No EU National Currently in UK to Be Asked to Leave After Brexit – May

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to the proposals, the United Kingdom will create new rights for "qualifying EU citizens resident here before our exit … The administrative procedures which they will need to comply with in order to obtain these new rights will be modernised and kept as smooth and simple as possible."

"Under these plans, no EU citizen currently in the UK lawfully will be asked to leave at the point the UK leaves the EU. We want you to stay," May said speaking at the House of Commons on her proposals.

The settled status would give the qualifying EU nationals the right to "reside in any capacity and undertake any lawful activity, to access public funds and services and to apply for British citizenship."

All qualifying EU citizens will be given adequate time to apply for their residence status after Brexit. In order to qualify, the EU national "must have been resident in the UK before a specified date and must have completed a period of five years’ continuous residence in the UK." Those who arrived before the specified date but have not accrued five years’ continuous residence will be able to apply for temporary status until they have accumulated five years.

"Those EU citizens who arrived after the specified date will be allowed to remain in the UK for at least a temporary period and may become eligible to settle permanently, depending on their circumstances," the statement reads.

The "specified date" will be no earlier than March 29, 2017 and no later than the date of Brexit.

"The UK fully expects that the EU and its member states will ensure, in a reciprocal way, that the rights set out above are similarly protected for UK nationals living across the EU before the specified date. Firstly, UK nationals in the EU must be able to attain a right equivalent to settled status in the country in which they reside. Secondly, they must be able to continue to access benefits and services across the member states akin to the way in which they do now," the statement read.

The fate of both EU citizens living in the United Kingdom and UK nationals leaving in EU member states is one of the major talking points in the Brexit talks between London and Brussels, which started on June 19. The Brexit process, which was initiated on March 29, is to be completed within two years under Article 50 of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty.