Brussels, 11/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - MEPs in Strasbourg on Wednesday 11 May approved new harmonised EU entry and residence rules to make it easier and more attractive for people from third countries to study or do research at European universities.
The new rules clarify and improve conditions for non-EU trainees, volunteers, school pupils and au pairs. They merge two existing directives (one on students and one on researchers), as the Commission proposed in 2014.
The new rules ensure, inter alia, that students and researchers can stay at least nine months after finishing their studies or research in order to look for a job or to set up a business, which should also ensure that Europe benefits from their skills. Students and researchers will be able to move more easily within the EU during their stay and will not need to file a new visa application, but will have simply to notify the member state to which they are moving, for example, to do a one-semester exchange. Researchers, too, will be able to move for longer periods than are currently allowed.
Researchers will have the right to bring their family members with them and these family members will be entitled to work during their stay in Europe. The new directive will give students the right to work at least 15 hours a week. It also contains optional provisions for other volunteers, school pupils and third-country au pairs within the European volunteer scheme.
The directive, which was approved by the Council on 10 March, will have to be transposed within two years of its publication in the Official Journal. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)