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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!

OP posts:
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hardworkharriet · 29/12/2018 09:38

I also take this personally. My Mum has been here since 1960, originally from the Netherlands, settled in the UK because she married an Englishman; obviously pre the UK joining the EU. Now she has to presumably pay £65 to ‘register’. What if she doesn’t? Will they deport her to the Netherlands where she has no immediate family, assets or pension? Will she lose any right to NHS healthcare or the state part of her pension?

TotesEmoshTerri · 29/12/2018 09:38

We are all EU citizens and all enjoy a lot of benefits of that. That this country has idiotically decided to strip us of this valuable status and also put remaining EU citizens at a disadvantage is a huge shame on us and a rare regressive step where we're going back in history rather than forward.

ShotsFired · 29/12/2018 09:38

Can I also point out that Android apps are not one size fits all?

Each phone can run a different OS, and within that, it can have been modified for that device or manufacturer.

So two people might have a device running the Jellybean release, but the app may only work on one of them due to modifications. (It's a fricking nightmare to develop Android apps for large scale use!)

It's not like iOS where v11.1.1 is identical for everyone with that version.

UnnecessaryFennel · 29/12/2018 09:39

The people who are being told they have to pay the £65 didn't vote for it though, did they?

swingofthings · 29/12/2018 09:39

Well, I’m not from the EU and had to pay £2300 for settled status so £65 sounds fantastic
But you knew that would be the case when you moved in here. EU worker were told that the EU was a big happy country and therefore not welcome to live and work here just the same than anywhere else in the country.

To EU people who've lived here for many years, it is no different to you Council deciding that if you were not bored in their district, you had to pay £65 to live in your town when you neighbour who was away for the last 20 years but just come back doesn't.

£65 is indeed nothing but the principle of it makes you feel you should be grateful to be given the right to live in this country, especially those who could acquire British nationality in no time anyway.

Ironically, I considered applying for British nationality as I feel more British than my own nationality, but this is making me feel un-British somehow as if I was good enough before but suddenly I'm not despite no changes at all to my status, and yes, I am a high earner and pay much more taxes into the system than the average British born national.

NOTthepinkranger · 29/12/2018 09:39

You can spot the brexiteers a mile off on this thread.

MrsGface · 29/12/2018 09:39

I’m affected by this. In reality, it’s not the £65 fee, it’s the hostile environment policy that means we have to jump through hoops to do anything. E.g. when applying for DC’s passports, I had to really fight it out with the Home Office to show that they were entitled to them. Everything you do has to go through extra hurdles and the onus is on the individual to demonstrate what their rights are. It’s an unpleasant situation to be in.

LordEmsworth · 29/12/2018 09:40

@Childrenofthesun Quoting one of the many studies on this topic, which happens to be one that supports your opinion, is not the same thing as proving something.

If you want to say that "some studies indicate that on average, an EU immigrant contributes more than a British person to the UK economy" then that is a fact, but it is not what the OP said.

"EU immigrants contribute more to the economy than British born people" is not proven, therefore not a fact. None of us is "average"; and there are more British born people in the UK than there are EU immigrants; so therefore it is not true to say or imply, as above, either that EU immigrants as a whole contribute more than those born in this country, or that every individual EU immigrant contributes more than every British born person to the economy.

These are important distinctions and not making them is how we end up with a sign on a bus saying that leaving the EU will save the UK £350m a week - people use language to make numbers mean whatever they want to support their own argument.

Fact checking claims about statistics

"There is no single ‘correct’ answer to the question of how much immigrants contribute to public finances, according to the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford.

Researchers make different assumptions which affect their numbers, such as how to find the cost of educating the children of immigrants and the impacts of migration on economic growth and unemployment.

The particular findings of one study alone shouldn't be quoted without context or reference to who's made the estimates."

brizzledrizzle · 29/12/2018 09:43

Been here 20 years, British husband and children, teacher, school governor... having to apply for permission to stay here

It's disgusting, no other words for it.

PanGalaticGargleBlaster · 29/12/2018 09:43

redsummershoes

with they also get a yellow star in the post to sow on they jacket?

What a monumentally moronic pig shit thick

PanGalaticGargleBlaster · 29/12/2018 09:44

thing to say. Seriously cop yourself on.

planespotting · 29/12/2018 09:44

Summary

When I moved to the USA I did so on a VISA.
When I moved to the UK I dis so forever, as it was my right.

Please stop comparing these 2. I got married and had DC here, I would not have done so in the USA as I knew I was on a VISA

Second, please look into the requirements and how they were updated:
Pre-referendum (considering all residency and other requirements -language, employment) were met:

  • 5 years
  • 3 years if married to British citizen

Post-referendum:
As you now need a Permanent Residence Card for a year before you apply and you need 5 years here to apply for one and hold it for 1 before applying:
-6 years

  • 5 years of residence if married.

They also raised the fee a few hundreds pounds.

