1. The European Economic Area member states
The ‘European Economic Area’ (EEA) comprises the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) plus the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries.
The current member states of the EU are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
The EFTA countries are: Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Iceland.
Switzerland has bilateral agreements with the EU and UK, which provide for Swiss nationals to have similar rights to EEA nationals within the EEA and UK. References to EEA nationals in this Handbook therefore include Swiss nationals.
The UK ceased to be an EEA member state on leaving the EU on 31 January 2020.