Prime Minister Theresa May has posted an open message to the three million-plus EU expats in Britain, saying London and Brussels are “in touching distance” of an agreement to secure their futures.

Theresa May directly addresses EU expats via social media

The message, posted on Facebook and mailed to 100,000 EU nationals living in the UK, Mrs May promised to introduce a simple system to enable them to remain in the UK with a “streamlined” digital process for registering their right to stay.Mrs May, who arrived in Brussels for a EU summit on Thursday, reiterated her message that “EU citizens living lawfully in the UK today will be able to stay”. She also announced that representatives of EU nationals will be invited to sit on a new group that will meet regularly to discuss problems with the process of applying for a ‘settled status’ to remain in the UK.She said the cost of registration would be kept “as low as possible” and that it would be simple to swap permanent residence rights for settled status.Until now, the government has refused to give nationals from other EU countries unconditional rights to remain in the UK pending the million-plus Britons living on the continent being offered similar rights.In her message, Mrs May said, “We are in touching distance of agreement. I know both sides will consider each other’s proposals for finalising the agreement with an open mind.

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“And with flexibility and creativity on both sides, I am confident that we can conclude discussions on citizens’ rights in the coming weeks.“We want people to stay and we want families to stay together. We hugely value the contributions that EU nationals make to the economic, social and cultural fabric of the UK. And I know that member states value equally UK nationals living in their communities.“I hope that these reassurances, alongside those made by both the UK and the European Commission last week, will provide further helpful certainty to the four million people who were understandably anxious about what Brexit would mean for their futures.”

Immigration campaign group concerned agreement isn’t a certainty

The message, however, received only a lukewarm welcome from the3million group, which campaigns for EU citizens in Britain. Nicolas Hatton, the group’s founder, said he “strongly disagreed” with Mrs May’s assertion that the two sides were close to an agreement.“We are barely out of the starting blocks,” he said. “For the past year, we have unsuccessfully tried to meet with David Davis and Theresa May. We have also made detailed objections to the proposed ‘settled status’ which have been read, but seem to have been comprehensively ignored.”One of the group’s objections to the ‘settled status’ Britain is offering is that it could water down their rights to family reunification, which is also believed to be one of the sticking points in negotiations, along with expats’ rights to rulings from the European Court of Justice.But Mr Hatton noted that Mrs May’s message stated that she wanted to see families staying together. Calling for dialogue, he said, “Perhaps this letter will open the door.”For related news and features, visit our Immigration section.Relocate’s new Global Mobility Toolkit provides free information, practical advice and support for HR, global mobility managers and global teams operating overseas.Access hundreds of global services and suppliers in our Online Directory  

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