PART 1General

Citation, commencement, interpretation and consequential amendments

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Accession (Immigration and Worker Authorisation) Regulations 2006 and shall come into force on 1st January 2007.

(2) In these Regulations—

(a)“the 1971 Act” means the Immigration Act 1971(1);

(b)“the 2006 Regulations” means the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006(2);

(c)“accession period” means the period beginning on 1st January 2007 and ending on 31st December 2011;

(d)“accession State national subject to worker authorisation” has the meaning given in regulation 2;

(e)“accession worker authorisation document” shall be interpreted in accordance with regulation 9(2);

(f)“authorised category of employment” means a category of employment listed in the first column of the table in Schedule 1;

(g)“authorised family member” has the meaning given in regulation 3;

(h)“civil partner” does not include a party to a civil partnership of convenience(3);

(i)“EEA State” means—

(i)a member State, other than the United Kingdom;

(ii)Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein;

(iii)Switzerland;

(j)“employer” means, in relation to a worker, the person who directly pays the wage or salary of that worker;

(k)“family member” shall be interpreted in accordance with regulation 7 of the 2006 Regulations;

(l)“highly skilled person” has the meaning given in regulation 4;

(m)“immigration rules” means the rules laid down as mentioned in section 3(2) of the 1971 Act applying on 1st January 2007(4);

(n)“letter of approval under the work permit arrangements” has the meaning given in paragraph 1(b) of Schedule 1;

(o)“registration certificate” means a certificate issued in accordance with regulation 16 of the 2006 Regulations;

(p)“relevant requirements” means, in relation to an authorised category of employment, the requirements set out in the second column of the table in Schedule 1 for that category;

(q)“Sectors Based Scheme” has the meaning given in paragraph 1(f) of Schedule 1;

(r)“spouse” does not include a party to a marriage of convenience;

(s)“student” has the meaning given in regulation 4(1)(d) of the 2006 Regulations;

(t)“worker” means a worker within the meaning of Article 39 of the Treaty establishing the European Community(5), and “work” and “working” shall be construed accordingly.

(3) Schedule 2 (consequential amendments) shall have effect.