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.

英国将在工作签证费用上区别对待欧盟国家
——5个东欧和波罗的海国家的公民要想获得英国工作签证,必须支付比其他欧盟国家公民更高的费用。
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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.

一场旨在确保英国在脱欧后的工作签证费用方面不会歧视任何欧盟国家的外交攻势正在展开。五个成员国的公民的工作签证费用比欧盟其他国家的要高。

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.

随着自由流动的结束,欧洲经济区的国民必须申请工作签证才能前往英国工作。但并不是所有人的申请费用都一样。
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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个国家(包括21个欧盟国家)的公民通过多种签证途径申请签证时,可以享受55英镑的费用折扣。这些签证申领途径包括企业家、医疗保健人员、研究人员、慈善工作者、中等技能工人以及水果采摘工等临时工。雇主在这些国家招聘员工时也节省了资金,因为公司不需要支付199英镑的费用来签发雇佣证明。

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.

爱尔兰公民不需要工作签证,因为爱尔兰与英国属于同一个旅行区,但保加利亚、爱沙尼亚、立陶宛、罗马尼亚和斯洛文尼亚这五个欧盟国家没有资格获得减免费用。

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.

其中一些欧盟国家现在要求欧盟委员会帮助解决这一分歧,称布鲁塞尔不能允许英国违反对欧盟成员国之间不得搞歧视的长期原则。

“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.”

“在我们看来,这是一种差别待遇,需要仔细审查,”一名外交官表示。“问题不在于这五个成员国的公民需要比其他欧盟公民多支付55英镑,而在于他们面临的区别对待。”

“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:“欧盟各国的人将感到他们受到了差别对待,这将引发许多问题。”

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.

英国政府认为,它的资格名单是基于《欧洲委员会社会宪章》的签署国,该国际条约可追溯到1961年,由包括英国在内的26个国家认可的。

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.”

《宪章》第18.2条规定签署国有义务“简化现有手续,并减少或废除外国工人或其雇主应支付的衡平法处费和其他费用”。

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.

但欧盟外交官质疑英国对该宪章的解释,称并非所有签署该宪章的欧盟国家都宣布自己受第18.2条的约束,但许多国家仍有资格享受降低的英国签证费用。克罗地亚、捷克共和国、芬兰、匈牙利、拉脱维亚、马耳他和葡萄牙等国的情况就是如此。

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.

外交官们还反驳说,目前不具备减免签证费用资格的五个欧盟国家在世纪之交批准了一项修订的宪章,其中还包括削减或取消签证费用的义务。“这是两个具有基本相同目标的政策工具,同时存在,”第一名外交官说。

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,英国政府坚称,其政策是基于欧洲委员会的原始条约,并辩称,对任何不涉及国际义务的国家减少签证费,本身就会引发歧视问题。

“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.”

英国内政部的一位发言人表示:“签证、移民和公民身份费的水平有助于提供运营我们的边境、移民和公民身份系统所需的资源。对英国纳税人说句公道话,那些直接受益于我们的移民体系的人为其提供资金是唯一正确的做法。我们将全面考虑签证费用,作为我们对资助移民制度的长期审查的一部分。”

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.

欧盟特使向欧盟委员会施压,称这是英国脱欧后移民规则首次根据国籍区别对待欧盟公民。他们警告说,脱欧后的英国可能会在其他即将做出的移民决定中歧视欧盟公民,例如,在决定哪些国家可以参加其青年移民计划时。该计划目前向欧盟以外的9个发达经济体开放。

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.”

欧盟委员会的一位发言人表示,尽管欧盟和英国可以自由决定各自的签证政策,“英国已经在贸易与合作协议中承诺在短期签证方面平等对待欧盟成员国的所有国民”和“不得决定给予某些会员国公民短期旅行免签,而不包括其他国家的公民。”
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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,布鲁塞尔方面可能很难找到法律依据,迫使伦敦方面解决在英国脱欧协议中不包括的长期签证待遇差异问题。这位发言人说:“我们很遗憾,英国决定在这个具体情形中区别对待欧盟公民。”
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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.

未解决的人员流动问题可能由英国和欧盟各国政府双边决定,这可能导致欧盟内部出现各种不同的规则。

“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.

“几年后,具体取决于谁进行了什么谈判,不同的欧盟公民将以不同的代价对不同的(签证)项目有不同的权限,”另一名外交官说。

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.”

这位外交官补充称:“有关降低签证费的争议只是诸多问题中的第一个,这些问题正在表面之下酝酿,但迟早会浮出水面。看看欧盟范围内是否会就此展开协调,这将是一件有趣的事情。这一切都回到:我们都是一样的,还是突然之间就不一样了?我们会实现欧盟的团结吗?我们要团结在一起吗?欧盟在这方面没有能力,所以它把球扔回给了各个成员国。”