Frontier workers

This page is for new arrivals. If you are a housing adviser please click here for information more relevant to you.

You are an EEA frontier worker if:

• immediately before 1 January 2021 either:
  • you were working in the UK (as an employee or self-employed person); or
  • you were treated as a worker or self-employed person in the UK; and
• you have continued to do so since; and
• you have not been 'primarily resident' in the UK throughout.

The rules about when you are treated as a worker or self-employed person are the same as for other EEA workers (e.g. sickness, unemployment etc: see retaining your worker status). As a frontier worker you are free from immigration control and do not require leave to enter or remain in the UK.

You are not 'primarily resident' in the UK if:

• on any given day you have been resident in the UK for less than 180 days in the previous 12 months; or
• you have, unless there are exceptional circumstances for not doing so, returned to your country of residence at least:
  • once in the six-month period immediately before that day, or
  • twice in the 12-month period immediately before that day.