The UK will offer residency guarantees for EU citizens if a reciprocal offer is provided, the Prime Minister has told other heads of state.
Mrs May was speaking to the leaders of the EU’s 27 other member states over a private dinner at the European Council, when she made the offer.
A position paper outlining details of the plan, which offers a grace period even if EU citizens arrive before the UK leaves the EU, will be put before MPs on Monday.
Ms May is understood to have said: “No-one will face a cliff edge.
“All EU citizens either here today or arriving before we leave the EU will have the opportunity to regularise their status.
“We are looking for this to be a reciprocal arrangement — both sides should seek to agree terms as early as possible.”
There would be three categories of “settled” citizenship in the plan.
The first would be any EU citizen who has lived in the UK for more than five years, who would be considered already settled and offered UK citizenship.
The second is EU citizens who have lived here less than five years by the cutoff period, understood to be the date of the Brexit referendum result but before the point the UK leaves the EU, which is set for March 2019.
These people would be given a grace period of up to two years to apply for the right to remain.
If these people had not found work during the grace period, they would be expected to leave.
The Prime Minister told leaders: “The UK does not want anyone here to have to leave, nor does it want families to be split up.
“The UK position represents a fair and serious offer and one aimed at giving as much certainty as possible to citizens who have settled in the UK, building careers and lives and contributing so much to our society.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon backed a guarantee for Eu citizens living in the UK.
Speaking at the Royal Highland Show today (Fri) she was expected to say: “EU workers are important to virtually all parts of the modern farming industry – from the laboratories of our research institutes to the fields of our fruit farms.
“The UK Government placed a great deal of emphasis on restricting freedom of movement. That seems to be the key reason why it is not pursuing single market membership.
“But Scottish agriculture, and Scotland more generally, has benefitted enormously from freedom of movement.”
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