EU Nationals and Brexit

On 29 March 2017 Theresa May triggered Article 50 officially signalling the start of the Brexit process - what is expected to be two years of negotiations on Britain's relationship with Europe after the UK leave.

The information on this page will be updated regularly to reflect the most up-to-date information about the status of EU nationals in the UK.

At present EU nationals do not need to do anything as a result of Article 50 being triggered. The rights and status of EU nationals living in the UK will not change while the UK remains in the EU. This applies to EU nationals who have lived in the UK for more than 5 years, as well as EU nationals who have lived in the UK for less than 5 years.

Note that EU nationals who are planning to visit or live in the UK continue to have a right to enter and live in the UK.

For non-EU family members of EU nationals there will be no change to the rights and status of non-EU family members of EU nationals while the UK remains in the EU. If you are from the EU but your family member is not, they continue to have a right to live in the UK.

There will also be no change to the rights and status of extended family members of EU nationals while the UK remains in the EU.

Irish nationals will continue to have separate rights which, in most circumstances, allow them to be treated in the same way as British nationals.

Croatian nationals will experience change to their rights and status while the UK remains in the EU, however it continues to be the case that Croatian nationals may be required to apply for a registration certificate in order to be allowed to work in the UK.

Lastly, it continues to be the case that EU nationals can only be removed from the UK if they:

• are considered to pose a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to the public
• aren’t lawfully resident or are abusing their EU free movement rights