# Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006

The Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 (or EEA Regulations for short), amended by SI 2009/1117, SI 2011/1247 and SI 2015/694 and which have now been mostly repealed and superseded by the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016, was a piece of British legislation which implemented the right of free movement of European Economic Area (EEA) nationals and their family members in the United Kingdom. It is based on Directive 2004/38/EC. It allows EEA citizens and their family members to live and work in the UK without explicit permission. Although Swiss citizens are covered by a separate bilateral agreement; they are treated basically the same as EEA nationals. Family members may need a special entry clearance (the EEA family permit) to enter the UK.

## Legal context

The basis of the Immigration EEA Regulations 2006 is Directive 2004/38/EC. Member states are bound by the EC treaties to implement Directives into national law. However, a significant amount of case law (or precedents), many of them predating the directive, and the historical development (see Freedom of movement for workers) must also be taken into account to correctly interpret EU law. Still, ambiguities in the Directive and misinterpretation by the member states exist,
which may require further clarification through national courts and the European Court of Justice.

## Terminology and applications

The EEA Regulations define a number of terms in addition to the terms in the Directive 2004/38.
Terminology :
| EEA Regulations | Directive 2004/38 | Meaning |
| European Economic Area Family Permit | visa | entry clearance for non-EEA citizens |
| extended family members | beneficiaries | other family members or dependants, partners in a durable relationship |
Applications :
| Application | Applicant | Result | valid for |
| VAF5 | non-EEA | EEA family permit | 6 months |
| EEA1 | EEA | registration certificate | 5 years or envisaged period of residence if less |
| EEA2 | non-EEA | residence card | 5 years or envisaged period of residence if less |
| EEA3 | EEA | permanent residence card | No limit |
| EEA4 | non-EEA | permanent residence card | 10 years |

## Core and extended family members

The definition of a Core family member (of an EEA national) only includes a spouse or civil partner, children under 21, or dependant children of any age and dependent parents. A person outside of this definition (especially unmarried partners) may fall under the category of an extended family member. These include dependents of the EU citizens, members of the household, and a partner in a "durable relationship". While the Directive 2004/38 requires member states to "facilitate entry" for extended family members, the details are not defined. The Directive does not seem to grant any rights to extended family members.
In the EEA Regulations, the acceptance of extended family members is not explicit. UK regulations have specific criteria for extended family members, including unmarried and same sex partners. Once an extended family member has been issued with an EEA family permit, Residence Card, or Residence Certificate, they are regarded under UK regulations as family members.

## Accession states

Workers from recent member states have the right to move to the UK, but their access to the labour market is limited. The details are defined in the Worker Registration Scheme (WRS). Nationals of A8 countries will cease to be subject to the Worker Registration scheme and may benefit from free movement under the directive once 12 months of employment with a single employer has been completed. The transitional WRS scheme became obsolete in 2011 when A8 national workers will have the same rights as all other EEA nationals.

## Completeness

The implementation is reasonably complete, although there are areas where the Directive has not been fully implemented. One example is a failure to correctly implement the Surinder Singh ruling of the European Court of Justice.
Another issue with the UK implementation of the Directive is that the UK has kept national immigration law (the "Immigration Rules") separate from the implementation of the European law (the "EEA Regulations"). While it is possible to switch from the UK law to the European law, this does reset the clock for acquiring permanent residence. The legal situation of extended family members during this switch is uncertain, because they have to conform to both laws. Switching from European law to UK law is possible only after the EEA citizen became settled in the UK. The EEA national is considered settled when having attained permanent residence.