13 Admission of third country nationals
for the purpose of research
| (25477)
7815/04
COM(04) 178
| (a) Commission Communication on a draft Directive and two draft Recommendations on the admission of third-country nationals to carry out scientific research in the European Community
(b) Draft Council Directive on a specific procedure for admitting third-country nationals for the purposes of scientific research
(c) Draft Council Recommendation to facilitate the admission of third-country nationals to carry out scientific research in the European Community
(d) Draft Council Recommendation to facilitate the issue by the Member States of short-stay visas for researchers from third countries travelling within the European Community for the purpose of carrying out scientific research
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| Legal base | (a) —
(b) Article 63(3)(a) and 63(4) EC; consultation; unanimity
(c) Article 63 EC; consultation; unanimity
(d) Article 62(2)(b)(ii) EC; co-decision; QMV
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| Department | Home Office |
| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 25 May 2004
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 42-xix (2003-04), para 3 (5 May 2004)
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information awaited
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Background
13.1 The Lisbon European Council asked the Commission and the
Council, together with Member States, to remove obstacles to the
mobility of researchers and to attract research talent to Europe
and retain it.[33]
13.2 In its Communication on this proposal, the Commission
says that the Community will need 700,000 more researchers by
2010 if it is to achieve the objective of devoting 3% of Member
States' GDP to research and technological development by then.
Because it is unlikely that the Community will produce that number
of researchers itself, it will be necessary to attract researchers
from outside the Community.
13.3 The purpose of the draft Directive is to facilitate
the admission to the Community and the mobility of researchers
who are nationals of third countries. Such researchers would
not be required to obtain a work permit. Prospective employers
would no longer have to show that they have tried to recruit a
suitably qualified resident to fill the research post. Some of
the checks on researchers which are currently the responsibility
of the immigration authorities would become the responsibility
of the research organisations.
13.4 The Commission says that the Directive is not
sufficient on its own and so two Recommendations are proposed
in addition. The first of them is proposed because it takes several
years between the presentation of a proposal for a Directive and
the time when it comes into force. The purpose of the first Recommendation,
therefore, is to call on Member States to take action on some
matters covered by the proposed Directive before it is transposed
into national law. Moreover, the first Recommendation deals with
some matters not covered by the draft Directive. The second Recommendation
deals with short-term visas for researchers from third countries
who need to attend conferences or seminars in the EU.
13.5 When we considered the document on 5 May, we
decided to keep it under scrutiny pending the Government's answers
to the following questions. We asked:
- whether there is evidence that
current immigration legislation is deterring researchers from
coming here to the detriment of the UK and whether the Commission's
proposals would be likely to attract more researchers to come
here to the benefit of the UK;
- to comment on the Commission's view that action
to facilitate the admission of researchers from third countries
is so urgent that the proposed Recommendation is necessary before
the Directive can be brought into effect;
- whether the Government supports the proposals
and what reservations, if any, it has; and
- whether the Government intends to opt into all
or any of the proposals.
The Minister's letter
13.6 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at
the Home Office (Caroline Flint) tells us that:
"There is no evidence, to date, that Immigration
policies deter researchers entering the UK. We operate extremely
flexible work permit arrangements in relation to sponsored researchers
as a whole. Due to the nature of these particular research projects
and the fact that posts are considered to be supernumerary, the
usual requirement to test the resident labour market has been
waived as well as the requirement to transfer funding to the host
organisation. Those researchers, which do not fall within the
work permit criteria, also have the option of being able to enter
the UK through the Academic Visitor route of the immigration rules.
"The Government recognises the need to look
towards adopting a flexible approach to help encourage facilitation
of third country scientific researchers, not only into the UK,
but also, into the EU more widely. Measures have been put in
place at official level, within the UK, to discuss this very issue.
"It is, generally, the UK's position not to
opt-in to such proposals, which would undermine our frontiers
protocol. We are currently considering whether or not to opt
in to this proposal and seeking the views of other departments.
We will communicate our decision to the committees in due course.
"The Committee also asks for comment on whether
the Commission's view that action to facilitate the admission
of researchers from third countries is so urgent that the proposed
Recommendation is necessary before the Directive can be brought
into effect.
"We do not consider the Recommendations [sic]
to be as urgent as the Commission suggests. As previously mentioned
the UK already operates extremely flexible work permit arrangements
for sponsored researchers, which will cover scientific researchers."
Conclusion
13.7 We are grateful to the Minister for her answers.
We shall keep the document under scrutiny pending the Government's
decision whether to opt into the proposal.
33 Conclusion 13, Lisbon European Council, 23/24 March
2000. Back
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