Post-Brexit youth visa scheme with EU given inexperienced mild in main step in the direction of nearer ties with the bloc | EUROtoday

The European Union has given the inexperienced mild to post-Brexit youth visas with the UK, after member states authorised talks on how they might work in follow.

Campaigners welcomed what they hailed as a “massive step forward for young people in the UK.”

The European Council, which contains the leaders of EU member nations, has backed opening up detailed discussions with the UK to find out what number of visas can be issued and what situations they might have.

Britons misplaced the fitting to dwell and work within the EU – so-called “freedom of movement” – and vice versa, after the UK left the bloc. But there have lengthy been requires a scheme for 18-30 years olds that might enable Brits to work on the continent, and younger individuals from EU nations to return right here, for a brief interval of some years.

Britain already has comparable agreements on youth mobility with 13 separate nations, together with Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Iceland, Uruguay, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Most of those are open to 18 to 30-year-olds or 18 to 35-year-olds, relying on the place they’re from, and permit them to dwell and work within the UK for as much as two years.

But concept of a youth visa cope with the EU has confirmed controversial, with Labour ministers compelled to defend it and deny it’s a return to pre-Brexit type freedom of motion.

Earlier this yr Downing Street made clear that anybody coming to the UK as a part of a youth mobility scheme with the EU will be unable to entry advantages, nor convey relations with them.

It is known that they might additionally need to pay an immigration well being surcharge to make use of the NHS.

The council has now adopted plans to open official negotiations with the UK on such a scheme.

Alfred Quantrill, from the Young European Movement UK, mentioned: “The EU deciding to formally start talks on a Youth Experience Scheme is a massive step forward for young people in the UK.

“Young Brits deserve the identical probabilities loved by most of their friends throughout the continent.

“Whether you call it a Youth Experience Scheme or Mobility Scheme, it amounts to the same – more opportunities for a whole generation of young Brits who have seen their chances of working and studying abroad shrinking for a decade.

“That means rejoining schemes like Erasmus+, but also opening up broader access to apprenticeships, internships, and leisure. While our parents could freely work, study and travel across borders, this generation is trapped by paperwork and high costs. The Youth Experience Scheme is Starmer’s chance to fix this failure.”

The moves comes just days after a poll showed that nearly nine years on from the narrow Brexit referendum result, which led to the UK leaving the union, most Britons want to see the UK return to the EU.

The YouGov poll survey highlighted the extent to which the UK public is “Bregretful” in regards to the final result of the vote, which ended David Cameron’s time period as prime minister.