Nationals of European Union Member States

This page gives an overview of your rights. For details of rights to work in the UK for nationals of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania, click here.

If you are a European Union national, do not assume general immigration law applies to you; in many cases you will have better rights. Procedures are different too.

As a national of a European Union country you can travel freely to the UK. You can reside here for up to three months, or longer if you are a 'qualified person'. The category of qualified people includes people looking for work, workers, self-employed and self-sufficient people, and students. Your family, whether European nationals themselves or not, can come with you or join you, subject to certain restrictions. There are two groups of family members: immediate and wider family, and different rules apply to each. Current UK rules require family members coming to the European Union for the first time to satisfy ordinary immigration requirements, although there are challenges to this.

Family members of a 'qualified person' retain their rights to residence in the UK in a wide range of circumstances, even where the qualified person dies or a marriage or partnership breaks down.

Nationals of European Union States and their family members have rights to documentation providing evidence of their status. After five years residence in the UK relying on your rights as a national of a European Union country you can apply for permanent residence. Later, if you wish, you can apply for British citizenship.

Check our articles for information on recent developments.