Disgusted at how the UK government will charge EU nationals £65 and no iPhone app

[Rosepetalgeranium]

Even if someone has been here working hard and paying tax for decades they will have to pay £65 to stay and there's only an android app to apply not even an iPhone app!

I know that I don't look like you think people from my country look like and my accent is not fucking Manolo's from some TV hotel, so you assume, and then apologise because, again "Oh! But we don't mean you"

The whole thing is disgusting.
It is not about £65 or £2000

It is about waking up next to my British husband, pregnant with my son, and seeing the Referendum Results and knowing, in that moment, that I had to either leave, stay with very uncertain rights, or become a "fake British", because my passport says so, but I am still not accepted as such. Now people say to me when I say I am British "but you are not though, where were you born? Where is your accent from?"

And how many of you get asked at work if you are volunteers? I happen to have volunteered for 10 years in other places but not at work. None of my colleagues get asked. I am a teacher FFS, how many teachers get asked that question? The children love me, I am more than qualified. I talk to them when they are sad, I tell them they can be whoever they put their little hearts into. They don't think I should be allowed to stay, they are grateful I came.

It fucking sucks. It is not the amount of money. That is just the cherry on top.

Of course that cannot in anyway be compared to the nazis persecution. A big chunk of my family ended up in camps, half survive, the other didn't. I have just braved starting to read my grand father's diary but can't go on.

This is nothing, really nothing comparable. It doesn't make it right.

On a personal basis, it went like this:
Me: you told me I'd gained indefinite right to stay and therefore didn't need to do anything to make it official
Authorities: that's correct but the law changed in 2000 and you should have registered then.
Me: but you never informed me
Authorities: we didn't have to
Me: how can you take away something you'd given before
Authorities: that's the law and we can do so

My youngest child
Me:can I have a British passport for my dc please
Authorities: no you can't
Me: why not?
Authorities: Because you were not married when he was born
Me: OK, but that law changed in 2006 and children with the same circumstances born after this date get it automatically
Authorities: indeed but we can't change the laws retrospectively
Me: oh, but that's what you're doing with Brexit though isn't it?
Authorities: That's different

It is unsettling when you find yourself at the hands of decision making that follows no logical rules.

Many typos and mistakes. That is not due to me being born elsewhere, but a sleepless night due to Gruffalo nightmares by the way

(Before someone clutches pearls because a teacher is making mistakes typing at 6 am on a ridiculously small keyboard with her eyes flooded with tears)

planespotting
I felt a lot of indignation when I had to pay for registration cards in other EU countries the first time it happened even though I knew they couldn’t be refused. These identity cards did differentiate me from the native population as I was listed as foreign. I also needed a card to open a bank account ffs.

I do also understand the not feeling welcome also. The day after the results my dh was asked multiple times at work as a joke when he was going home. But having to get a registration card having done so on several occasions wouldn’t phase me tbh. It’s the feeling of not being welcome, which would.

Dh and I are both dual now. So I get what you mean about fake British. For your own mental health I would try to move if you can. It sounds as if you are living in a predominantly pro leave areas of the country / your town. I think if you did this the registration thing would grate less because you’d be amongst people, who accept you.

Thank you @Mummyoflittledragon but you can be emotional about a subject without having mental health issues. I won't apologise be made feel weak or uncomfortable for speaking my feelings.
For your own mental health I would try to move if you can.

So the solution again is for me to uproot my entire family and look for jobs, schools and a home elsewhere?

No thanks. As much as I am scared to speak my language and I know people here don't want me, I am not moving thank you.
My students need me, my husband plays an important role in my community. I rather teach this people with kindness.
Nobody will fight my battles for me and I rather stay, be myself and keep my chin up.
Maybe one day I will change one person's opinion. And that is how it all begins.

I am not leaving.

Oh and I don't have to register, I am British!
Gosh don't tell me I have to register as well 😅

I didn’t say you had mental health problems. People can do things to help with their mental health without ever having issues. That’s what looking after your mental health is about, no?

Having lived in a particularly tense area of Belgium (Dutch speakers vs French speakers) I was very happy to leave myself. I specifically chose more carefully in future both abroad and in the U.K. so I am looking at how I would handle the situation. In any case you sound hurt and angry from what I’m reading.

I read your post as getting a passport in the future as I thought from what you posted you were upset about needing one.

@planespotting and to get through today! Thank you for posting, although I fear many will still not get it.

To pp who said that the right to vote in local elections will be lost, I had no idea about that and will investigate further. If so that is terrible. I think it's disgusting that EU citizens living here didn't get a vote in the referendum. It's nothing at all like a GE.

I'm a commonwealth citizen and DH is EU. Kids have joint citizenship of our countries. I was up feeding my youngest the night of the referendum, I remember crying my eyes out at about 4am when the results came in. We have spent the last 2 years debating whether to uproot our family and move, dipping our toes in the water for jobs etc, I just keep hoping against hope that something will stop this madness and things will go back to some kind of normality but it is a pipe dream.

I worked for a firm that took on more eu apprentices than uk ones because the eu ones (mostly from Romania) got free degrees so the firm had to pay less for their uk qualification as their degrees gained them exemption. Due to the uk charging for degrees most apprentices from here cost more to qualify for the firm so they came last when it came to being chosen for employment. The Romanians sent their money home and spent every holiday at home. They also agreed to much lower salaries therefore pushing the salaries down.
The system needs to change.
I’m not pro brexit but a lot of the people saying I’ve been here 20 years blah blah, why haven’t you got citizenship already?

santabelly
Why haven’t people got citizenship? I explained that upthread. Rtft.

