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Four years on: what will be the Youth Mobility options for EU nationals?




Translation of the Francais a Londres article:


As part of the “reset” with the EU since Brexit, Keir Starmer has given indications that the UK may be willing to look at an EU wide deal for young people from the EU to come, live, study and work in the UK.


Ahead of Starmer’s visit to Brussels this week, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the EU Commission has cordially expressed that she is looking forward to the talks.


What exactly is the Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS)?


This is one of the temporary visa routes available for young people usually aged between 18 and 30 (or 18 to 35 yrs from certain countries) to come for a period of 2years to live, study and work in the UK. If you are from Australia, Canada or New Zealand you may extend your visa for one more year.


The YMS route does not lead to settlement, and one would have to “switch in country” if one managed, for example, to secure a job offer as a Skilled worker or in some other category that suited one’s aspirations.   However, it enables young persons to experience the culture and language by living in each other’s countries on what used to be called a Working Holiday visa. By contrast with that predecessor category, YMS is much more limited in scope in terms of the countries that can take part and the number of places available.


Currently some 12 countries have varying preferential offers but limited in number depending on the country concerned in a carefully and thriftily managed migration of youth. For instance, Australia is offered 45,000 places whilst Uruguay has only 500.


The current countries with these bilateral agreements, in addition to the above-mentioned, include Andorra, Japan and Iceland. India has a separate India Young Professionals Scheme limited only to graduate professionals being eligible to apply through a form of a lottery.


The question about Youth Mobility for EU nationals was raised as far back as April 2021 when 19 members of parliament tabled a motion lamenting that a scheme was not in place as a part of the Brexit deal despite “ the importance of that scheme to the development of young people’s understanding of different countries and cultures” and further noting that the scheme stimulates investment in tourist activities and language schools, recognising it supports the economy by providing a route for prospective Au Pairs to come to the UK from other countries and vice versa, providing an affordable and flexible childcare solution.


Back then, Boris Johnson having stampeded through the withdrawal agreement, there appeared to be little appetite for chipping away at the hard Brexit Britain found itself in. Ever since, a preoccupation with controlling net migration by successive Tory governments have led to an intransigent approach to an EU wide Youth Mobility offer for the entire bloc.

France too taking an all for one and one for all approach to this subject meant that key nations in the EU pushed for a collective agreement rather than a country by country deal that Britain would have preferred.


In response to a written question two years ago in November 2022 by Baroness McIntosh of Pickering whether the UK would extend the scheme to EU nationals, the Conservative peer Lord Murray maintained that the Government of the day remained “…open to negotiating Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) arrangements with other countries and territories including EU Member States. However, each YMS is subject to a bilateral, reciprocal agreement…” 


As recently as May 2024, Martyn Day of the SNP regretted "that the UK Government has rejected an EU-wide youth mobility scheme that would make it easier for our young people to live, study and work across the EU, as well as remove barriers to young EU citizens coming here to fill vital employment gaps” and urged the then Conservative government under Rishi Sunak to renegotiate an agreement on behalf of the youth of Britain.


Last week on 25 September 2024, the Guardian reported that in light of the relatively low numbers of young people from existing YMS countries taking up the visa to come to the UK in there might be some hope of an EU wide deal for young people with the new Labour government. Despite the rejection of an earlier offer in April 2024 EU diplomats will have tweaked the proposals. Starmer has “not ruled out” greater youth mobility between the UK and the EU.


The April 2024 discussion involved EU students being reverted to the position of “home students” for the purpose of tuition fees given the enormous fees being paid by other international students. It remains to be seen if any deal that might be struck between the UK and EU in relation to YMS will concede any preferential student fees (resisted by UK universities) and the length of any visa.


It is very probable that there would be limited numbers being offered per country in some weighted formula as has been the case with the existing YMS, to allay hard Brexiteer fears of free movement through the back door.


One can only hope for a more cordial “entente” between old friends and allies.

 


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