PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Migrant Workers: Veterinary Medicine (23 November 2017)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will take steps to ensure that non-UK citizen veterinarians working in the UK’s agri-food sector will be allowed to remain and work in the UK after the UK has left the EU.

Asked by:
Kerry McCarthy (Labour)

On 26 June we published the White Paper ‘Safeguarding the position of EU citizens in the UK and UK nationals in the EU’, setting out how we will protect the rights of EU nationals currently living in the UK. This is a fair and serious offer which sets out our proposals for the negotiations with the European Union.

No EU citizen lawfully residing in the UK will be asked to leave when the UK leaves the EU. The Government has proposed that EU citizens who were resident in the UK before the specified date, and who have five years’ continuous residence, will be able to apply for UK settled status. Other EU citizens who have arrived before the specified date will be able to make an application to stay until they have built up the necessary five continuous years’ residence to be able to apply for UK settled status. The UK remains determined to swiftly reach an agreement that provides reassurance for both EU citizens in the UK and UK nationals in the EU.

The Prime Minister has also proposed that there should be an Implementation Period post-exit, while we and the EU put in place the necessary preparations for the future arrangements, and to ensure that people and businesses only have to plan for one set of changes. During this time, EU citizens will continue to be able to come and live and work in the UK.

The Government is considering a range of options for the immigration system for EU citizens after the UK leaves the EU. We will take decisions on the long-term arrangements based on evidence. Hence, on 27 July, we commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on current patterns of EU migration across all sectors, and the role of migration in the wider economy and society.

We will be setting out further proposals for our future immigration arrangements shortly.

Answered by:
Sir Brandon Lewis (Conservative)
29 November 2017