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EU citizens can stay after Brexit: Theresa May

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Published: 05:45, 23 June 2017   Update: 15:18, 26 July 2020
EU citizens can stay after Brexit: Theresa May

International Desk: UK Prime Minister Theresa May promised EU citizens now living in Britain they could stay after Brexit but started a dispute with Brussels over the role of Europe's top court.

At a summit in Brussels on Thursday, May gave "a clear commitment that no EU citizen currently in the UK lawfully will be asked to leave the country at the point that the UK leaves the EU", a British government source said.

"The UK's position represents a fair and serious offer and one aimed at giving as much certainty as possible to citizens who have settled in the UK, building careers and lives and contributing so much to our society," May told EU leaders.

The European Union has made the rights of an estimated three million Europeans living in Britain a priority; their futures have been thrown into doubt by its shock vote last year to leave the 28-nation bloc.

Under May's plan, Europeans who have been living in Britain for five years at the time of a yet to be specified cut-off date would be entitled to a new "settled status" - granting them permanent rights to healthcare, education, welfare and pensions equivalent to British nationals.

Newer arrivals would be allowed to stay until they had amassed the necessary five years to qualify for settled status too.

Those who arrived after the cut-off date will have a "grace period" of up to two years, during which they can apply for another form of immigration status, such as a work permit.

But the Conservative leader, battling to retain her authority after losing her parliamentary majority in a snap vote, also put herself on a collision course with Brussels.

She failed to set a cut-off date for those who are eligible for permanent residence, saying only it would be no earlier than the triggering of the Article 50 process on leaving the EU - March 29, 2017 - and Britain's formal exit, on course for March 30, 2019.

That will leave some new arrivals unsure of their status.

The UK will reject a demand for the European Court of Justice to oversee the process and any resulting disputes.

Source: Agencies



Risingbd/June 23, 2017/Mukul

 

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