Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Act 2020

Overview of the Act

Reproduced verbatim from the Explanatory Notes published with the Act on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). Explanatory Notes are prepared by the responsible government department and are not part of the Act.

The purpose of the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Act 2020 ("the Act") is to end free movement of persons in UK law and make European Union (EU), other European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss citizens, and their family members, subject to UK immigration controls. The Act ends the EU’s rules on free movement that are retained in UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("EUWA 2018"), as amended by the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 ("EUWAA 2020") and repeals section 7 of the Immigration Act 1988, which exempts EU citizens from requiring leave to enter or remain in the UK. At the end of the transition period, 31 December 2020, citizens of the EU, the EEA EFTA states of Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, and Switzerland, and their family members, will require permission to enter and remain in the UK under the Immigration Act 1971 1 . The Act protects the immigration status of Irish citizens once free movement ends. It also contains provision for the Government (and/or, where appropriate, a Northern Ireland department) to amend retained direct EU legislation relating to the social security co-ordination regime, which is retained in UK law by the EUWA 2018.

EU, other EEA, EFTA and Swiss citizens are collectively referred to as "EEA citizens" in these Notes for brevity, others are referred to as "non-EEA citizens". Unless the context requires otherwise, and/or it is stated otherwise, references to "EEA citizens" in these Notes exclude Irish citizens.