Some one at the Home Office hasn't thought this through properly

[liberia03]

Wondering if we could have a compassionate thread about UK mothers being told by they may have to leave the country, despite having brought up families here.
www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/14/dutchwoman-resident-in-uk-for-30-years-may-have-to-leave-after-brexit

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/16/eu-citizens-in-uk-could-face-deliberate-hostility-policy-after-brexit
and
www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/16/ann-linde-swedish-minister-xenophobia-swedes-uk-brexit
Where did Britain go?
I don't recognise this country.

Blueberry Whenever there was a Brexit discussion before the vote naturally the subject of immigration came up. I often highlighted that I was also a foreigner but the standard response was 'oh we don't mean people like you'

Frumpet
FIL is currently researching a long Irish relative (he has never even been to Ireland) in the hope that he can apply for an Irish passport and skip through those pesky non EU queues when they go on holidays. So infuriating I could burst. The hypocrisy is astounding

*long lost

I would strongly urge anyone who think they may be entitled to an EU passport to apply for one.

The medical research group my brother works with is headed by a Swedish scientist. He plans on leaving and the research jobs will all go with him.

Fortunately, my brother got an Irish passport last summer (mum was borh there) and has the option of moving as well possibly to Sweden or Germany. His partner will probably to go too. She is a consultant neurologist and works in emergency medicine. There is a severe shortage of these so hopefully she should be able to work anywhere once she learns the language.

faraway same boat here.
Add the fact that both PIL are unwell at the moment with can read and the likes.
Can you imagine if we have to leave just when they actually need support from DH? .....

harsh actually agree with you there. But then why on earth did the british government allow that to happen when it could have made provision/asked for documents etc... the same way than other eu countries have done, e.g. Spain?
Why is it that it's somehow the fault of the eu citizens that the government didn't take the decisions it needed?

Also a SAHM who doesn't pay taxes will be entitled to free NHS if she is British. Why is it that, if you are not British, then its seen as 'using the system for free' ? Aren't British SAHP also using the system for free??

Finally, what does having a private health insurance do?
My parents have one, they've never used it.
1-because they just go the GP like everyone else
2- because actually finding a private GP where they are is next to impossible
3- because even when they DID use the private system for some surgery, they still end up in an NHS hospital (think about all the stories around using private health care and how they are not always as good as they claimed to be)
4- because said private insurance do not cover A&E anyway.
If I look at the private insurance I have through DH work, it's not much better. You still need to use the NHS for most things as either whatever you want isn't covered or I don't qualify.
The reason is simple, private Heath insurances here are NOT designed to cover the general health care that the NHS is giving.
So yes you can ask for a private health insurance. But it will make little difference on how much people are using the NHS. In that case, why asking for it?

I'm a Brit married to a Frenchman. We have lived in France together for the past 8 years. Even though I work (so have proof that I've contributed to the system), I have never felt so scared and angry. Thank you, Leavers, for putting so many of us at risk :(

If someone hasn't worked and put into the system, then why should they be able to take anything out of the system?
Indeed.
Lets abolish free education for children who have not yet paid tax then

I'm from the EU, have lived here for 16 years. OH is British and we have DS who is British (I'm in the process of getting him a EU passport as well).
I'm worried, but I'm going to wait and see (and most of my EU friends and colleagues are doing the same).
To be honest, I've spent most of my adult life here- my career and my family are here. I've never felt not welcomed, I've integrated to British life and contribute.
But since the referendum, i feel like I'm just an "immigrant"... If the government decides to deport all EU nationals, I'll have to think about our options, but I'd probably feel weird staying in a country that doesn't "want" me... But it would also piss me off having to leave after all I've invested here!

I hope you don't go.

I think a lot of foreigners will end up settling somewhere else, particularly if they haven't been here for very long. I'm certainly considering it and I'd hate to have to do that.

But there's a lot more snide comments about foreigners than a couple of years back- "oh, don't bother apologising to their kind" is a recent one. People being very frosty when I chat to my son in my native language or assuming I must be abusing him when he had a tantrum and was wailing on the ground. Funnily enough, nobody gave a fuck when I switched to English.

Also, before Brexit, people assumed I'd settled well here and that I'm happy. Now they assume the opposite and ask (sympathetically) if DP has learned my language so we can all emigrate.

I remember my MIL said she voted Remain as she didn't want her "grand bairn" having to move abroad...

We were planning to buy a house here, but the chain fell through due to some paperwork issues. Now I'm going to wait and see what's happening and have a long, hard think if I want to risk my son feeling he's a second class citizen.

I'm a Brit married to a Frenchman. We have lived in France together for the past 8 years. Even though I work (so have proof that I've contributed to the system), I have never felt so scared and angry.

If you have children, you have a right of residency based on the fact that you are raising French kids. We have recently claimed French citizenship for our two children with this in mind (not the only reason but it was a consideration).

After 8 years you should also find it easy to apply for a permanent "titre de sejour", there are no 85 page forms here ;)

Also, before Brexit, people assumed I'd settled well here and that I'm happy. Now they assume the opposite and ask (sympathetically) if DP has learned my language so we can all emigrate.

