As you may remember, in December the UK and EU agreed the key elements of the UK’s withdrawal: citizens’ rights; financial settlement; and the border with Northern Ireland. Both sides are now in the process of turning that agreement into draft legal text for the formal Withdrawal Agreement.
Last week, the UK and EU negotiating teams reached an important milestone in the Brexit process by agreeing the terms of a time-limited implementation period which will last from 29 March 2019 (the date the UK will leave the EU) until 31 December 2020. The aim is to give citizens and businesses time to plan for life after the UK’s withdrawal.
During the Implementation Period, the UK will no longer be a Member State of the European Union, but market access will continue on current terms and UK nationals will be able to visit, live and work in the EU broadly as they do now. As part of the agreement, the UK and EU have also secured a reciprocal deal that gives certainty to citizens about their future rights. We will extend the December deal on citizens’ rights to EU citizens and UK nationals who move during the implementation period, but EU citizens who arrive in the UK during this period must register with the Home Office after three months residence in the UK.
The two sides have also made good progress in translating the commitments made in December on citizens’ rights into the Withdrawal Agreement.
In relation to the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, both the UK Government and the EU are committed to ensuring no hard border. Now that we can begin to discuss the future partnership with the EU, we will be able to negotiate the practicalities to achieve this.
And negotiations will also continue on the other outstanding separation issues, such as onward movement for UK nationals to different EU countries.
You can sign-up for email alerts to receive updates to Brexit pages on gov.uk as the negotiations progress.
And for more information, please visit the gov.uk website: UK nationals in the EU: Essential Information: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/advice-for-british-nationals-travelling-and-living-in-europe
‘ROAD TO BREXIT’ SPEECHES
As I’m sure you’re all aware, the Prime Minister and various Cabinet Ministers have made a series of speeches about Brexit. If you are interested, you can find the transcripts here:
- 7 March: The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond’s speech on financial services at HSBC.
- 2 March: Prime Minister Theresa May’s speech on our future economic partnership with the European Union
- 27 February: Dr Liam Fox at Bloomberg in London outlining the government’s vision for the UK’s commercial future, and our leadership role in the global economy
- 26 February: United at Home, Stronger Abroad: the Rt Hon David Lidington MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, on 26 February 2018
- 14 February: Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson set out the path for an outward-facing, liberal and global Britain following our exit from the EU
AS A BRITISH NATIONAL IN SLOVAKIA, WHAT SHOULD I BE DOING NOW?
- To stay up to date, you can:
Follow updates on gov.uk, in particular the page “UK nationals in the EU: Essential Information”
Follow DExEU, FCOTravel and the British Embassy on social media. We particularly use Facebook, but we also have Embassy (@UKinSlovakia) and an Ambassadorial (@AndyGarthUK) Twitter accounts.
- Finally, please ensure you are registered correctly to live in Slovakia. You can find advice on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-slovakia
ANSWERS TO PREVIOUSLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Contents:
- Residency and family reunification
- Pensions, Social Security and Benefits
- How do pension rights currently work for UK nationals working (and paid) in Slovakia?
- Healthcare
- Professional Qualifications
- Outstanding issues not agreed in December
- Property rights in Slovakia at the moment
- Property rights after the UK has left the EU
- Can I travel on a Slovak residency card?
- National Insurance numbers for children born overseas
- Register with the EU or non-EU alien police after Brexit?
- Registration and regulation of teachers
- Residency and family reunification
- UK nationals residing in Slovakia on or before 31 December 2020 (the end of the Implementatio Period) will have the right to stay here.
- Children born to or adopted by those covered by the Withdrawal Agreement after the UK leaves the EU will be protected.
- Families who have built their lives together in Slovakia will be able to stay together. Spouses, children and elderly parents of those protected by the agreement, who live in a different country will be able to reunite as a family in Slovakia at any time in the future, provided the relationship existed prior to the end of the implementation period.
- The UK is developing a new application system for ‘settled status’, which will ensure that EU citizens are able to stay lawfully in the UK. The agreement on citizens’ rights sets out a commitment for Slovakia and the other EU Member States to ensure any equivalent processes will be transparent, simple and streamlined.
