Note Meijers Committee on the Proposal for a Directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of research, studies, pupil exchange, remunerated and unremunerated training, voluntary service and au pairing (COM(2013) 151 final)

The Committee is pleased that under the current proposal the granting of a long-stay visa or residence permit is mandatory once the applicant fulfils the conditions, intra-EU mobility is improved, students obtain the right to work for a minimum period of 20 hours per week and both students and researchers will –under certain conditions- be granted the possibility to find work or entrepreneurship after finalization of research or studies. Procedural guarantees are also improved: a time-limit is introduced for the competent authorities to decide on the application and the provision on fees now explicitly refers to the case-law of the Court of Justice stating that fees asked from the applicant may not endanger the fulfilment of the objectives of the proposal. Furthermore, the Meijers Committee supports the inclusion of rights of au pairs and remunerated trainees in the proposal.