Short-term mobility
1. Where a third-country national who holds a valid EU Blue Card issued by a Member State that applies the Schengen acquis in full enters and stays in one or several second Member States for a period of 90 days in any 180-day period for the purpose of carrying out a business activity, the second Member State shall not require any authorisation for exercising such activity other than the EU Blue Card.
2. A third-country national who holds a valid EU Blue Card issued by a Member State that does not apply the Schengen acquis in full shall be entitled to enter and stay for the purpose of carrying out a business activity in one or several second Member States for up to 90 days in any 180-day period on the basis of the EU Blue Card and a valid travel document. Where the EU Blue Card holder crosses an internal border for which controls have not yet been lifted into a second Member State that applies the Schengen acquis in full, the second Member State may require the EU Blue Card holder to provide evidence of the business purpose of the stay. The second Member State shall not require any authorisation for exercising the business activity other than the EU Blue Card.
Long-term mobility
1. After 12 months of legal residence in the first Member State as an EU Blue Card holder, the third-country national shall be entitled to enter, reside and work in a second Member State for the purpose of highly qualified employment on the basis of the EU Blue Card and a valid travel document under the conditions set out in this Article.
2. Where the EU Blue Card is issued by a Member State that does not apply the Schengen acquis in full and the EU Blue Card holder crosses, for the purpose of long-term mobility, an internal border for which controls have not yet been lifted into a second Member State that applies the Schengen acquis in full, the second Member State may require the EU Blue Card holder to present the valid EU Blue Card issued by the first Member State and a work contract or a binding job offer for highly qualified employment for a period of at least 6 months in that second Member State.
3. As soon as possible and no later than 1 month after the EU Blue Card holder has entered the territory of the second Member State, an application for an EU Blue Card shall be submitted to the competent authority of that Member State. That application shall be accompanied by all the documents proving the fulfilment of the conditions referred to in paragraph 4 for the second Member State. Member States shall determine whether applications are to be made by the third-country national or by the employer. Alternatively, Member States may allow applications to be made by either of the two.
The EU Blue Card holder shall be allowed to commence work in the second Member State not later than 30 days after the date of submission of the complete application.
The application may be submitted to the competent authorities of the second Member State while the EU Blue Card holder is still residing in the territory of the first Member State.
4. For the purposes of an application as referred to in paragraph 3, the applicant shall present:
(a)
the valid EU Blue Card issued by the first Member State;
(b)
a valid work contract or, as provided for in national law, a binding job offer for highly qualified employment for a period of at least 6 months in the second Member State;
(c)
for regulated professions, documents attesting to the fulfilment of the conditions set under national law for the exercise by Union citizens of the regulated profession specified in the work contract or binding job offer as provided for in national law;
(d)
a valid travel document, as specified by national law; and
(e)
evidence of meeting the salary threshold set in the second Member State in application of Article 5(3) or, where applicable, of Article 5(4) or (5).
With regard to point (c) of the first subparagraph, for the purpose of applying for an EU Blue Card in a second Member State, EU Blue Card holders shall enjoy equal treatment with Union citizens as regards recognition of professional qualifications, in accordance with applicable Union and national law.
For unregulated professions, where the first Member State has issued an EU Blue Card on the basis of higher professional skills for occupations not listed in Annex I, the applicant may be required to present documents attesting to higher professional qualifications in relation to the work to be carried out, as provided for in the law of the second Member State.
5. For the purposes of an application as referred to in paragraph 3, the Member State concerned may require the applicant:
(a)
for unregulated professions, where the EU Blue Card holder has worked for less than 2 years in the first Member State, to present documents attesting to higher professional qualifications in relation to the work to be carried out, as provided for in national law;
(b)
to provide evidence of having, or if provided for by national law, having applied for, sickness insurance for all the risks normally covered for nationals of the Member State concerned for periods when no such insurance coverage or corresponding entitlement to benefits is provided for in connection with, or resulting from, the work contract.
6. The second Member State shall reject an application for an EU Blue Card where:
(a)
paragraph 4 is not complied with;
(b)
the documents presented have been fraudulently acquired, falsified or tampered with;
(c)
the employment does not comply with the conditions laid down under the applicable law, set in collective agreements or established by practices as referred to in Article 5(2); or
(d)
the EU Blue Card holder poses a threat to public policy, public security or public health.
7. In respect of any application procedure for the purpose of long-term mobility, the procedural safeguards set out in Article 11(2) and (3) shall apply accordingly. Without prejudice to paragraph 4 of this Article, a decision to reject an application for long-term mobility shall take account of the specific circumstances of the case and shall respect the principle of proportionality.
8. The second Member State may reject an application for an EU Blue Card on the basis of a check carried out in accordance with Article 7(2), point (a), only if that Member State carries out such checks when it is the first Member State.
9. The second Member State shall adopt either of the following decisions on an application for an EU Blue Card:
(a)
where the conditions for mobility laid down in this Article are fulfilled, to issue an EU Blue Card and allow the third-country national to reside in its territory for the purpose of highly qualified employment; or
(b)
where the conditions for mobility laid down in this Article are not fulfilled, to reject the application and require the applicant and his or her family members, in accordance with the procedures provided for in national law, to leave its territory.
By way of derogation from Article 11(1), the second Member State shall notify the applicant and the first Member State of its decision in writing as soon as possible, but not later than 30 days after the date of submission of the complete application.
Under exceptional and duly justified circumstances linked to the complexity of the application, a Member State may extend the deadline referred to in the second subparagraph by 30 days. It shall inform the applicant of the extension not later than 30 days after the date of submission of the complete application.
In its notification to the first Member State, the second Member State shall specify any grounds referred to in paragraph 6, points (b) and (d), for rejecting the application.
