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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!

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swingofthings · 31/12/2018 14:13

Change is just what happens all the time - it can feel very unfair on people but as my mother always said life is not fair
Going round and round circles and some posters still not getting it. The changes you refer to affect the likes of me just like you. Maybe they should have said that it should only impact on those with a UK passport and not EU citizens who could still claim a pension earlier. How about that. You'd approve I presume because we'll, change is change isn't it and life is just not fair.

It's easy isn't it when you're not the one whose status is being undermined.

Fifthtimelucky · 31/12/2018 14:17

I can understand that EU citizens living in the UK are annoyed about having to pay £65 to stay, but most have said that the issue is not the money, but the principle. I confess I don't really understand that.

Surely, we are not saying "you may have been here for 20 years, but we are changing the rules and we don't want you to stay". We are saying "You are very welcome to stay and we guarantee your right to do so. However, because we are changing the rules in the future, we need to be able to distinguish between those, like you, with the right to stay, and those who may come in the future, who will not automatically have the right to stay. In order to prove that you are in the first category, you need to register."

DGRossetti · 31/12/2018 14:18

swing I think you’re deeply misinformed about how the majority of British people feel, sadly.

Or how the majority of English people feel. Or indeed how the majority of English people think they feel.

DGRossetti · 31/12/2018 14:20

We are saying "You are very welcome to stay and we guarantee your right to do so.

Are "we" ? I've seen no guarantee, and unless you can cite one, one doesn't exist.

Maybe it's written on the reverse of the guarantee the Windrush generation had ?

swingofthings · 31/12/2018 14:21

That’s just not true though. You can’t dismiss half the population thinking they’re fools who were lied to
I don't judge peoples opinion and actually have nothing against those who voted leave.ut having spoken to quite a few openly, they voted considering the benefits to do so but ommited to consider the consequences. Now only one person I spoke to say they still think it was the right decision.

And yes, there were certainly false promises. The NHS being one of them. The costs of losing EU workers is going to have an impact that no promise of e tra fund will counteract. Why did my MIL voted leave? Because she hates seeing a 'foreign conzultsng' she can't understand. Trying to explain to her that it is still better than having to wait months to be diagnosed with what could be a serious illness goes over her head as she is convinced that there are enough UK doctors to fill the posts! Sadly, she is an intelligent woman but not one understanding health economy.

DGRossetti · 31/12/2018 14:23

You can’t dismiss half the population

Why not ? Leavers did - and continue to do so.

User758172 · 31/12/2018 14:30

Why not ? Leavers did - and continue to do so

How?

flyingspaghettimonster · 31/12/2018 14:31

To get our visas forliving in the USA we uad to:- call a phone number premium line at cost of about 30pounds for the whole call just to request an appointment. Wait 5 weeks for the appointment and no choice in date or time. Travel to an embassy, nearest one for us was 4 hours away in London. Pay to put all possessions that might be risky like cell phone, keys etc in a locker at a newsagent 2 blocks away. Go through a very thorough security checkpoint and pat down. Have 2 machine guns pointed at me and get screamed at because i was allowed thrlugh the checkpoint with a ball point pen still in my bag. Which might have had a camera or something. Wait for hours to have an interview despite having an appointment time booked 5 weeks earlier. Pay about $400 for me and my kids. Answer a million questions the way they wanted, i.e saying the right level of "i love america, but i would never want to live there for longer than 2 years". Repeat every 2 years.

The app and 65 quid sounds amazing to me. Our next visa upgrade will be about 2k.

swingofthings · 31/12/2018 14:34

"You are very welcome to stay and we guarantee your right to do so. However, because we are changing the rules in the future, we need to be able to distinguish between those, like you, with the right to stay, and those who may come in the future, who will not automatically have the right to stay. In order to prove that you are in the first category, you need to register."
The issue for me wasn't so much to register. No issue with that. And it wasnt that £65 is a sum I can't afford, it was the principle of having to pay to keep what I already have and get nothing from it. You pay for a passport, you get a document that means you can travel.

I went through the entire process of registering and was ready to push the final button when the request for £65 came up. What do I get for this? At this point of time, nothing at all as Brexit isn't even finalised! It did make me feel like an easy sponge to squeeze.

I'll pay when not doing so will mean risking being deported not as a mean to please those who voted leave.

TheNavigator · 31/12/2018 14:34

But America isn't part of the EU and Britain (still) is so your anecdote is entirely irrelevant. My DC were born with EU passports and I am appalled they are to be stripped of their birthright. We did (and do) see ourselves as European - we have never seen ourselves as American because we aren't!

planespotting · 31/12/2018 14:34

Of course they do What a ridiculous comment. That’s my nationality. I’m British. I’m proud of being British. Nothing wrong with that.

Is it ridiculous??

None of my friends would say they are British and proud, IF someone really needed an answer they would say English, Scottish, Irish...
French people don't answer "European" either when they are asked.

