Scientific research: admission to the Community by third-country national researchers, improving mobility

The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Vincent PEILLON (PES, FR) broadly approving the proposal with some amendments. (Please see the summary of 16/03/05.) The amendments adopted aim mainly to create more favourable conditions for family reunification for foreign researchers working in the Union. To make the administrative formalities easier, Parliament proposed to bring the duration for which the residence visa is granted into line with the duration of the agreement between the researcher to a research body (instead of a duration equal to or more than one year, with the option of annual renewal, as the Commission proposed). Parliament set an upper limit of five years on the accreditation of research bodies entitled to provide host conventions to foreign researchers (which may be extended by 30 days at the request of the person concerned) and made such bodies financially responsible if the researcher remains illegally in the territory once the convention has expired. During the period of validity of his residence permit, the researcher may apply for a new hosting agreement in the same or another Member State . The new application shall be treated by a simplified procedure, which does not include examination of the condition stipulated in Article 5(2)(a)(ii), provided that the initial research organisation provides written confirmation that the work has been carried out satisfactorily up to the time of submission of the new application.

Finally, Parliament stipulated that the Commission should produce a report every two years.