Edmund Novak is Managing Director and Partner, North America, at global business services provider Vistra.
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After four and a half years and seemingly endless negotiations, the Brexit transition period is over. Citizens of the U.K. can no longer freely move across EU borders, and the U.K. has its own immigration requirements for EU citizens and other foreign nationals. These changes affect thousands of foreign workers stationed in the U.K., as well as U.K. nationals posted in the EU.
These effects are well known. What’s sometimes lost is that many U.S.-based businesses must now account for the immigration ramifications of Brexit. For example, a U.S. company may have a U.K. office that employs local nationals there. If those U.K. employees regularly travel to and from the EU on business or have extended stays in the EU, they must now account for EU immigration requirements. If that U.K. satellite office employs an EU-country national, then the company and the employee must account for the U.K.’s new immigration laws. This has always been the case for any non-EU foreign national, so the net has been widened.
Even a U.S. company that does not have a U.K. or EU office may need to make changes to its global mobility policies and practices. Such a company may, for example, employ a U.K. citizen in the U.S. who regularly travels to the U.K. and then makes side trips to the EU. Those side trips will now be subject to greater scrutiny, and may, in some cases, require visas or work permits. There are countless such scenarios involving short- and long-term business trips and expat assignments that, under the post-Brexit reality, carry new employer and employee obligations and potential risks.
In the U.K., a new points-based system regulates who can live, work or study in the country. The system aims to attract people who will contribute to the U.K. economy. It awards foreign nationals points based on having a job offer from an approved employer, English fluency, skills, qualifications and salary. The system treats EU and non-EU citizens equally, though Irish citizens can continue to work in, live in and enter the U.K. as they did before. Citizens of the EU, the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland already living in the U.K. by the start of 2021 can apply to continue living in the country after June 30, 2021.
U.S. companies with U.K. offices and those that send workers to the U.K. must understand and follow the country’s new points-based system. Here’s an initial checklist to help them comply:
• Review the status of existing immigration applications, including visas and work permits. Ensure that all pending applications are aligned with either the U.K.’s points-based system or, in the case of a U.K. national emigrating from the country, with the post-Brexit regulations of the country of destination.
• Compile a list of U.K. nationals working in the EU and the EEA, as well as EU and EEA nationals working in the U.K. Conduct outreach if needed to ensure they have taken the proper steps to remain expatriated and establish permanent residence, if desired. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens in the U.K. need to register with the government’s EU settlement scheme by June 30, 2021. Those who currently have a permanent residence card issued under EU law also have to exchange it with a new immigration status under U.K. law. U.K. nationals currently living in the EU likewise need to apply for residence status in their current country by the same date, though some member states are looking to extend that deadline as a result of the pandemic.
• Determine how long foreign national employees have been in their host country. The time spent in a particular host country will determine, in some cases, whether an employee will be able to continue living there or what rights they have. Under the EU settlement scheme, foreign nationals will achieve “settled status” if they have lived in the U.K. for a continuous five-year period and will be declared “pre-settled” if they have been there fewer than five years. Tracking this information will be critical to protecting your workforce and ensuring your compliance.
• Apply to be a licensed sponsor. Any organization looking to hire a non-U.K. resident to work in the U.K. must sponsor them as part of the application process. To do that, organizations must register with U.K. Visas and Immigration for a sponsor license, valid for four years, when a renewal is required.
• Review your recruiting strategy. You may need to adjust your current recruiting strategy in light of post-Brexit immigration laws, especially if you are recruiting employees from other European countries.
• Review your travel strategy. With the end of free movement for U.K. citizens comes a new slate of travel restrictions. There are varying levels of entrance requirements for U.K. nationals traveling on business to Europe, and new requirements such as ETIAS visa waivers for business meetings, as well as passports that are at least six months from expiration.
After years of extensions, leadership changes and deadlocked negotiations, the transition period is finally over. Many U.S.-based organizations have been content to sit on the sidelines and take a wait-and-see approach to updating their global mobility policies and practices in response to Brexit. Now is the time to make the updates so you can protect your organization and your employees from the risks of noncompliance with the U.K.’s new immigration requirements.
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