10. Where the EU Blue Card issued by the first Member State expires during the application procedure, the second Member State may issue a national temporary residence permit, or an equivalent authorisation, that allows the applicant to continue to stay legally in its territory until a decision on the application has been taken by the competent authorities.
11. From the second time that an EU Blue Card holder and, where applicable, his or her family members make use of the possibility of moving to another Member State under this Article and Article 22, ‘first Member State’ shall be understood as meaning the Member State from where the person concerned moves and ‘second Member State’ shall be understood as meaning the Member State in which he or she is applying to reside. Notwithstanding paragraph 1 of this Article, an EU Blue Card holder may move to another Member State a second time after 6 months of legal residence in the first Member State as an EU Blue Card holder.
Residence in the second Member State for family members
1. Where an EU Blue Card holder moves to a second Member State in accordance with Article 21 and where the EU Blue Card holder’s family was already constituted in the first Member State, the members of his or her family shall be entitled to accompany or join the EU Blue Card holder.
Directive 2003/86/EC and Article 17 of this Directive apply in the cases referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph, subject to the derogations provided for in paragraphs 2 to 7 of this Article.
Where the family was not already constituted in the first Member State, Article 17 of this Directive applies.
2. By way of derogation from Article 13(1) of Directive 2003/86/EC, the EU Blue Card holder’s family members shall be entitled to enter and stay in the second Member State on the basis of the valid residence permits obtained in the first Member State as family members of an EU Blue Card holder.
Where the residence permits of the family members are issued by a Member State that does not apply the Schengen acquis in full and those family members join the EU Blue Card holder when crossing an internal border for which controls have not yet been lifted for the purpose of moving to a second Member State that applies the Schengen acquis in full, the second Member State may require the family members to present the residence permits they obtained in the first Member State as family members of the EU Blue Card holder.
3. By way of derogation from Article 5(3) of Directive 2003/86/EC, no later than 1 month after entering the territory of the second Member State, the family members concerned or the EU Blue Card holder, in accordance with national law, shall submit an application for a residence permit as a family member to the competent authorities of that Member State.
Where the residence permit of a family member issued by the first Member State expires during the procedure or no longer entitles the holder to reside legally in the second Member State, the second Member State shall allow the family member to stay in its territory until a decision on the application has been taken by the competent authorities of the second Member State, if necessary by issuing a national temporary residence permit or an equivalent authorisation.
4. By way of derogation from Article 5(2) and Article 7(1) of Directive 2003/86/EC, the second Member State may require the family members concerned to present or provide with their application for a residence permit:
(a)
their residence permit in the first Member State and a valid travel document, or certified copies thereof;
(b)
evidence that they have resided as members of the family of the EU Blue Card holder in the first Member State;
(c)
documentary evidence as referred to in Article 7(1), point (b), of Directive 2003/86/EC.
5. Where the conditions set out in this Article are fulfilled and the applications were submitted simultaneously, the second Member State shall issue the residence permits for family members at the same time as the EU Blue Card.
By way of derogation from Article 17(4), where the conditions set out in this Article are fulfilled and the family members join the EU Blue Card holder after the EU Blue Card has been granted, residence permits for the family members shall be granted not later than 30 days after the date of submission of the complete application.
In duly justified circumstances linked to the complexity of the application, Member States may extend the deadline referred to in the second subparagraph by a maximum of 30 days.
6. This Article applies to family members of EU Blue Card holders who are beneficiaries of international protection only when those EU Blue Card holders move to reside in a Member State other than the Member State which granted them international protection.
7. This Article does not apply to family members of EU Blue Card holders who are beneficiaries of the right to free movement under Union law in the second Member State.
Safeguards and sanctions in cases of mobility
1. Notwithstanding Article 8(1), point (a), and Article 8(2), point (a), where an EU Blue Card holder moves to another Member State under Article 21, the first Member State shall not withdraw the EU Blue Card before the second Member State has taken a decision on the application for long-term mobility.
2. Where the second Member State rejects the application for an EU Blue Card in accordance with Article 21(9), point (b), the first Member State shall, at the request of the second Member State, allow the re-entry of the EU Blue Card holder and, where applicable, of his or her family members, without formalities and without delay. This shall also apply if the EU Blue Card issued by the first Member State has expired or has been withdrawn during the examination of the application.
3. The EU Blue Card holder or the employer in the second Member State may be held liable for the costs related to the re-entry of the EU Blue Card holder and of his or her family members as referred to in paragraph 2.
4. Member States may provide for sanctions in accordance with Article 14 against an employer of an EU Blue Card holder, where that employer is responsible for a failure to comply with the conditions of mobility laid down in this Chapter.
5. Where a Member State withdraws or does not renew an EU Blue Card which bears the remark referred to in Article 9(5) and decides to expel the third-country national, it shall request the Member State indicated in that remark to confirm that the person concerned is still a beneficiary of international protection in that Member State. The Member State indicated in that remark shall reply within 1 month after receiving the request for information.
Where the third-country national is still a beneficiary of international protection in the Member State indicated in that remark, that person shall be expelled to that Member State which shall, without prejudice to the applicable Union or national law and to the principle of family unity, immediately allow the re-entry, without formalities, of that person and his or her family members.
By way of derogation from the second subparagraph of this paragraph, the Member State which adopted the expulsion decision shall retain the right to remove the third-country national, in accordance with its international obligations, to a country other than the Member State which granted international protection, where the conditions specified in Article 21(2) of Directive 2011/95/EU are fulfilled with respect to that third-country national.
6. Where an EU Blue Card holder or his or her family members cross the external border of a Member State that applies the Schengen acquis in full, that Member State shall consult the Schengen Information System in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/399. That Member State shall refuse entry for persons for whom an alert for the purposes of refusing entry and stay has been issued in the Schengen Information System.
