UK to discriminate between EU countries on fees for work visas
-Citizens of five Eastern European and Baltic countries must pay more to get a UK work visa than other EU nationals.

英國將在工作簽證費(fèi)用上區(qū)別對待歐盟國家
——5個東歐和波羅的海國家的公民要想獲得英國工作簽證，必須支付比其他歐盟國家公民更高的費(fèi)用。



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A diplomatic offensive is underway to ensure the U.K. does not discriminate against any EU country with its post-Brexit work visa fees, which are more expensive for the nationals of five member states than for the rest of the bloc.

一場旨在確保英國在脫歐后的工作簽證費(fèi)用方面不會歧視任何歐盟國家的外交攻勢正在展開。五個成員國的公民的工作簽證費(fèi)用比歐盟其他國家的要高。

Following the end of free movement, European Economic Area nationals must apply for a work visa in order to take up a job in Britain. But not all of them pay the same.

隨著自由流動的結(jié)束，歐洲經(jīng)濟(jì)區(qū)的國民必須申請工作簽證才能前往英國工作。但并不是所有人的申請費(fèi)用都一樣。

The citizens of 25 countries — including 21 in the EU — are subject to a ￡55 discount in fees when applying through several visa routes, including those targeted at entrepreneurs, health care staff, researchers, charity workers, medium-skilled workers and temporary workers such as fruit pickers. Employers also save money when recruiting from these countries, as companies are not asked to pay the ￡199 fee needed to issue a certificate of sponsorship to hire them.

25個國家（包括21個歐盟國家）的公民通過多種簽證途徑申請簽證時，可以享受55英鎊的費(fèi)用折扣。這些簽證申領(lǐng)途徑包括企業(yè)家、醫(yī)療保健人員、研究人員、慈善工作者、中等技能工人以及水果采摘工等臨時工。雇主在這些國家招聘員工時也節(jié)省了資金，因為公司不需要支付199英鎊的費(fèi)用來簽發(fā)雇傭證明。
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Irish citizens do not need work visas because of the Common Travel Area with the U.K., but five EU countries are not eligible for reduced fees: Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia.

愛爾蘭公民不需要工作簽證，因為愛爾蘭與英國屬于同一個旅行區(qū)，但保加利亞、愛沙尼亞、立陶宛、羅馬尼亞和斯洛文尼亞這五個歐盟國家沒有資格獲得減免費(fèi)用。

Some of these EU countries are now demanding help from the European Commission to tackle the difference, arguing Brussels cannot allow the U.K. to breach the EU’s long-standing principle of non-discrimination among member countries.

其中一些歐盟國家現(xiàn)在要求歐盟委員會幫助解決這一分歧，稱布魯塞爾不能允許英國違反對歐盟成員國之間不得搞歧視的長期原則。

“In our view, this is a differentiated treatment that needs to be carefully scrutinized,” one diplomat said. “The issue is not about the additional ￡55 that the five member states citizens will need to pay compared to other EU citizens, but clearly about the differentiated treatment that they are faced with.”

“在我們看來，這是一種差別待遇，需要仔細(xì)審查，”一名外交官表示。“問題不在于這五個成員國的公民需要比其他歐盟公民多支付55英鎊，而在于他們面臨的區(qū)別對待?！?/b>

“People across the EU will feel they are being treated differently and that will raise lots of questions,” a second diplomat said.

另一名外交官表示：“歐盟各國的人將感到他們受到了差別對待，這將引發(fā)許多問題。”

The British government argues its eligibility list is based on the signatories of the Council of Europe’s Social Charter (CESC), an international treaty dating back to 1961 adopted by 26 countries including the U.K.

英國政府認(rèn)為，它的資格名單是基于《歐洲委員會社會憲章》的簽署國，該國際條約可追溯到1961年，由包括英國在內(nèi)的26個國家認(rèn)可的。

Article 18.2 of the charter sets an obligation for signatory countries to “simplify existing formalities and to reduce or abolish chancery dues and other charges payable by foreign workers or their employers.”

《憲章》第18.2條規(guī)定簽署國有義務(wù)“簡化現(xiàn)有手續(xù)，并減少或廢除外國工人或其雇主應(yīng)支付的衡平法處費(fèi)和其他費(fèi)用”。

But the EU diplomats question the U.K.’s interpretation of this charter, saying not all the EU countries who signed it declared themselves bound by Article 18.2, yet many are still eligible for reduced fees for U.K. visas. That is the case for Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Malta and Portugal, among others.

但歐盟外交官質(zhì)疑英國對該憲章的解釋，稱并非所有簽署該憲章的歐盟國家都宣布自己受第18.2條的約束，但許多國家仍有資格享受降低的英國簽證費(fèi)用?？肆_地亞、捷克共和國、芬蘭、匈牙利、拉脫維亞、馬耳他和葡萄牙等國的情況就是如此。

The diplomats also counter that all five EU countries not currently eligible for reduced fees ratified a revised charter at the turn of the century, which also includes the obligation to cut or abolish visa fees. “These are two instruments with basically the same aim that exist in parallel,” the first diplomat said.