- The introduction of administrative processes, or changes to existing administrative processes will be decided by each Member State. We will communicate further information on any processes being implemented by Slovakia to UK nationals as soon as possible.
- What about Pensions, Social Security and Benefits?
- The UK and EU will continue to aggregate social security contributions made both before and after the end of the implementation period, meaning UK nationals covered by the agreement who have paid into the Slovak system, and may pay in in future, will have their contributions protected.
- UK nationals covered by the agreement will continue to have the right to export benefits to EU Member States as under the current EU rules.
- The UK will continue to pay an uprated UK State Pension to UK nationals residing in Slovakia on or before 31 December 2020 and, in accordance with EU rules, provide associated healthcare cover to UK nationals in Slovakia covered by the agreement.
- Will my rights to Healthcare be protected?
- Reciprocal healthcare rights will be protected, meaning UK nationals residing in Slovakia on or before 31 December 2020 will be able to continue to receive healthcare as they do now.
- We have also agreed to protect the rights of individuals who are in a cross-border situation on 31 December 2020, and entitled to a UK European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), to continue to benefit from that scheme for as long as that cross-border situation continues.
- Will my Professional Qualifications continue to be recognised after the UK leaves the EU?
- The UK and EU have agreed the continued recognition of qualifications, where recognition decisions were received or ongoing before 31 December 2020. This will cover qualification recognised under the Mutual Recognition of Proefssional Qualifications (MRPQ) directive, lawyers practising under host title and approved statutory auditors.
- What about those outstanding issues that did not form part of the agreement made in December?
- EU-UK negotiators will return to the following issues as part of the ongoing negotiations:
reciprocal voting rights
future healthcare arrangements
onward free movement
protections for existing Posted Workers
mutual recognition of professional qualifications (not linked to residency)
the ability of UK lawyers to continue to practise under their home state title
further economic rights outside the Member State of residence.
- How do property rights in Slovakia work currently?
- The market is open to everyone and no one is discriminated by law. Neither the citizenship nor the place of residence is considered relevant.
- In general, EU citizens can acquire a property in the Slovak Republic under the same conditions as the Slovak citizens and residents apart from agricultural and forest land. This cannot be purchased, only inherited, unless the buyer from the EU has been farming the land for at least 3 years since May 1, 2004. More information on Property Ownership in Slovakia (in English) can be found here https://www.mic.iom.sk/en/social-issues/housing/265-property-ownership-in-slovakia.html
- Will property rights be affected after the UK has left the EU?
- No, because property rights are not dependent on EU membership, but on membership of the European Convention on Human Rights (which is a separate international treaty). All Member States are bound by Article 1 of Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights which obliges them to respect property rights: https://www.mic.iom.sk/en/social-issues/housing/265-property-ownership-in-slovakia.html
- How do pension rights currently work for UK nationals working (and paid) in Slovakia?
- For details, in English, on the Slovak pensions system, please see the Slovak Social Insurance website: http://www.socpoist.sk/old-age-pension-/51389s .
- There is also information in English about Slovak pensions on the EU Commission’s website: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1127&langId=en&intPageId=4767
- Does the Slovak residency card allow travel within Schengen without a passport?
- No, because a Slovak residency card is not a valid travel document. For British citizens, the only valid travel document is their British passport. We’ve heard cases of some people being allowed to travel on their residency card, but this would not have been official.
- How do I get a National Insurance card for my children born overseas?
- National Insurance numbers are only sent out automatically (just before a child’s 16th birthday) to people living in the UK. For British nationals living abroad who don’t already have one, they can apply for one only once they are living in the UK. However as long as you can prove eligibility to work in the UK (if you are a British citizen & British passport holder), then you can start working in the UK without one (and tell your employer you’ve applied for one). More information is here: https://www.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number
- After Brexit, will British nationals have to register with the EU or non-EU alien police?
- While the UK is still in the EU, British nationals coming to live in Slovakia will register as EU citizens. The British Embassy is in discussion with the Slovak Government about the future arrangements and will pass on any information about what action British nationals may need to take in future once it is confirmed.
- How will the registration and regulation of teachers change after Brexit?
- The British Embassy is in contact with the Ministry of Education and will share any information once Slovakia decides what procedures it will adopt.