Movement of Natural Persons in the Agreement for the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union

The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU is an important political and legal challenge. Among the many issues it has raised, those related to mobility and residence of citizens and their families are of utmost importance. Even though UK nationals are no longer Union citizens, and Union citizens will not be able to exercise any more the rights related to EU citizenship in the territory of a State that is no longer a member of the Union, the second part of the withdrawal agreement allows to maintain, in part, the former statu quo for those citizens which, at the end of the transition period, find themselves in a situation covered by EU rules on the free movement of persons and intend to keep it afterwards. The withdrawal agreement is a rather complex instrument of transitional law, and this paper intends to analyse its context, principles, applicability criteria and the rights it bestows.