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‘It’s quite a task’: Meet the UN team helping Brits in Italy protect their rights after Brexit

UK nationals in Italy have until the end of 2020 to get all their Brexit paperwork in order, and that's not always straightforward. A UN mission is on hand to help.

Published: 28 October 2020 18:17 CET
'It's quite a task': Meet the UN team helping Brits in Italy protect their rights after Brexit
British nationals should act now to secure their rights in Italy after the Brexit transition period. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

Most people who live in Italy are faced with their fair share of bureaucracy, but for Brits planning to stay beyond the end of this year the paperwork has an added urgency.

“UK nationals should be aware that in order to be covered by the Withdrawal Agreement they need to be lawfully living in Italy by the end of the transition period, and in order to avoid difficulties in the future they should try to register as residents before the end of the transition period,” explains Laurence Hart, who heads the Italy office of the IOM, the UN’s migration agency.

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His mission is deploying a team of case workers to help the British Embassy get Brits in Italy ready for when the UK’s exit from the EU takes effect on December 31st 2020.

Funded by the British Foreign Office, the IOM's mission is one of six similar projects in different EU countries including Germany and France. In Italy, its work spans from explaining residency procedures to dealing directly with local town halls on behalf of people who might find it impossible on their own.

“The main aim of this programme is to assist UK nationals settling in Italy to secure and maintain their residency rights now that the UK has left the EU,” Hart told The Local.

“And in order to achieve that objective, basically we have four strands. The first one is to raise awareness among UK nationals living in Italy, secondly to provide residents’ rights support in English and Italian, thirdly to share accessible information on residency requirements, and finally also to provide practical advice on completing applications.”

Support “can range from raising awareness and providing general advice, to providing specific advice based on the UK national’s circumstances, or even more direct support such as contacting the municipality or town hall on behalf of the UK national, or even attending as a proxy – particularly for those UK nationals who might be isolating or facing additional barriers,” Hart says.

People eligible for the most hands-on assistance include those with disabilities, chronic illness, language or literacy barriers, or difficulty accessing information and services online.

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One of the IOM’s top priorities is to make Brits aware that there may be extra bureaucratic steps to take, even if they’ve been living in Italy for years.

UK nationals and their family members not only need to make sure they’re registered as a resident in their current municipality, they should also request a new document that specifically states they qualify for protection under the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement.

Called the ‘attestazione di inscrizione anagrafica’, the certificate shows how long you’ve been resident in your current comune. But it differs from other residency documents in that it directly refers to the Withdrawal Agreement, which makes it the simplest way to prove that the WA applies to you.

Find a guide to requesting the new attestazione here.

“We would like to ask any UK nationals to help us reach out to other UK nationals that might not be aware of the need to take action now – possibly because they’ve lived in Italy for a very long time, or because they have limited access to information shared over the internet,” says Hart.

“We have been limited by Covid-19 for outreach activities, but we continue to really think a little bit creatively about how to reach the offline. So please, tell a friend and spread the word about regulating your status before the end of the year.”

It isn’t just British residents who need to get up to speed – it can be Italian town halls too.

“It is a very unique process that we’re engaging in, the first of its kind I would say, so there’s no surprise to see a difference in the understanding of local administrations of the rules and procedures,” says Hart, whose team is also involved in explaining the process to the Italian anagrafi, or registry offices, responsible for registering British residents and issuing the new attestazione.

Some Brits have reported facing difficulties obtaining their documents, with some officials unsure of what the new attestazione is or why it’s necessary.

“It is in any country very difficult sometimes to deal with bureaucracy, and it requires a certain deal of patience,” Hart acknowledges.

“But I do [encourage] everyone encountering obstacles to really flag them to us so that we can act in a timely manner, not only to resolve the specific case but to enable the local authorities to come up to speed.”


Bureaucracy can be challenging in Italy at the best of times. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

Together with the British Embassy and the National Association of Italian Municipal Authorities (ANCI), the IOM has helped put together a step-by-step guide, in Italian, that British residents can show their local anagrafe if officials aren’t clear on the procedure. Download a copy here.

And if that doesn’t work, some ten IOM staff are on hand to assist.

“We have a dedicated team there that is trying to reach out to every one of you,” Hart assures Brits in Italy.

“And you can imagine, it’s quite a task. There are a lot of UK residents in Italy, and they are in all sorts of conditions and kinds of residency, they don’t live all in big cities where they have a very efficient registry office – sometimes they’re very small or the knowledge is pretty limited.

“I know in some cases there might be some frustration because there is no consistent reply, but please do flag it to us, because we’re really trying […] to make them understand, to engage as quickly and as efficiently as possible with UK nationals on the Italian territory.”

Contact the IOM’s support team in Italy:

The IOM and British Embassy are running a virtual ‘registration roadshow’, where UK nationals from each region of Italy can book a personal online appointment with representatives from the IOM and British Embassy for residency advice. Find the details here.

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EES PASSPORT CHECKS

How will the new app for Europe’s EES border system work?

