where they stand, but now EU governments must agree and talk to make the law changes official.
It is hoped that the new laws will be done by February 2024, before the next European Parliament polls.
But the government could slow down the process because the idea has upset some political groups that think immigration problems should be handled at the national level.
