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Original poster

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

779 replies

Rosepetalgeranium · 29/12/2018 08:30

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!

OP posts:
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IAmAlwaysLikeThis · 31/12/2018 11:46

will always be safe in this country without applying for citizenship

But isn’t it equally naive to think that you would be safe in any country of which you’re not a citizen??

eg in my husband’s country, I can’t vote. I can’t protest. If I commit even a minor traffic offence, I could be deported. If we get divorced, I have two years and then I have to get a different visa or fuck off (kids or no kids).

When you move to another country, you have to be aware of the laws. And of course Brexit has changed those laws. I am 100% anti Brexit, but we still have to abide by the law, people can’t be shocked that EU citizens will have their rights changed.

swingofthings · 31/12/2018 11:49

They're just over 8 million of people living in London, 400,000 of them are French, so almost 1 in 20 (the highest foreign residents), how many of them do you think claim benefits?

coldheartwarmhands · 31/12/2018 11:49

swingofthings. The disadvantage of democracy - no one is obliged to vote in an informed way.

swingofthings · 31/12/2018 11:49

@coldheartwarmhands Grin

swingofthings · 31/12/2018 11:52

But isn’t it equally naive to think that you would be safe in any country of which you’re not a citizen??
I don't think it is when over and over, you are told that we are now citizens of Europe. Why would you go and pay for something that is an alternative to a luxurious holiday when at the time you don't think it will ever be required? I guess now it can be deemed a good investment, at the time it was deemed silliness.

swingofthings · 31/12/2018 11:58

The other thing that hasn't been mentioned here yet I think is the principle of asking for a fee for something that is still not definite. That was one of the other reasons I refused to pay the £65 a few weeks ago. What if Brexit indeed doesn't go ahead? Will they refund? Isn't it presumptuous to have set 4his up at a time when so much heated debate was still going on about whether anotjer referendum would go ahead? I feel that this defines the political climate perfectly: let's put our head in the sand and pretend all is hunky dory!

Clavinova · 31/12/2018 12:06

Buteo
ILR only applies to non-EEA nationals
The link quite clearly relates to EU citizens and their families
www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families

IAmAlwaysLikeThis · 31/12/2018 12:14

we are now citizens of Europe

But after Brexit, that was clearly never going to be the case, was it?

User758172 · 31/12/2018 12:19

over and over, you are told that we are now citizens of Europe

I’ve never heard anyone say this. And it’s quite obviously untrue. How can anyone believe such nonsense?

swingofthings · 31/12/2018 12:20

But after Brexit, that was clearly never going to be the case, was it?
You're right, how stupid of me and fellow eu migrants to have not foreseen in 2000 that Brexit would happen 18 years later, especially when it came as such a shock to the nation and mainly because young people didn't vote thinking it would never happen.

Funny how clearly things become after the aftermaths.

Jezebel101 · 31/12/2018 12:21

Lots of people pretending that being stabbed shouldn't be complained about because after all, you weren't shot.

Extorting money from people who've contributed positively to society, and pretending it's nothing. It's really a shame to see what the UK has become lately.

RiskIt4Biscuit · 31/12/2018 12:21

EU nationals have been living and working in the UK legally for decades, yet they now have to apply to be allowed to stay. The cost in itself is not the issue. It's the fact that the terms suddenly have changed - we have gone from being welcome to stay for as long as we want without the need to apply to now having to apply to stay - and if we have to apply, there's obviously a risk that they can reject the application and tell someone who has lived, loved and worked here for 20+ years here to leave the country.

I am an EU national, and I live in the UK. I am happy to pay my taxes here, am happy to follow the laws and I am loyal to the UK.
Now, this is being rewarded by getting abuse by people who think I should "go back to where I came from", and on top of that, I am now being told that I have to pay a fee to be allowed to stay in my home with worse terms than I have had until now.

I am married to a British man, and he is now keen on leaving the country. Unfortunately that may become a problem because of Brexit, because people voted to take away his rights to freedom of movement, so he may not be able to move to the country I'm from - or any other European country.

If I was to have my application rejected, and my DH was to find it difficult to find a job abroad, what would we do?

We have a home and a family here in the UK - what will happen to us if I am told that I am not allowed to stay, and he can't move with me back to somewhere where I am welcome?

Helmetbymidnight · 31/12/2018 12:25

people can’t be shocked that EU citizens will have their rights changed

I’m fucking disgusted that this country is being run into the ground by twats.

IAmAlwaysLikeThis · 31/12/2018 12:26

swing I’m not saying you could have predicted it. None of us could. But things change. I’m not saying it’s fair or right, but there has ALWAYS been an undercurrent of the UK wanting to leave the EU, so of course it should always have been considered as a possibility.

