{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-directive-2009-50/article-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-directive-2009-50/article-2.json",
  "legislation": "eudr/2009/50",
  "legislation_title": "Council Directive 2009/50/EC of 25 May 2009 on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of highly qualified employment",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-directive-2009-50",
  "path": "article/2",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "Definitions",
  "text": "For the purposes of this Directive:\n(a) ‘third-country national’ means any person who is not a citizen of the Union within the meaning of Article 17(1) of the Treaty;\n(b) ‘highly qualified employment’ means the employment of a person who:\nin the Member State concerned, is protected as an employee under national employment law and/or in accordance with national practice, irrespective of the legal relationship, for the purpose of exercising genuine and effective work for, or under the direction of, someone else,\nis paid, and,\nhas the required adequate and specific competence, as proven by higher professional qualifications,\n(c) ‘EU Blue Card’ means the authorisation bearing the term ‘EU Blue Card’ entitling its holder to reside and work in the territory of a Member State under the terms of this Directive;\n(d) ‘first Member State’ means the Member State which first grants a third-country national an ‘EU Blue Card’;\n(e) ‘second Member State’ means any Member State other than the first Member State;\n(f) ‘family members’ means third-country nationals as defined in Article 4(1) of Directive 2003/86/EC;\n(g) ‘higher professional qualifications’ means qualifications attested by evidence of higher education qualifications or, by way of derogation, when provided for by national law, attested by at least five years of professional experience of a level comparable to higher education qualifications and which is relevant in the profession or sector specified in the work contract or binding job offer;\n(h) ‘higher education qualification’ means any diploma, certificate or other evidence of formal qualifications issued by a competent authority attesting the successful completion of a post-secondary higher education programme, namely a set of courses provided by an educational establishment recognised as a higher education institution by the State in which it is situated. For the purposes of this Directive, a higher education qualification shall be taken into account, on condition that the studies needed to acquire it lasted at least three years;\n(i) ‘professional experience’ means the actual and lawful pursuit of the profession concerned;\n(j) ‘regulated profession’ means a regulated profession as defined in Article 3(1)(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2009/50/article/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-01T15:22:11.728998+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}