Member state of the European Union

The European Union consists of 28 member states that include:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• United Kingdom

All of the member states have de jure equal rights, de jure describes practices that are legally recognised, whether or not the practices exist in reality.

Membership of the European Union is open to any European country that is a stable, free-market liberal democracy that respects human rights and the rule of law. It has to be willing to accept all the obligations of membership, such as adopting all previously agreed law and switching to the euro.


EU's predecessor, the European Economic Community was founded in 1957 and it had only six core states - Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany.


Copenhagen criteria

Rules that define whether a country is eligible to join the European Union.
The criteria require that a state has human rights and the institutions to preserve democratic governance, accepts the obligations and intent of the EU, has a functioning market economy. To join the EU, the state must fulfil the Copenhagen criteria. For example, the youngest EU state is Croatia and it had to fulfil the economic and political requirements known as the Copenhagen criteria.

What is the European Court of Justice?

It is the institution of the European Union that encompasses the whole judiciary, and it consists of two major courts:

European Court of Justice - hears applications from national courts for preliminary rulings, annulment and appeals. It consists of 11 advocates general and one judge from each EU member country.

General Court - hears applications for an annulment from companies, national governments and, less commonly, individuals. It is made up of 47 judges, which will be increased to 56 in 2019.

The purpose of the European Court of Justice

European Court of Justice reviews the legality of actions taken by the EU's institutions, enforces compliance by member states with their obligations under the Treaties, and interprets European Union law.

The idea of ​​European Union law is that each Member State incorporates the principles laid down by Union law in its legislation. The Court is responsible for ensuring that the interpretation is complied with in the law and in the application of the provisions of the Treaty on European Union and the competent Community institutions. In order for the court to carry out this task, the Court has a wide jurisdiction to hear different the Court of Justice is, inter alia, competent to rule on applications for annulment or failure to act, for failure to act, for references for a preliminary ruling, and appeals against the General Court lodged with a Member State or institutions.

What is the European Commission?

European Commission is alone responsible for drawing up proposals for new European legislation, and it implements the decisions of the European Parliament (the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union) and the Council of the EU (part of the essentially bicameral EU legislature and represents the executive governments of the EU's member states). It is also responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the EU treaties and managing the day-to-day business of the EU.

In the beginning, The Commission was made from the start to act as an independent supranational authority separate from governments.

It is the sole EU institution tabling laws for adoption by the Parliament and the Council that protect the interests of the EU and its citizens on issues that can't be dealt with effectively at the national level, get technical details right by consulting experts and the public.

What does the Commission do?

• Proposes new laws
• Manages EU policies & allocates EU funding
• Enforces EU law
• Represents the EU internationally

How does The commission work?

The Commission operates as a cabinet government. It has 28 members of the Commission. Each member state has one member, but members are bound by their oath of office to represent the general interest of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. Commission President is a member of one of 28 commissions proposed by the European Council and elected by the European Parliament. The other 27 members of the Commission in agreement with the nominated President and the 28 members as a single body are then subject to a vote of approval by the European Parliament gets nominated by the Council of the European Union.

Now, the current Commission is the Juncker Commission.

Blue card for Highly-Qualified Workers

How to get BlueCard?
It depends if you have already found a job or not. You have to find a company that is willing to bring foreign employees within their work environment to obtain the EU Blue Card as a highly-qualified worker. If you are seeking a job within the EU member states, you should apply for a job seeker(grants you a period of 6 months).

The documents you need when applying:

• For unregulated professions – a recognized university diploma
• In case of the regulated profession – present the acquired certificate
• A work contract of at least one year in the hosting state
• Proof that your salary exceeds the average in the hosting state by 1.5 times or 1.2 times for professions in shortage
• A written declaration by your employer
• A valid travel document
• Proof of no threat to the public policy, security or health of the hosting state
• An application form, filled either by you or your employer
• Two passport-size personal photos, not older than 6 months
• Proof of application fee payment
• Health insurance proof

Citizens of the hosting state after two years of work and residency is entitled to the same rights as The EU Blue Cardholder excluding:

• Loans,
• Grants, and
• Housing rights

Highly-qualified workers may be restricted to the following occupations:

• Safeguard
• Public authority
• The general interest of the state

How do you change the job?
You have to make a request to the competent authorities and proceed in accordance with their decision If you want to change the job during the first two years of arrival.

Work permit in EU

What is a work permit?
A work permit is a permission to take a job within a foreign country. It may also be a permit given to minors allowing them to work legally under child labour laws. Within an industry, a work permit may be required to execute certain functions within a factory outside normal operational tasks - in some places they might be called Permit to Work.

The Proposed Directive would allow some flexibility by the EU Members when transposing the directive into national law to determine whether the employer or the third-country national must file the application. Third-country nationals could be admitted to a Member State if they presented:

• a valid work contract or a binding job offer to work as a seasonal worker addressing working conditions, including the rate of pay and weekly or monthly working hours;
• a travel document issued pursuant to national law and valid at least for the same duration as the residence permit;
• proof of, or of having applied for, medical insurance; and
• proof of having adequate accommodations (if the seasonal worker must pay rent, it must not be disproportionate to his earnings).

In addition to the above criteria, the proposal would require EU Members to determine that seasonal workers had enough resources to ensure that they did not become dependent on the social assistance system of the Member State concerned. Moreover, EU Members would have the right to deny admission to anyone deemed a threat to their public security or public health.

Which country in Europe is immigration-friendly to immigrants from outside of Europe?

Almost all countries in Europe accept immigrants. when choosing one, you need to make sure you are heading towards the right country. But, as you can guess, some of the countries are not that immigration friendly.

Questions you need to ask yourself:

• Why do you need to immigrate? 
• Is there lack of resources in your country?
• If you have decided to move to a different country, what do you want out of it - apart from just money as you can earn anywhere?

Before immigrating, make a research about the country where you want to immigrate. You should study the culture, climate, cost of living and food. Before immigrating decide if you can put up with extreme cost and different climate in a foreign land, If you can, then go ahead.

There are some countries where you need a work permit to work there, that's why research is needed. It should be the first thing you would like to find out before immigrating.

You can check our previous article about places to immigrate: http://residency-eu.blogspot.com/2018/05/popular-immigration-destinations-among.html

Documents for RP based on investment in Latvian Credit Institution

If you have enough finance in your bank account you can make it work on you. The documents for a residence permit in Latvia can be submitted if you wish to obtain a residence permit in the Republic of Latvia as a person who has subordinate liabilities toward a credit institution.

You shall present a valid travel document admitted in the Republic of Latvia and submit the following documents:

• a definite sample form for a residence permit request and photography for it; 
• a document confirming the necessary subsistence. In 2018 it is 430 EUR per month;
• a document confirming the envisaged place of residence in the Republic of Latvia, for example, rental agreement;
• policy statement;
• health insurance policy;

a document issued by the credit institution of the Republic of Latvia, which confirms that the foreigner has subordinate liabilities toward the credit institution of the Republic of Latvia at least in the amount 280 000 euro and the transaction term is at least five years. The financial investment can be made in a foreign currency.

and should do state duty payment. Review of documents submitted for requesting of a temporary residence permit within 30 days cost 150 EUR, 10 working days - 300 EUR, within 5 working days - 450 EUR.

Upon the receipt of the first temporary residence permit, the applicant must pay 25 000 euro into the state budget (the bank details are to be given in the decision on granting the temporary residence permit). From 01.01.2018 foreigners will have to pay a tax of € 5,000 to the state budget once they apply for a residence permit (after first 5 years of residency).

Residence permit based on mentioned reason also give rights to work without limitations.