A new ‘single permit’ law passed by the European Parliament on 13 December guarantees third country migrants working legally within the EU common rights similar to those of EU nationals regarding working conditions, pensions, social security and access to public services.
The Directive will also enable foreign workers to obtain work and residence permits in the same procedure and member states will have two years to adapt their national laws to the new rules.
The "single permit" directive is designed to facilitate migration where it meets the needs of the EU labour market and is complementary to measures on legal migration, especially the blue card initiative.
The Parliament’s rapporteur and French EPP deputy Véronique Mathieu stressed that the single permit directive will allow the EU “to deal to a degree with the shortage of European labour” and facilitate the checks and balances of migratory flows.
“It is much better to have legal migration and remove any kind of incentive to illegal or clandestine measures,” Mathieu said. She added that the new rules should simplify the issuance of work and residence permits and “allow third country nationals to enjoy the same rights as workers in the EU”.
