UK Government (UKG) has updated its guidance to clarify rules around eligibility for the Frontier Worker Permit Scheme, and is encouraging employers and business intermediaries to share information about the scheme with frontier workers.
A frontier worker is an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen who is employed or self-employed in the UK, but resident elsewhere. If a frontier worker was working in the UK on or before 31 December 2020 they can still enter the UK for work and are eligible to apply for a permit.
Frontier workers who want to work in the UK from 1 January 2021, and who were not working in the UK before, will need to apply for a visa.
Frontier workers who were working in the UK before 1 January 2021 must hold a frontier worker permit to enter the UK for work from 1 July 2021 onwards.
With regard to eligibility, UKG has clarified that:
- Frontier workers who are continuously employed only need to travel to the UK for work at least once every twelve months to be eligible.
- If a frontier worker has had a period of unemployment in the UK, or is unemployed when applying for a permit, this may affect their eligibility.
UKG has shared updated guidance for frontier workers on the application process. An information leaflet, ‘Frontier worker permit for EU Citizens’ is also attached to this note.
We would appreciate your support in raising awareness of the updated guidance and the scheme in general. To this end, grateful if you would share both the attached information leaflet, and the link to the GOV.UK guidance, throughout your business networks.
UKG has provided a sample letter that you may wish to use to share information with employees – see Annex A.
If possible, it would be helpful if you could let us know (via email at: EUExitMigration@economy-ni.gov.uk) how/where you share this information and keep us updated on any feedback you receive in relation to the scheme so that we can feed this back to the Home Office where necessary.
If you have any questions regarding this note please contact my team at the email address above.
Ian Getgood
EU Exit – Migration & Access to Skills Branch
Department for the Economy
To access a sample letter for employees and more information about the EU Exit Stakeholder, please see the following attachments:
EU Exit Stakeholder Forum – Frontier Worker Permit Scheme – Updated Guid… FrontierWorker_Leaflet_Mar21