UK Frontier Worker Permit

To understand if you are eligible to apply for the permit, you should identify whether the following circumstances apply to your case:

• You are a citizen of an EU country, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, or Liechtenstein
• Your primary residence is outside the UK
• You started working in the UK by December 31st 2020
  • You were, and have continuously been a worker
  • Or, self-employed
  • Or, a person treated as self-employed or as a worker under Regulation 4
• You usually worked in the UK at least once every 12 months since your start date of work

Irish citizens do not need to apply for this permit, as they already have the right to live and work without a visa in the UK, but may do so if they wish.

Individuals living in Ireland who do not have Irish citizenship but are cross-border workers may need to first apply for a frontier move. British citizens are ineligible to apply.

An ‘EEA citizen’ is a national of one of the following states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, or Switzerland.

What are the residence requirements?

When submitting an application for the frontier worker permit scheme, you must demonstrate how you meet the residence requirements.

According to the Home Office guidance, individuals will be deemed eligible if they were not primarily resident in the UK immediately prior to 11pm GMT on December 31st 2020 and this continues to be true.

The guidance further states that an individual is not considered to be resident in the United Kingdom at a particular period (known as “the relevant date” if either of the following apply:

• The individual was present in the UK for fewer than 180 days in the 12 months before the relevant date
• Unless there are exceptional reasons for the individual to not have done so, they can prove that they returned to their country of residence at least either:
  • Once in the six months immediately before the relevant date day
  • Twice in the 12 months immediately before the relevant date day

What are the working requirements?

The definition of ‘work’ is a point that may cause some confusion for individuals applying on this route.

According to the Home Office guidance, a ‘worker’ and ‘self-employed person’ are considered along the same definition as Articles 45 and 49 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Individuals may apply for this route if they, immediately before the end of the transition period (11pm GMT on December 31^st 2020), and ever since that time, were a worker or self-employed person undertaking work in the UK.

The definition of “immediately before” refers to the fact that a person must demonstrate how they met the requirement before the end of the transition period rather than another point in the past.

To qualify, a person must not have ceased being a worker or end their self-employment by this date.

Further, they must also continue to come and work in the UK for the purpose of work or self-employment at least “once in every rolling 12-month period from their first instance of work or self-employment in the UK in 2020.”

Worker requirements

It is not essential for a worker to hold an employment contract to work in the UK, rather they must show they have a UK-based employer and an agreement that they will undertake work-related tasks in the UK.

The employee must be offered pay or services in return for the work. It may be useful to include a contract of employment of letter from a UK employer to bolster the application for a permit.

Individuals who work for themselves must demonstrate that their activities are genuine, effective, stable, and continuous.

This means that forms of temporary or irregular work undertaken by self-employed individuals will not be eligible for the permit.

How to apply for frontier worker status

The frontier worker permit application process must be completed online on the Gov.uk site. The documents you need to apply for the permit may include the following:

• Passport or valid national identity card
• Employment contract, contract to complete work, or employment letter/ agreement
  • Evidence of your employment start date, your place of work, and the nature of the work
  • Confirmation from the employer that the worker is required to travel to the UK for work purposes, including information
• Payslips or invoices demonstrating the pay you have received in exchange for your work
• Evidence of social security contributions in the UK based on work undertaken in the UK
• Copies of business accounts showing proof of payment for work
• Email or text communication showing work organised in the UK
• References from clients or examples of business advertising in the UK
• Evidence of future work engagements to be carried out in the UK
• Letters outlining proof of self-employed status
• Income tax letter from HMRC

The next step in the application process is to prove your identity.

Depending on an individual’s circumstances, frontier workers may be able to use the UK Immigration: ID Check app or alternatively, may be required to attend a visa application centre to submit biometric information.

If you application is approved, your permit will be issued for five years (if you are a worker or self-employed). If an individual holds retained frontier worker status, they will be issued their frontier worker status for just two years.

Holding the permit gives frontier workers the right to be exempt from immigration control, but does not indicate leave to enter or remain (as with indefinite leave to remain).

If you have a family member wishing to apply with you, they may have been eligible to apply under the EU Settlement Scheme, to receive settled status or pre-settled status. The deadline for most applicants was 30^th June 2021 unless there were reasonable grounds for not applying.