DGRossetti · 31/12/2018 12:27

You're right, how stupid of me and fellow eu migrants to have not foreseen in 2000 that Brexit would happen 18 years later

You could have been 18 in 1973, and come to the UK to study, settled down in the expectation that the UK would remain in the EEC/EC/EU.

That's 45 years ago - you'd be 63 now.

Also, even if the UK is leaving the EU, why should it affect the people already here ? Future arrivals, obviously. But why is the UK allowed to suddenly change the law retrospectively ? (Which hints at a question of whether the UK will be allowed to change the law retrospectively Hmm).

IAmAlwaysLikeThis · 31/12/2018 12:28

helmet sorry is that directed at me? I’m a twat because I’m realistic? I’m anti Brexit but of course after Brexit things were going to change.

Complain to your MP instead of insulting people who are on your side.

IAmAlwaysLikeThis · 31/12/2018 12:29

But why is the UK allowed to suddenly change the law retrospectively

I don’t think you understand what changing the law retrospectively means.

Laws are allowed to be changed. If they weren’t, we’d still be forced to go to church every Sunday.

Helmetbymidnight · 31/12/2018 12:33

No it wasn’t directed at you Confused

DGRossetti · 31/12/2018 12:40

I don’t think you understand what changing the law retrospectively means.

Or you don't, since your example ...

Laws are allowed to be changed. If they weren’t, we’d still be forced to go to church every Sunday.

Isn't an example of a law being changed retrospectively.

When people came to the UK from the EU, there was no law requiring them to do anything. There could have been, since it was up to the UK government within the EEC/EC/EU treaties. But there weren't.

If the UK were to bring in a law now saying that all new EU arrivals need to register - fine. But it's not. It's bringing in a law that stretches back saying "if you entered the UK previously when there was no law, but are now required by a law to register" which is retrospective.

It's especially iniquitous, as to comply, people will be expected to possess documents that have never been expected to be retained ... tax records for example. They are only meant to be kept for 6 years. So how can you demonstrate you paid tax in 1988 ?

IAmAlwaysLikeThis · 31/12/2018 12:44

No, that is not retrospective, sorry. I never said the going to church thing was either, that was my point.

You’re not being punished for entering the UK. The law is changing. That is a very different thing.

The law is also changing for British citizens. Can I complain that I now can’t (perhaps) just go to Spain to work because I was born while we were part of the EU? No. I can’t.

Riotingbananas · 31/12/2018 12:46

If I was to have my application rejected, and my DH was to find it difficult to find a job abroad, what would we do?

Can I ask - not being goady, genuinely want to know - why would your application be turned down? Are there any scenarios in which that would actually happen to you?

coldheartwarmhands · 31/12/2018 12:48

I’m fucking disgusted that this country is being run into the ground by twats.

It's easy to blame the elite politicians (or even the civil servants who act on their direction) but they are there because the majority of population wants, or is prepared to tolerate, their actions. There are any number of democratic, and not-so-democratic ways that the populous could act if the actions of the government was really so unacceptable. As it is, we, in our very British way, do nothing more than moan in the pub and maybe write a letter to the local paper or even our MP.

British people have never described themselves as European - and while those from other European cultures may have viewed themselves as such, those who have moved to Britain claim they did so because it was so welcoming and friendly. Maybe I'm a cynic, but I think some saw only what they wanted to see rather than the reality.

swingofthings · 31/12/2018 12:52

swing I’m not saying you could have predicted it. None of us could. But things change. I’m not saying it’s fair or right, but there has ALWAYS been an undercurrent of the UK wanting to leave the EU, so of course it should always have been considered as a possibility
I don't think you understand the notion of change. What other law can you name that means that it impacts on selective people retrospectively, ie, the law means it changes the status they had gained.

When the rate of interest changes, it impacts your mortgage payme t from that date. It doesn't say 'oh yes, you signed a mortgage agreement on the basis of an interest rate of 2% but its now raised to 5% so you now need to pay the difference because there was always a suspicion that the interest rate would go up so you should have saved the difference'.

Can you imagine the outroar if such changes were put in place retrospectively! But of course, it is only ever unfair when it impacts on you, who cares about something that could never affect yourself directly.

DGRossetti · 31/12/2018 12:53

British people have never described themselves as European

speak for yourself.

jasjas1973 · 31/12/2018 12:54

@MSG70

And meanwhile any EU peadophile without a job can just walk into this country and add to crime and homelessness and be a burden of all sorts on the tax payer?

Any peadophile can come here on as a tourist but all the scandals involving child abuse seem to have been committed by british citizens.
Of course any EU citizens who commit crimes or can't provide for themselves, can be deported to serve their sentence.

EU citizens who ve committed major crimes in europe should be refused entry to the UK via accessing EU criminal databases (as all passports are checked on entry to UK) but post brexit we will lose that facility, making it far easier for criminals to get to the UK......

So, well done, go to the top of the class! you ve made us all a little less safe :(