That's an interesting idea.
The one that says that all 'immigrants' who are married with a brit, have had their dcs here, made their life in the uk, aren't happy to be in the uk and will be happily go back to where they come from.
But somehow, it is expected from said British partner to have learnt their partner's language and to be happy to go away from their own country and to be happy about it.

Angeli I confirm what mistigri has said.
You can also apply for the french citizenship if you want too (you can keep your British citizenship too). Again no massive paperwork to do. And no £2000 to spend either.

I hope you don't go agree with SilentBatPerson to all posters facing state and interpersonal racism in this country.

Part of me feels like go ahead then just make me leave because I don't want to be part of a country that behaves like this anymore. On the other hand, I have lived and worked here for 15 years, I have 2 British DC happy at school, I have a job I like, I own a property here. I have invested everything in my life here and now that's under threat and all this doesn't matter as I am merely a bargaining chip

Just re- mortgaged, luckily we have a lot of equity as the required LTV for non-British nationals has increased to

TrueBlueYorkshire does that mean if you were not born in this country you need 75% deposit? !

I am Irish living in Ireland with my English dh. He is considering applying for Irish citizenship so he can retain and EU passport and enjoy the same freedoms me and our kids will still retain post brexit. Am I missing something can non British people, living in Britain and married to a Brit not apply for British citizenship? In Ireland you can after 5 years of marriage you have to pay I think about €500 for it but it is worth the investment.

The irony of Brexit is that people just did not think things through. My own PIL's voted to leave (mainly because of all the immigrants ) but have a son living in Ireland married to an Irish women and another son living and working in America married to an Italian woman! They really want that son to move back not sure whether I should break it to them that due to their vote they have just made that move back very very complicated because their dil as an Italian may not be able to live and work in UK post brexit, Doh!

No 25% deposit, (sorry i meant to say LTV) which to be honest probably accurately reflects the risks associated with being a non British national at this point in time.

The fact is, many, many people in this country have ' foreign' born parents and grandparents. It's an immigrant nation. Most affluent places are.

What's happening is a sinister attempt to illegalise, and scare the whole population.

This 'residency question' affects everyone.

somehow, it is expected from said British partner to have learnt their partner's language and to be happy to go away from their own country

And somehow, it is expected that the other country's immigration services will welcome foreign spouses when the UK does not....

Re skilled people leaving, there are many who are now saying that they will refuse to play the ILR game with the Home Office. If it comes to it, they will await deportation. They know how it will look if the HO starts deporting people, especially NHS employees and those working in highly skilled jobs.

OTOH, it doesn't necessarily need to go as far as deportation; the HO just needs to make it hard to open bank accounts, buy or rent property, sign your kids up for school etc....

I expect the French authorities to be much more reasonable about this but still anxious to complete our current mortgage application. In a year or two's time it may be much harder for me to access financial services if there is reasonable doubt about my right to remain.

I am Irish living in Ireland with my English dh. He is considering applying for Irish citizenship so he can retain and EU passport and enjoy the same freedoms me and our kids will still retain post brexit. Am I missing something can non British people, living in Britain and married to a Brit not apply for British citizenship? In Ireland you can after 5 years of marriage you have to pay I think about €500 for it but it is worth the investment.

They can but they have to go through a process first. That includes acquiring Indefinite Leave to Remain/permanent residence: their citizenship applications would fail without it. If you're an EEA national, you get permanent residence automatically if you've been living in the UK abiding by the provisions of the Treaty for 5 years.

According to the British government's interpretation of EU law, which can by no means be assumed to be the right one, in order to get permanent residence if they don't have it already, EEA nationals who have been SAHPs not working, studying etc, needed to have private health insurance. Most didn't, meaning no permanent residence, no entitlement to citizenship, and actually no legal residence in the UK at all. But only if the UK government's interpretation of the need for insurance is right: this is being challenged and has been for ages.

This also doesn't really apply to UK or Irish citizens living in each other's countries, because we have more rights than other EU citizens. We automatically have permanent residence/Indefinite Leave to Remain as soon as we land in the other country. So your DH is in a more advantaged position than other EU citizens in Ireland, and you would be in the UK.

I suspect there will be a drain of skilled people from the NHS.

There is already a huge surge in the number of doctors moving abroad. Nurses will now follow suite.

Approximately 1 in 5 nurses currently working in the NHS are foreign. It will be a lot more attractive (with considerably less red tape) for these nurses to move to Australia or Canada (or return home to Spain, Portugal or Ireland) than it will be to remain in the UK.

The NHS will come under enormous pressure. A surge of worried expats
returning from abroad coupled with a brain drain of NHS employees will
push the system to breaking point.

I haven't read the whole thread but just wanted to point out that the Home Office has retrospectively changed immigration law in the past (which caught me out re eligibility for PR and cost me a lot of money to sort a different visa at the time). I would not be surprised if they do it again.

The Home Office has declined to say if Irish workers will be exempt from the British Government’s plan to draw up a list of foreign workers.