For enquiries relating to Specialty Training recruitment only, please contact us via HEIW.recruitment@wales.nhs.uk
Information for applicants from the EU
You will be aware that the UK is in the process of leaving the European Union. This means freedom of movement will be affected. However, the NHS will continue to welcome and value staff and trainees from Europe as it does the whole world.
From 30 March 2019 the UK will have left the European Union. If an agreement is reached with the EU, then EU citizens and their family members will be able to move to the UK until 2021 on the same basis as you could do today, with the same rights to work and study freely, as you currently do. For EU citizens who already live in the UK, you are eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. All EU citizens who have lived in the UK for more than five years continuously will be eligible for ‘settled status’ (equivalent to indefinite leave to remain). If you have lived in the UK for less than five years you will be eligible for ‘pre-settled status’ and can upgrade this to ‘settled status’ when you have been here for five years. As the Prime Minister announced on 21 January, this process will be free to all from 30 March 2019. Any payment made for an application before this date will be refunded. More information on the settlement scheme can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families
In the event that an agreement is not reached, there will be a transition period once free movement ends and before the UK’s new immigration system begins in 2021. During this transition period, newly arriving EU citizens will still be able to enter the UK as they do now for an initial stay of up to three months and will be able to visit, work or study without applying for a visa, but they will not be eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. If you want to stay in the UK for longer than three months, you can apply from within the UK for ‘European Temporary Leave to Remain’, which will be granted for a further 36 months, subject to identity, criminality and security checks.
More information will be available soon on the process to register and how the UK’s Future Immigration System will work. To keep up to date, please regularly visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-immigration-after-free-movement-ends-if-theres-no-deal.
