Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The Council of the European Union today adopted a revision of the Single Authorization Directive. The law, which amends the 2011 directives currently in force, aims to attract the skills and talent the EU needs and address shortcomings regarding legal immigration to the EU.
The Directive sets out the administrative procedure for obtaining a single declaration for both the right to work and the right to remain in the EU and defines a common set of rights for workers from a third country. The revision provides for shortening application procedures and aims to strengthen the rights of workers from third countries by allowing a change of employer and a limited period of unemployment.
Application procedures
A third-country worker can apply from the territory of a third country, or from within the European Union if he or she has a valid residence permit. If a Member State decides to issue a single permit, this will be a residence permit and a work permit.
Duration of procedure
The revised Single Permit Directive brings more stringent deadlines for the decision to issue a permit. This must be done within three months of receipt of the completed application. If Member States choose to check the labor market situation before deciding whether to grant an individual permit – for example to assess the need for a worker profile from a third country – this must also be done within this 90-day period. The time limit for making a decision may exceptionally be extended for an additional 30 days in cases of complex applications.
Change of employer
What is new in the review is that individual permit holders will be able to change their employer. Such a change may be subject to notification of the authorities, and Member States may conduct a labor market examination. EU countries may also require a minimum period during which the sole permit holder is required to work for their first employer.
The unemployment
The update also sets out the rules that apply if a single permit holder becomes unemployed. In such cases, workers from third countries are allowed to remain in the territory of the Member State if the total period of unemployment does not exceed three months during the validity of a single permit or six months after two years of the permit.
The Directive will enter into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Member states have two years to turn the directive into national law.