Migration and home affairs

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Legal Migration. Single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a Member State and on a common set of rights for third-country workers legally residing in a Member State ("Single Permit")

Summary
Evaluation
Commission Proposal
Legal Act
Implementation

Overall state of play:

Fitness check: Finalised; SWD(2019)1055 and SWD(2019)1056 the report on the implementation of the Single Permit Directive (COM(2019) 160) adopted on 29.03.2019,
Commission proposal: Adopted; COM/2022/655; adopted by the Commission on 27 April 2022.

State of play, main conclusions, outlook

As a follow-up to the fitness check on legal migration (SWD(2019)1055) and (SWD(2019)1056), the Commission proposed a revision of Directive 2011/98/EU.

The proposal was adopted by the Commission on 27 April 2022.

The fitness check found amongst others, that overall, the directives have brought a number of positive effects on the management of legal migration. National systems for legal migration were aligned to some extent as regards the categories of third-country nationals covered, with varying degrees of harmonisation for admission conditions, procedures and rights. The directives have had a generally positive impact on the level of rights granted to third-country nationals and on the protection of family life. Finally, the acquis has also contributed to the objective of a more efficient management of economic migration flows into the EU to help address labour and skills shortages on the EU labour market, thus contributing to making the EU more competitive overall.

There are also numerous benefits of harmonisation in the field of legal migration. Among others, Member States clearly stressed the EU added-value of the Single Permit Directive. In particular, they considered that harmonised and simplified procedures and a common set of rights, increased legal certainty and predictability for third-country nationals and employers were among the areas in which EU action brought the most positive effects and the most EU added value.

The Commission proposal (COM/2022/655) aims at further simplifying and streamlining the application procedure, improving some equal treatment rights, specifically with regard to access to goods and services and some branches of social security, such as family benefits. It also aims at further improving coherence of the Directive with the wider EU legal migration acquis by clarifying what categories of third-country workers are not covered by the Directive.

Estimated savings and benefits

The Commission proposal is expected to bring significant burden reduction and cost savings to businesses/employers (estimated indicatively between EUR 22.0 million and EUR 101.0 annually) and third-country nationals (indicatively between EUR 89.0 million and EUR 546.0 million annually).

Fit for Future Platform

The Fit for Future Platform issued its opinion on how to simplify and reduce unnecessary burdens, including by modernising existing EU legislation through digitalisation, reflected generally in the proposal. The opinion was adopted on 10 December 2021. The Platform made the following two recommendations:

Suggestion 1: Streamline and digitalise the single permit application and visa applications to reduce the administrative burden and costs on applicants and on authorities.

Suggestion 2: Simplify procedures on change of employer and increasing ownership of workers will provide concrete benefits to national administrations and applicants.

These suggestions have been followed-up in:

The Commission proposed changes to the directive¹, stipulating that the Member States allow the application for a single permit to be made both in the Member State of destination and from a non-EU country and requiring Member States to issue the requisite visa where the requirements specified by EU or national law are fulfilled.

The Commission also specified in its proposal² that the time limit of four months laid down in the directive covers the issuance of the requisite visa. This time limit must also cover the time needed by the authorities to check the labour market situation before a decision on the single permit is adopted.

The Commission proposed changes³ on aspects pertaining to procedures. This ensures that the single permit shall not be withdrawn in the event of unemployment of its holder, and Member States allow the non-EU worker to remain on their territory for at least three months during the validity of the permit, after they lose their job.

The Commission will carry out technical work within its relevant networks to address the specific Platform’s suggestion regarding digitisation of the various procedures.

¹ Article 4 of COM/2022/655

² Article 5 of COM/2022/655

³ Article 11 of COM/2022/655

State of Play:

Finalised 29.03.2019 (SWD(2019)1055 and COM(2019) 160)

Scope:

The fitness check evaluated how the existing acquis on legal migration has contributed to the attainment of legal migration policy objectives, assessing whether the EU legal migration framework is still fit for purposeand identifying possible overlaps, gaps or inconsistencies as well as possible obsolete measures. It provided a thorough analysis that will serve as a basis for future actions in relation to the EU framework on legal migration management.

Evaluation findings:

The fitness check found that:

• EU policy on legal migration remains broadly in line with the general objectives set at the 1999 European Council in Tampere and translated into the Lisbon Treaty, namely to ensure efficient management of migration flows to the EU and fair treatment for legally residing third-country nationals.

• Overall, the directives have brought a number of positive effects on the management of legal migration. National systems for legal migration were aligned to some extent as regards the categories of third-country nationals covered, with varying degrees of harmonisation for admission conditions, procedures and rights. The directives have had a generally positive impact on the level of rights granted to third-country nationals and on the protection of family life. Finally, the acquis has also contributed to the objective of a more efficient management of economic migration flows into the EU to help address labour and skills shortages on the EU labour market, thus contributing to making the EU more competitive overall.

• There are numerous benefits of harmonisation in the field of legal migration. Among others, Member States clearly stressed the EU added-value of the Single Permit Directive. In particular, they considered that harmonised and simplified procedures and a common set of rights, increased legal certainty and predictability for third-country nationals and employers were among the areas in which EU action brought the most positive effects and the most EU added value.

Estimated savings and benefits

The evaluation of the Single Permit Directive under the Fitness Check and the work performed in preparation of the implementation reportidentified a number of personal and material gaps, inconsistencies and shortcomings as well as practical issues arising from the application of the Directive by the Member States. These included, among others:

• Complexity and inconsistencies relating to the single application procedure, mainly as regards the participation of different authorities in the application process resulting in multiple administrative steps required, the time needed to obtain entry visas and labour market-related authorisations;

• Problems with the transposition of the equal treatment provisions, including the exclusion of some categories of third country nationals, such as beneficiaries of protection under national law, restricted coverage by some social security branches, such as e.g. restriction of access to some types of family benefits, restricted access to social security benefits in case of stays shorter than 1 year or access to goods and services, including housing; lack of equal treatment coverage of beneficiaries of protection under national law;

• Issues with the practical application of procedural safeguards.

The fitness check, in particular, recommended in its conclusions ‘considering putting forward legislative measures to tackle the inconsistencies, gaps and other shortcomings identified, so as to simplify, streamline, complete and generally improve EU legislation’.

State of Play:

Adopted: Adopted: COM(2022) 655 final; adopted by the Commission on 27 April 2022.

Which objective(s) does the Commission pursue?

The proposal aims at further simplifying and streamlining the application procedure, improving some equal treatment rights, specifically regarding the access to goods and services and some branches of social security, such as family benefits. It also aims at further improving coherence of the Directive with the wider EU legal migration acquis by clarifying what categories of third-country workers are not covered by the Directive. Moreover, the proposal further improves the protection of third-country workers from exploitation, including by clarifying the right and procedure to change the employer.

Estimated savings and benefits

The proposal is expected to bring significant burden reduction and cost savings to businesses/employers (estimated indicatively between EUR 22.0 million and EUR 101.0 annually) and third-country nationals (indicatively between EUR 89.0 million and EUR 546.0 million annually).