With Europe set to introduce its new Entry/Exit biometric border system (EES) in the autumn there has been much talk about the importance of a new app designed to help avoid delays. But how will it work and when will it be ready?

Published: 7 May 2024 10:29 CEST
How will the new app for Europe's EES border system work?

When it comes into force the EU’s new digital border system known as EES will register the millions of annual entries and exits of non-EU citizens travelling to the EU/Schengen area, which will cover 29 European countries.

Under the EU Entry/Exit System (EES), non-EU residents who do not require a visa will have to register their biometric data in a database that will also capture each time they cross an external Schengen border.

Passports will no longer be manually stamped, but will be scanned. However, biometric data such as fingerprints and facial images will have to be registered in front of a guard when the non-EU traveller first crosses in to the EU/Schengen area.

Naturally there are concerns the extra time needed for this initial registration will cause long queues and tailbacks at the border.

To help alleviate those likely queues and prevent the subsequent frustration felt by travellers the EU is developing a new smartphone app.

READ ALSO: What will the EES passport system mean for foreigners living in Europe?

The importance of having a working app was summed up by Uku Särekanno, Deputy Executive Director of the EU border agency Frontex in a recent interview.

“Initially, the challenge with the EES will come down to the fact that travellers arriving in Europe will have to have their biographic and biometric data registered in the system – border guards will have to register four of their fingerprints and their facial image. This process will take time, and every second really matters at border crossing points – nobody wants to be stuck in a lengthy queue after a long trip.”

But there is confusion around what the app will actually be able to do, if it will help avoid delays and importantly when will it be available?

So here’s what we know so far.

Who is developing the app?

The EU border agency Frontex is currently developing the app. More precisely, Frontex is developing the back-end part of the app, which will be made available to Schengen countries.

“Frontex is currently developing a prototype of an app that will help speed up this process and allow travellers to share some of the information in advance. This is something we are working on to support the member states, although there is no legal requirement for us to do so,” Uku Särekanno said in the interview.

Will the 29 EES countries be forced to use the app?

No, it is understood that Frontex will make the app available on a voluntary basis. Each government will then decide if, when and where to use it, and develop the front-end part based on its own needs.

This point emerged at a meeting of the House of Commons European scrutiny committee, which is carrying out an inquiry on how EES will impact the UK.

What data will be registered via the app?

The Local asked the European Commission about this. A spokesperson however, said the Commission was not “in a position to disclose further information at this stage” but that travellers’ personal data “will be processed in compliance with the high data security and data protection standards set by EU legislation.”

According to the blog by Matthias Monroy, editor of the German civil rights journal Bürgerrechte & Polizei/CILIP the Frontex app will collect passengers’ name, date of birth, passport number, planned destination and length of stay, reason for travelling, the amount of cash they carry, the availability of a credit card and of a travel health insurance. The app could also allow to take facial images. It will then generate a QR code that travellers can present at border control.

This, however, does not change the fact that fingerprints and facial images will have to be registered in front of a guard at the first crossing into the Schengen area.

So given the need to register finger prints and facial images with a border guard, the question is how and if the app will help avoid those border queues?

When is the app going to be available?

The answer to perhaps the most important question is still unclear.

The Commissions spokesperson told The Local that the app “will be made available for Schengen countries as from the Entry/Exit System start of operations.” The planned launch date is currently October 6th, but there have been several delays in the past and may be another one.

The UK parliamentary committee heard that the prototype of the app should have been ready for EU member states in spring. Guy Opperman, Under-Secretary of State at the UK Department for Transport, said the app will not be available for testing until August “at best” and that the app will not be ready in time for October. The committee previously stated that the app might even be delayed until summer 2025.

Frontex’s Särekanno said in his interview: “Our aim is to have it ready by the end of the summer, so it can then be gradually integrated into national systems starting from early autumn”.

READ ALSO: How do the EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

Can the system be launched if the app is not ready?

Yes. The European Commission told The Local that “the availability of the mobile application is not a condition for the Entry/Exit System entry into operation or functioning of the system. The app is only a tool for pre-registration of certain types of data and the system can operate without this pre-registration.”

In addition, “the integration of this app at national level is to be decided by each Schengen country on a voluntary basis – as there is no legal obligation to make use of the app.”

And the UK’s transport under secretary Guy Opperman sounded a note of caution saying the app “is not going to be a panacea to fix all problems”.

When the app will be in use, will it be mandatory for travellers?

There is no indication that the app will become mandatory for those non-EU travellers who need to register for EES. But there will probably be advantages in using it, such as getting access to faster lanes.

As a reminder, non-EU citizens who are resident in the EU are excluded from the EES, as are those with dual nationality for a country using EES. Irish nationals are also exempt even though Ireland will not be using EES because it is not in the Schengen area.

Has the app been tested anywhere yet?

Frontex says the prototype of the app will be tested at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport, in Sweden. Matthias Monroy’s website said it was tested last year at Munich Airport in Germany, as well as in Bulgaria and Gibraltar.

According to the German Federal Police, the blog reports, passengers were satisfied and felt “prepared for border control”.

This article is published in cooperation with Europe Street News.

 
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