IMA launches survey for EU citizens on life in the UK after Brexit
The Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens’ Rights Agreements (IMA) is launching a survey to better understand the experiences of EU and EEA EFTA citizens and their family members living in the UK and Gibraltar four years on from Brexit.
The IMA was established as part of the Withdrawal and Separation Agreements to make sure the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and Gibraltar are upheld by public bodies.
Citizens should broadly have the same rights as before Brexit, if they were resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 and if they made an application to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS). Those rights are protected by the EU Withdrawal Agreement or the EEA EFTA Separation Agreement and include:
- the right to live and work in the UK and Gibraltar
- the right to have qualifications you gained in an EU or EEA EFTA country recognised in the UK and Gibraltar
- the right to access housing, healthcare, education and benefits
- the right to be treated equally
The IMA is interested to hear from all EU citizens living in the UK and Gibraltar, but particularly from vulnerable or harder to reach groups of people about their experiences.
To help reach as many citizens as possible the IMA is working closely with other organisations such as charities, citizens’ rights groups, and EU Embassies.
The survey will ask questions such as citizens experience of accessing rights such as the right to work, and rent, and will try to measure what impact there may be on future generations.
This research will help the IMA to measure citizens’ awareness of their rights and the support available; understand citizens’ experiences in the UK and Gibraltar and help to gain insight into the scale of barriers citizens may face when accessing their rights.
The survey will look to gather information to help us assess the impact of barriers and challenges being faced now and for future generations. For example, how well citizens understand the potential need to secure EUSS status for their children.
It’s important that the survey gathers responses from as many people as possible, as their experiences will help to inform and focus the ongoing work of the IMA.
The IMA will publish a full report of its findings following the survey closure.
Chief Executive Miranda Biddle said: “It’s important that we hear directly from EU and EEA EFTA citizens so that we can get a clear picture of what issues and barriers citizens may be facing.
“Our survey is designed to ask questions that will help to inform our current programme of work, and to shape the future focus of the IMA so we’d encourage as many people as possible to complete it.”
*Family members of EU or EEA EFTA citizens may include eligible third country nationals, for example, non-EU or EEA EFTA nationals that are married to an EU or EEA EFTA citizen or are divorced or widowed.