No Unrestricted Right to Work in UK and Ireland for Bulgarians and Romanians but Sweden Unlikely to Impose Restrictions

The Home Secretary, John Reid, has announced that Bulgarian and Romanian nationals will not be given an unrestricted right to work in the UK when the two countries join the European Union on 1 January 2007. Workers will still be entitled to seek work under existed schemes such as the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme (HSMP) and low skilled workers' schemes.

Bulgarian and Romanian nationals who were hoping to come to the UK to work will be disappointed, as it was hoped that the UK would extend the same rights to Bulgarian and Romanian nationals as it did to nationals of the 'A8' Eastern European countries that joined the EU in May 2004.

However Bulgarians and Romanians will from the beginning of 2007 no longer be required to obtain a visa for travel to the UK. They will also still be entitled to work as self-employed under an existing agreement between the two countries and the EU.

The Home Secretary said that the arrangements would be reviewed in one year.

In a similar move, the Irish government also announced that Bulgarians and Romanians would have to continue to seek permission work in Ireland as before. The UK, Ireland and Sweden were the only EU countries to allow nationals of the 'A8' countries free access to the labour market when they joined in 2004, so it was hoped that they would continue that policy with the two newest members. However Italy, Finland, Portugal, Spain and Greece have subsequently allowed A8 nationals free access to the labour market and those countries have yet to declare if they will restrict access to Bulgarians and Romanians. An Italian government spokesperson said that the issue was particularly difficult as Romanians make up the largest group of non-Italians living in the country.

Meanwhile Sweden has announced that it is unlikely to restrict workers from the two newest members. Sweden has welcomed only about 10,000 workers from the A8 countries (the UK welcoming about 600,000 and Ireland 200,000) so is not overly concerned about an influx from Bulgaria and Romania. A Swedish spokesperson said that was due to a combination of high living costs, the fact that Swedish and not English is spoken and the weather, contributed to the low number of workers moving to the country. However those factors might not be too unattractive to Bulgarians and Romanians if Sweden is the only EU country to allow an unrestricted right.

Bulgarians and Romanians should be aware that if they intend to continue working or start working in an employed or self-employed capacity after 1 January 2007, they will continue to need permission under the present immigration rules.

If you require advice on this or any other UK immigration matter, please do not hesitate to contact one of our specialist lawyers and advisors.