@redsummershoes your comment about yellow stars is absolutely out of order. Don't compare this situation to the holocaust, it's not even bloody close.

I don't like the fee either, and the way EU nationals are being pushed around is dreadful, but making the yellow star comparison is disgusting.

@Mummyoflittledragon I didn’t say you had mental health problems. People can do things to help with their mental health without ever having issues. That’s what looking after your mental health is about, no?
Ahh this is true
I just think that emotions are good and I notice here some people think we should all be more robotic, I think that is what causes pressure in children to hide emotions and so on. But that is another thread!

Yes I am hurt but I keep on with my life, if you see what I mean. But given the chance to speak about it I do!

I have always been one of those to fight the food fight rather than accept and sit down, which cause heartache at times but also moments of pride and happiness, and it is the way I am.

You are right, I felt much more at home in London! But DH can't really move roles and it was hard to find jobs and all

Santabelly because with the EU FOM it wasn't necessary. It wasn't part of the "contract" under which my DH moved and settled in the UK. And in his words, he is not British and resents being forced to be!

@namechange34 making coffee
Damn Gruffalo 😫. It is all so much harder because of the children isn't it 😫

@santabelly FFS people don't "get free degrees"
I worked for a firm that took on more eu apprentices than uk ones because the eu ones (mostly from Romania) got free degrees so the firm had to pay less for their uk qualification as their degrees gained them exemption.
People earn their degrees, not our fault that the UK university fees are outrageous compared to many other EU countries.

It is twisting the language like that which causes people to hate and vote out 😠

Due to the uk charging for degrees most apprentices from here cost more to qualify for the firm so they came last when it came to being chosen for employment.
That is the issue.

A UK problem caused by greed. Thay needs to change.

So only the elite now will get degrees and professional roles.

A nice wealthy British management layer across the board.

Ah the joys

Many areas who voted overwhelmingly to leave have been economically and socially deprived for decades. They haven’t all voted leave because they are rascist. Any EU born UK residents who are angry and confused about why people voted Leave should read about what happened to large areas of the UK when they got fucked over by the Tories in the eighties, particularly the mining communities. This may give you some idea why people voted for change. Personally I voted to remain but I understand why many people didn’t.

I work with a huge number of EU citizens. In the last couple of years a lot of them have decided to leave the UK and take their considerable talents and expertise elsewhere. More are planning to leave post-March 2019 if Brexit goes ahead. This is not about paying £65 or Apps on phones. It is about making people feeling unwelcome and unvalued. I feel ashamed of the UK at the moment. Ashamed and embarrassed. Brexit has really exposed something nasty in our society. You can see it on this thread. (It's also exposed most people's chronic inability to see beyond the bigger picture or engage in any kind of critical thinking, but that's another thread.)

@twofingerstoEverything 💙

it is very hard for people. There may be some merit for those who can afford it and will not want ever to move back just to become British where they have the right to do so and give up their foreign passport too. Not that anyone on here would commit offences but if you have 2 passports and are jailed then you can sometimes lose your British passport and have to go back to your home country when your sentence is served whereas people like I am just with a British passport cannot be. Just keep it really simple if you can and become full British citizens if you have the money and the right and renounce the foreign passport.

Most British people who voted Brexit are not racist and many who want less immigration are not racist either. I am a Remainer however so cannot speak for Brexiteers. I am lumbered with the UK come what may as I don't even qualify for an Irish passport. I have one Irish (NI) great grandparent but that is not enough; you need an Irish grandparent.

@Xenia Just keep it really simple if you can and become full British citizens if you have the money and the right and renounce the foreign passport.

You can be full British and also full from another country. I am. If I was sent to jail of course I could lose my nationality, that is more than fair enough! I am not going to resign one of my passports in case I am sent there I simply follow the law.

planespotting
In the nicest way possible, you are taking it too seriously. All Brexit propaganda is nothing but a mass hysteria - and both sides are guilty.
I can understand a frustration with the need to jump through new administrative rings, and everyone probably has better ideas how to spend £65 rather than sponsoring the Home Office incompetence. But don't take comments too personally.
I was in your shoes with comments about the language I speak to the children, and being asked when I am going to pack my bags. It got even more complicated because I was technically illegal for about a year, due to a processing error in the Home Office (but still with six-figure earnings), and could not even leave to go back home. The shit you get from people is unbelievable. My neighbour voted "Leave" because he thought it is short for "Immigrants must leave".
However, it happens in any country around the world, there always be a proportion of population hostile to immigrants. My brother had lived in Spain for the last ten years, owns a couple of businesses there, and is planning to move to another country in 2019 because of the personal insults against his wife, who is Ukrainian and, apparently, can be nothing but a prostitute in the eyes of an average Spaniard (she's an emergency nurse). She is thick-skinned but it really started affecting her. It is the zeitgeist around the world, small brained people with hearts "two sizes too small" suddenly came out of woodwork and feel entitled to share their opinions.

@silvercuckoo I don't think I am taking it too seriously, this is how I feel and I make no apology for it.
I have been made feel this way.
I shake it off everyday and I am off to the park to play with my son now.
Nobody would ever guess this is how I feel but I am not going to just ignore the whole thing just because things happen in other places.
There is a reason I left my hometown and one is because of mentality like you are describing about your brother's wife. I have also been mistaken for a prostitute twice in the UK by the way. I am still puzzled about that one 😂

I don't have to pay the £65 btw, I am British.

I don't think it is right to tell someone how they should feel to be honest. Or how they should "take" something that affects their lives and their family's

@planespotting

Exactly!! Exactly!!

Im not going to pack my bags and go home. I AM HOME!

@Lndnmummy should we get t-shirts?

👆🏻 lighthearted, I am not making tshirts!!