Based on the current status of the UK / EU negotiations for Brexit, a Joint report has been published from the negotiators of the European Union and the United Kingdom Government on progress during phase 1 of negotiations under Article 50 TEU on the United Kingdom’s orderly withdrawal from the European Union.
The report covers the rights of EU and UK citizens to have free movement of rights until the day (29 March 2019) the UK withdraws from the EU. This, in effect, is the cut-off date for EU citizens moving to the UK.
Anyone who arrives before the above Brexit day will have the right to stay. Those who are yet to be granted permanent residency in the UK will have their rights protected, so they can still acquire it after withdrawal.
The deal allows for reunification rights for relatives who do not live in the UK, to join them in the future & these rights extend to future spouses or partners of EU citizens.
Additionally, the joint report covers the issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland with the following extracted text:
“The United Kingdom remains committed to protecting North-South cooperation and to its guarantee of avoiding a hard border. Any future arrangements must be compatible with these overarching requirements. The United Kingdom’s intention is to achieve these objectives through the overall EU-UK relationship. Should this not be possible, the United Kingdom will propose specific solutions to address the unique circumstances of the island of Ireland. In the absence of agreed solutions, the United Kingdom will maintain full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union which, now or in the future, support North-South cooperation, the all-island economy and the protection of the 1998 Agreement”.
It is difficult to perceive how the “…guarantee of avoiding a hard border.” in the absence of a Customs Union and the Single Market. Only time will tell, whether this solution is practical or will lead to a “dual border”; one with the Republic of Ireland as an EU Member with a land border with the UK & the UK border with the EU, as a general principle.
Furthermore, the joint report provides for continued UK funding of the EU until 2020 as follows:
“The UK will contribute to, and participate in, the implementation of the Union annual budgets for the years 2019 and 2020 as if it had remained in the Union (including revenue adjustments), on the basis of the applicable Union legal provisions including the Own Resources legislation”.
with further calculation of the value of the final financial settlement to be determined by specific principles described in the report.
A copy of the “Joint report from the negotiators of the European Union and the United Kingdom Government on progress during phase 1 of negotiations under Article 50 TEU on the United Kingdom’s orderly withdrawal from the European Union” cane be freely downloaded here.