# "Freedom of movement" for Third Country Nationals?



## Bevdeforges

Over in another thread (titled "Greece to France") we seem to have gotten bogged down in various explanations and interpretations of the EU directives related to Third Country Nationals (TCNs) who want to move from one EU country in which they have established residence to another EU country on a long-stay basis. Like so many other things, this is complicated by Brexit and the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) which has rendered many British residents of France (and other EU countries) TCNs over night.

Is there anyone out there who has transferred from one EU country to another using these TCN provisions which seem to allow long-term residents to transfer their residency to the new host country without having to apply for a new long-stay visa for the new country of residence? If so, could you jump in here and explain how the process worked for you and whether or not the residency transferred "automatically" or required proof of the usual sorts of things (like adequate financial resources, private health cover, etc.). How long had you lived in your first host country and what sort of residence permit did you have? What sort of residence permit did you receive from the country you moved to?

Just for reference, I'm attaching a couple of pages from the EU Europa website that refer to this process both for non UK TCNs and for those Brits who are beneficiaries of the Brexit WA.








What category do I fit into?


You can discover on these pages whether you fall into any of the categories of people covered by the EU Directives.




ec.europa.eu












Brexit: how UK nationals and their family members resident in an EU country can stay there after 31 December 2020 - Your Europe







europa.eu


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## woodbine

Very interesting. I have had Czech residency for almost 3 years. Would make my move to France much simpler. I'm all ears!


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## *Sunshine*

woodbine said:


> Very interesting. I have had Czech residency for almost 3 years. Would make my move to France much simpler. I'm all ears!


You would to need to obtain a permanent residence permit EU (for third country nationals) in the Czech Republic first. The requirements include a minimum of 60 months residence and a language test. You would need to find out from the Czech authorities whether or not they would be willing to issue this permit to you (as a Brit who falls under the WA) once you meet the requirements. 

Please post the response here.


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## Bevdeforges

woodbine said:


> Very interesting. I have had Czech residency for almost 3 years. Would make my move to France much simpler. I'm all ears!


In these matters, past residency generally doesn't count for much. As Sunshine has said, you would need some form of "permanent" residency and you need to have that residency at the time that you move from one EU country to the next. This is, unfortunately, the side of Brexit that no one seems to have considered either before or during the "transition period."


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## Tricky Dicky

I see 15 European Court of Justice judges plus a presiding judge have been named to hear a case about whether it is fair for Britons to have been stripped of EU rights after Brexit. It would also restore the FOM and other right of those who lived in the EU before Brexit. Case is due to be heard in April. Heaven knows what the chances are of this getting a positive outcome.


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