I imagine if an English person asked another where they are from they would reply "Kent, London, Manchester"

You move from more general to more specific.

I also don't get this "British" pride.

Probably because in my country this utterly ridiculous concept ended in Civil War and massacre but hey ho.

Can't people just be proud of being decent humans???

I will never get it. And I have lived all over the world.

pointythings · 31/12/2018 14:35

Why not ? Leavers did - and continue to do so

How?

By endlessly going on about 'the will of the people' irrespective of the fact that it was 52/48. That's tyranny of a tiny majority. It's constantly glossed over that the difference between Leave and Remain was tiny. Half the people who voted did not want Leave and do not want what is happening now, but their wishes are completely nd utterly ignored. It really is that simple.

User758172 · 31/12/2018 14:36

Now only one person I spoke to say they still think it was the right decision

Just shows us how our little circles around us can skew our views. The folks I know who voted Leave atill stand by their decision and still think it will be for the best in the long run. I may not agree with them, but everyone’s different and we want different things. One viewpoint isn’t necessarily morally superior to the other. Remainers aren’t necessarily better people than Leavers. It’s a question of values and priorities.

swingofthings · 31/12/2018 14:36

To get our visas forliving in the USA we uad to...
We don't care about America. This is not America. I lived in America and paid a lot for a visa. I knew that would be the deal when I went there. I came to the UK feeling grateful that I didn't have to go through all this.

MissionItsPossible · 31/12/2018 14:36

@TheNavigator

Sadly, I was aware some British people were racist but in my bubble I thought most Brits were decent people. It is a shock to find out that is not true and does make me feel ashamed of my country.

Ha! Try being non white and living or travelling in ANY country within the EU. You’ll soon see racism then. The UK is the least racist country out of the EU to non white people.

Quietrebel · 31/12/2018 14:37

They’re not uneducated fools. They’ve been around for nearly a century, all of them, and have lived and worked all over Europe and don’t have a racist, bigoted bone in their body.
MrsAriadne, so the way brexit is being handled today is a betrayal of their vote I think.

planespotting · 31/12/2018 14:37

@flyingspaghettimonster we have addressed your issue 65 times in this thread already
Please read the thread

User758172 · 31/12/2018 14:38

That's tyranny of a tiny majority

But you live in a democracy. That’s the way it works. What would you prefer - tryranny of the minority? Confused

planespotting · 31/12/2018 14:39

We don't care about America. This is not America. I lived in America and paid a lot for a visa. I knew that would be the deal when I went there. I came to the UK feeling grateful that I didn't have to go through all this.
ALL THIS
I lived in America too
Stop comparing!

User758172 · 31/12/2018 14:39

@MissionItsPossible

I agree with you. Moved around Europe endlessly as a child and it’s absolutely true in my experience.

ragged · 31/12/2018 14:41

I thought some Leavers voted Leave so that UK would treat non-EU immigrants same as EU immigrants. I can find examples of those statements...

EU citizens are still not being treated as same, really, still getting a vastly preferential deal, in fact.

MissionItsPossible · 31/12/2018 14:42

@planespotting

I am trying to choose between these 2 comments 🤔

The Polish community have terrible teeth - my Polish acquaintance goes back to Poland for implants! Smoking is still quite popular in Poland as well, which doesn't help.

Were you equally 🤔 at the comments that was in response to, or is the incense just a one way thing?

User758172 · 31/12/2018 14:43

@Quietrebel

I agree. But what can be done about it? The more I read in the news every day the more hopeless I feel. What can any of us actually do? We like to think our voices matter, but they don’t. I’ve had some shocking letters from my MP. Nothing his constituents say actually matters to him. He’s not there to represent us or our concerns, he’s determined that he knows best and will dictate to us how we should think and feel. I just feel hopeless.

DGRossetti · 31/12/2018 14:44

But you live in a democracy. That’s the way it works.

Badly (with the Churchill comment in mind).

I wonder when an office isn't going to provide female toilet facilities because 52% of employees are male ? After all - that's how democracy works

swingofthings · 31/12/2018 14:44

One viewpoint isn’t necessarily morally superior to the other. Remainers aren’t necessarily better people than Leavers. It’s a question of values and priorities
I totally agree with that but my point is that quite a lot has been learned since about what leaving would actually mean since voting and that learning has actually changed the mind of some people. I remember talking about 5becimpact on the £ and that person was adamant that the £ would remain strong no matter what. They are the ones now moaning that their summer holidays is costing a lot more.

As pointythings describes very well, there is an attitude by some that because there was a majority of leavers, it represent the nation as a whole. It doesn't. Takextbose who didn't vote because they couldn't be bothered or assume there was no need, those who did but now think differently and I don't believe that it represents the UK population. I am still treated just the same and that is with the sa.e respect as if I had been born here.

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