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One of the objectives of EU action in education is to promote Europe as a whole as a world centre of excellence for studies. Bringing more non-EU nationals into the EU for studies is a key factor in that strategy. The EU also has specific rules to facilitate the admission of third-country national researchers who wish to carry out a research project at a public or private research institution in the EU.Read more here.
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Common rules for the admission of researchers
The Directive 2005/71/EC also establishes a special admission procedure and the conditions of entry and residence for non-EU researchers in the EU. The Directive concerns stays of more than three months. It also lays down the rules that apply when a third-country national researcher moves from one EU Member State to another one.
Conditions of admission and hosting agreement
A third-country national must fulfil all conditions outlined in the Directive in order to be admitted as a researcher in the territory of a Member State, for example, that they have a valid travel document and sickness insurance. A hosting agreement must be agreed between a research organisation and the researcher, it must contain information on essential issues such as the research project itself as well as the estimated duration of the research activity.
Authorisation and intra-EU mobility
An authorisation, either in the form of a residence permist or a long-stay visa, is issued to third-country national researchers for a period of at least one year if all the relevant conditions are met. There is no need for a work permit in addition to the authorisation.
A researcher may carry out his/her research not only in the country where he or she holds the authorisation, but also in other EU Member States. If the research in the second Member State goes on for up to 6 months, no new application process needs to be made. For stays beyond 6 months, Member States have the choice between either allowing the research to be carried out on the basis of a notification, or to ask for a new simplified application.
Rights
Researchers admitted under the terms of the Directive are entitled to the same rights as EU nationals when they are in a comparable situation in a number of important areas, such as diploma and professional qualifications recognition, working conditions, social security benefits and access to goods and services.