外交官們還反駁說，目前不具備減免簽證費(fèi)用資格的五個歐盟國家在世紀(jì)之交批準(zhǔn)了一項修訂的憲章，其中還包括削減或取消簽證費(fèi)用的義務(wù)?！斑@是兩個具有基本相同目標(biāo)的政策工具，同時存在，”第一名外交官說。

However, the U.K. government insists its policy is based on the original treaty of the Council of Europe, and argues that reducing visa fees for any country where this is not related to an international obligation would itself raise questions of discrimination.

然而，英國政府堅稱，其政策是基于歐洲委員會的原始條約，并辯稱，對任何不涉及國際義務(wù)的國家減少簽證費(fèi)，本身就會引發(fā)歧視問題。

“Visa, immigration and citizenship fees are set at a level that helps provide the resources necessary to operate our border, immigration and citizenship system,” a spokesperson for the country's Home Office said. “In fairness to U.K. taxpayers, it is only right that those who directly benefit from our immigration system contribute to its funding. We will be considering visa fees in the round as part of our longer-term review of funding the immigration system.”

英國內(nèi)政部的一位發(fā)言人表示：“簽證、移民和公民身份費(fèi)的水平有助于提供運(yùn)營我們的邊境、移民和公民身份系統(tǒng)所需的資源。對英國納稅人說句公道話，那些直接受益于我們的移民體系的人為其提供資金是唯一正確的做法。我們將全面考慮簽證費(fèi)用，作為我們對資助移民制度的長期審查的一部分?！?/b>

The EU envoys are piling pressure on the Commission, saying this is the first example of the U.K.’s post-Brexit immigration rules treating EU nationals differently on the basis of their nationality. They warned post-Brexit Britain is likely to discriminate between EU citizens in other looming mobility decisions, for instance, when it decides whichcountries can participate in its Youth Mobility scheme — currently open to nine developed economies outside the bloc.

歐盟特使向歐盟委員會施壓，稱這是英國脫歐后移民規(guī)則首次根據(jù)國籍區(qū)別對待歐盟公民。他們警告說，脫歐后的英國可能會在其他即將做出的移民決定中歧視歐盟公民，例如，在決定哪些國家可以參加其青年移民計劃時。該計劃目前向歐盟以外的9個發(fā)達(dá)經(jīng)濟(jì)體開放。

A spokesperson for the Commission said that while the EU and the U.K. are free to determine their respective visa policies, “the U.K. has committed in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement to treat all nationals of EU Member States equally for the purposes for the purposes of short-term visas” and “cannot decide to grant a visa waiver for short-term travel to citizens of certain Member States, whilst excluding others.”

歐盟委員會的一位發(fā)言人表示，盡管歐盟和英國可以自由決定各自的簽證政策，“英國已經(jīng)在貿(mào)易與合作協(xié)議中承諾在短期簽證方面平等對待歐盟成員國的所有國民”和“不得決定給予某些會員國公民短期旅行免簽，而不包括其他國家的公民。”

However, it may be hard for Brussels to find a legal basis to compel London to address the difference of treatment when it comes to long-term visas, which are not covered by the Brexit deal. “We regret that the U.K. decided to treat EU citizens differently in this specific case,” the spokesperson said.

然而，布魯塞爾方面可能很難找到法律依據(jù)，迫使倫敦方面解決在英國脫歐協(xié)議中不包括的長期簽證待遇差異問題。這位發(fā)言人說：“我們很遺憾，英國決定在這個具體情形中區(qū)別對待歐盟公民?！?/b>

Unresolved mobility issues are likely to be decided bilaterally between the U.K. and EU national governments — potentially leading to a patchwork of differing rules across the bloc.

未解決的人員流動問題可能由英國和歐盟各國政府雙邊決定，這可能導(dǎo)致歐盟內(nèi)部出現(xiàn)各種不同的規(guī)則。

“In a couple of years’ time, depending who has negotiated what, different EU citizens will have different access to different programs and at a different cost,” a third diplomat said.

“幾年后，具體取決于誰進(jìn)行了什么談判，不同的歐盟公民將以不同的代價對不同的（簽證）項目有不同的權(quán)限，”另一名外交官說。

The same diplomat added: “The reduced visa fees controversy is just the first issue of a number of them which are simmering beneath the surface but will come to the fore sooner or later. It will be interesting to see if there’s going to be EU-wide coordination on this or not. It all goes back to: Are we all the same or suddenly we are not? Are we going to live up to EU solidarity? Are we going to stick together? There’s no EU competence on this so it throws the ball back to member states.”

這位外交官補(bǔ)充稱：“有關(guān)降低簽證費(fèi)的爭議只是諸多問題中的第一個，這些問題正在表面之下醞釀，但遲早會浮出水面?？纯礆W盟范圍內(nèi)是否會就此展開協(xié)調(diào)，這將是一件有趣的事情。這一切都回到：我們都是一樣的，還是突然之間就不一樣了？我們會實(shí)現(xiàn)歐盟的團(tuán)結(jié)嗎？我們要團(tuán)結(jié)在一起嗎？歐盟在這方面沒有能力，所以它把球扔回給了各個成員國。”