The Brexit will be coming into force from the 31st October which will result into restricting the entry of all the EU citizens in the UK for the purpose of stay, work or study this will lead to end the freedom of movement, said the sources. Over the years, plenty of Goans have availed the Portuguese passport and become citizens of Europe. While the majority of them have settled in the UK and have managed to make out a good living for themselves, the thought of Brexit is enough to make everyone worry.
A No-Deal Brexit will mean freedom of movement is ended instantly, Freedom of Movement to end on October 31 as Boris Johnson plans to introduce strict rules, while EU citizens say the threat to end freedom of movement overnight is reckless.
Rules giving EU citizens the right to enter the UK to live, work or study will be scrapped on October 31. Stricter rules will be introduced to make it easier to keep out EU criminals, extremists or other troublemakers from coming into the country, Downing Street said.
Theresa May, the then Prime Minister, had looked at extending freedom of movement to 2021 or allowing EU citizens and their families – plus those from Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein – to stay for three months before applying to remain for up to three years.
But it is understood that the present Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has dropped these options. The Prime Minister has insisted he is committed to honoring the referendum result by ending free movement, a key reason the country voted for Brexit in June 2016.
If negotiations with the EU collapse and the UK leave without a deal, freedom of movement – which also gives Britons the right to live and travel freely within the EU – will end overnight on 31 October this year. EU citizens with the right to permanent residence will not be affected.
Mr Johnson said that while the number of foreigners arriving would be ‘democratically controlled’, the UK would not ‘become hostile to immigration’.
Officials have warned ministers a new system would be impossible to enforce and could leave the UK facing another Windrush-style scandal, which saw immigrants who arrived between 1948 and 1970 wrongly deported back to the Caribbean.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Sir Ed Davey questioned whether ending free movement would be legal and said that it would be damaging to people depending on the services of a business that has EU workers.
The 3 Million groups, which campaigns for the rights of EU citizens in the UK, said in a statement: ‘The idea of ending freedom of movement abruptly on October 31 in case of No Deal is reckless politics. ‘Millions of lawful citizens will have their legal status removed overnight.’
The group renewed its call for all EU nationals to be automatically granted settled status and accused the prime minister, Boris Johnson, of undermining his promise to guarantee the rights and protections of EU citizens.
“The idea of ending freedom of movement abruptly on 31 October in case of no-deal is reckless politics,” said Nicholas Hatton, the group’s founder. “It hollows out the prime minister’s unequivocal guarantee to EU citizens he has given only three weeks ago.
“Ending freedom of movement without putting legal provisions in place for those EU citizens who have not yet successfully applied through the settlement scheme will mean that millions of lawful citizens will have their legal status removed overnight.
“We have been calling for the settlement scheme to be a declaratory registration scheme, so all EU citizens who have made the UK their home are automatically granted status, as promised by those in government.
“Otherwise this will open the door to mass discrimination under the hostile environment, with employers, landlords, banks and the NHS unable to distinguish between those EU citizens with the right to live and work in the UK and those without.”
Government sources admitted the new system ‘may not look very different’ straight away because the Brexit deadline is looming.
One said: ‘I don’t think anyone is leaning very heavily into idea there will be spanking new system in place. What we are going to do is much tougher than EU criminality thresholds.’
The Prime Minister has postponed introducing immigration legislation amid concerns it would be hijacked by pro-Remain MPs in a bid to thwart leaving the EU.
A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘Freedom of movement as it currently stands will end on October 31 when the UK leaves the EU.
‘So, for example, we will introduce, immediately, much tougher criminality rules for people entering the UK.’
A Home Office spokesperson: “The home secretary has been clear in her intention to take back control of our borders and end free movement after 31 October.
“Ending free movement means we are no longer required to give unlimited and uncontrolled access to those from EU countries when they are coming here seeking to work.”
The Home Office minister Brandon Lewis said last week that more than 1 million people had been granted settled or pre-settled status through the scheme, after 1,038,100 people applied by 31 July. It was unclear how many other EU nationals have since had their applications received.
The deadline for applying to the EU settlement scheme if the UK leaves the bloc without a deal is 31 December 2020.
The government has toughened its negotiating stance with the EU for the second time in 24 hours today, telling Brussels that British officials will stop attending most meetings from September 1 to free up time to work on Brexit.
It comes after Boris Johnson’s open letter to Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, which labeled the Irish backstop ‘unviable’ and ‘undemocratic’ and demanded its removal from any deal to be struck before the UK’s October 31 departure date – was snubbed by European leaders.
The Department for Exiting the European Union said UK officials will now attend only the meetings that ‘really matter’ of more than 800 scheduled.
Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay said British attendance would drop by more than half, thus enabling them to get on with the preparations for Brexit on October 31 and seizing the opportunities that lie ahead’
He further stated that an incredible amount of time goes into EU meetings which will free up time for Ministers and their officials to get on with preparing for their departure from the EU on October 31 and seizing the opportunities that lie ahead.
He told The Telegraph: ‘An incredible amount of time and effort goes into EU meetings
The Prime Minister later changed his stance and spoke about ‘our friends in the EU’ while insisting he would have the backstop removed from the deal agreement.
It comes after Donald Tusk and other EU officials rejected and dismissed Boris Johnson’s new plea to ditch the Irish backstop just hours after he wrote to the European Council president.
The Prime Minister last night told the EU that the backstop is ‘simply unviable’ and should be replaced with a new legal commitment to avoid the return of a hard border.
Mr. Johnson admitted that his European counterparts were reluctant to compromise, but he believed they would.
Mr. Johnson further said that he was ready to work with his friends and partners in the EU to get a deal, but if they wanted a good deal for the UK, at the same time they should be ready to come out without one.
One hopes that the issue of Brexit is undertaken in a proper manner so that people already in the UK, even though EU citizens are not put at great inconvenience in order to earn a living.
Source: Daily Mail | The Guardian | Sky News
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