In May this year, the European Parliament approved an EU directive relaxing EU entry and residence rules applying to people from outside the EU who come to study, research, train or volunteer in Europe.
The adopted rules merge two existing directives in place since 2004 (one on students and one on researchers) ensuring that:
- students and researchers are allowed to work during their mobility period for at least 15 hours a week;
- after their stay, foreign students will be allowed to stay for up to nine months in an EU country to look for work or start a business,
- family members of researchers coming to Europe will be allowed to accompany them and seek for work,
- foreign nationals may move easily within the EU. They will no longer need to apply for a new visa, but simply notify the member state which they are moving to, for example to do a one-semester exchange
EU member states have two years to implement the new rules in their national legislation, excluding Denmark, Ireland or the UK
Find out more on the new EU directive on the link.