"EU citizens will be allowed to live and work"
We don't want to be allowed, it is like getting a proposal like "you are allowed to marry me"

I don't want to be allowed. All these actions make one feel very unwelcome

OliviaStabler · 29/12/2018 09:44

How about doing it for free, given that it is not the fault of the EU citizens currently living here legally?

The process would still have to be funded. Where would you like to Government to make cuts to find this funding?

PlatypusPie · 29/12/2018 09:45

I’ve just gone down an interesting rabbit hole based on this thread as I was intrigued by the Android only aspect.

This seems to have been a preliminary pilot scheme which closed on 21 December - the digital application was indeed Android only for the ID scan though there were locations around the country ( at Registrars’ offices) which could provide the service for those without that technology.

I have sent documents and ID proofs before ( to other functions) just using the Apple photo app, but there is a scan functionality in post iOS 11 Notes app. Seems a bit limited though, as the way the pilot describes the Android app from my brief read through implies greater interactivity. Maybe the Apple app is still in development or there are developmental/cost negotiations still in progress. ? I can’t imagine that it is Apple making some kind of political decision not to participate .

That is what pilot schemes are for - to test the reach and practicalities. I am slightly impressed that the decision has been made to make it a digitally based process from the start, rather than a bolt on to a paper mountain.

planespotting · 29/12/2018 09:46

..@OliviaStabler I just spent £2000 on my citizenship process
That use to be less than £700
Maybe they can take the money from there?

Eilaianne · 29/12/2018 09:48

But posters are saying you can apply using the website, and the App restriction is because of Apple's policy (I don't understand why Apple can't support it but I'm sure that's out if the control of the UK government! They're a foreign tech company..).

Why do you need an app? Doesn't the application website work on your iPhone OP?

I have a LOT of colleagues affected by this so less histrionics and more facts would be lovely...

LittleBearPad · 29/12/2018 09:48

Charging people when the Leave campaign said that EU citizens right to remain would be automatic is a disgrace. It’s a cash raising, data gathering politically motivated scam to keep xenophobes happy.

Ylvamoon · 29/12/2018 09:49

I think it's about building a database for future use. God knows what, but it can't be good. I'm thinking about the Windrush scandal. Only this one won't be a scandal. I can imagine a goal post moving exercise... indefinitely squeezing money out of people who have (& continue) contributed to the British economy.
Starting by paying £65.- for the pleasure!

winsinbin · 29/12/2018 09:50

I hope Brexit won’t happen but if it does this doesn’t sound unreasonable to me. I am going to India soon for a two week holiday. All return flights and accommodation paid for in advance, and no family there so I am unlikely to overstay and I will contribute loads to local economies in that time with eating, drinking, taxis, guides and shopping so you would think they would be welcoming and encouraging. Far from it. Just a three month tourist visa to India costs £82 and the application seemed totally OTT. Massive detailed accounts of occupation (I no longer work), ethnicity etc for me and both (long dead) DPs. They even wanted full details (age, occupation, nationality, address etc) of my DH even though he isn’t going with me. It was also on a very shaky government website that kept crashing, no handy app and if for some reason I got some small detail wrong, like the wrong size photo, the whole application starts again with another £82 payable.

So £65 on an app for a years residency doesn’t seem too bad to me but I still hope it doesn’t happen.

planespotting · 29/12/2018 09:50

Oh and let me explain a bit more of how shitty it made me feel that after 10 years of living, working, volunteering here, I had to pay £150 for an English exam that I did in 5 minutes, when I had already taken my IELTS prior to completing a Postgraduate in Science in the UK.

Why? Because the 5 people I spoke to on the phone told me that the only people that could guarantee my Degree was sufficient to present as proof of English (let alone working here for 10) were the people receiving my application and I could lose my fee( well over £1300 pounds) if it wasn't

whatswithtodaytoday · 29/12/2018 09:51

It's disgusting and makes me ashamed to be British (as if I wasn't ashamed enough already).

Why should friends who have lived here since the 90s have to register themselves and pay? They were assured nothing would change. Now they'll be on a list. What if their application is refused? What will this mean in future? Fuck Brexit.

IAmAlwaysLikeThis · 29/12/2018 09:51

To bring my husband here, I had to live without him for six months while I worked to prove I could support him and we had to pay over 5000 pounds in visa fees.

So I won’t be crying over 65 quid, sorry.

Childrenofthesun · 29/12/2018 09:52

oliviastabler The government are managing to find money like the £108 million they are spending on extra ferries in case of no deal so I expect they could stump up the cash if they wanted. I wonder what cuts to other areas are being made to fund the no-deal preparations?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46704522

hardworkharriet · 29/12/2018 09:52

Just had a look on the gov.uk website. Looks like ‘the system’ will allegedly be up and running by the end of March 2019 and then people have two years to apply. My 83 year old mother doesn’t have a smart phone.

LittleBearPad · 29/12/2018 09:53

I think you may have missed the point Wins. As did Highland who also talked about entry charges. This fee is being asked of people who have lived and worked here for decades.