I am a non-EU citizen in the UK. How will Brexit affect me?

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What you need to know as a non-EU citizen living in the UK

if you have, or had, a family connection to an EU citizen

1 I am a non-EU citizen in the UK.

How will Brexit aect me?

As of 1 February 2020 the UK is no longer part of the

EU. The EU and the UK have negotiated the terms of

the UK’s exit, commonly referred to as the ‘Withdrawal

Agreement’ or the ‘Brexit deal’. According to this,

EU law – including free movement in the EU2 – will

continue to apply to and in the UK until the end

of an agreed transition period (which will end on

31 December 2020).

Once EU law ceases to apply to the UK at the end of

the transition period, freedom of movement between

the EU and the UK will end (however, see Section 2

for situations covered by the Withdrawal Agreement).

The UK has stated clearly that it does not wish to

continue the free movement of persons. This will

af‌fect EU citizens3 and their family members living in

the UK, along with British nationals living throughout

the EU.

2 What will happen now that the Withdrawal

Agreement has entered into force?

Thanks to the EU–UK Withdrawal Agreement, the

residence rights of EU citizens and their family

members – including non-EU family members – who

arrived in the UK before the end of the transition

2 Free movement of workers is a fundamental principle of EU law.

According to this, EU citizens can look for a job, work without a permit,

reside and stay after the end of their employment in another EU

Member State. They also enjoy equal treatment with nationals of their

host country in terms of access to employment, working conditions and

all other social and tax advantages.

3 The purpose of this leaf‌let is to explain the situation of non-EU family

members of EU citizens. However, broadly, the same arrangements are

in place for family members of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Swiss

nationals, as there are separate agreements between the UK and these

countries.