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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think ending Freedom of Movement on Oct 31st is a disaster waiting to happen

140 replies

chomalungma · 20/08/2019 17:27

There are several million settled EU citizens who haven't applied for settled status yet.

What happens to companies who want to recruit foreigners after Oct 31st? What bureaucracy has been set up?

It's a disaster waiting to happen. Will we have people who live here refused entry? Only given a few months on an entry visa?

I hate the country we have become.

OP posts:
MotherWol · 20/08/2019 21:23

I work for a university, we have thousands of EU nationals among our students and staff. Some will be overseas doing fieldwork, at conferences, on sabbatical, on leave. Are we really going to have to advise them not to leave the country before October 31st in case they’re denied re-entry? There’s no way to demonstrate their status as applying for Settled Status doesn’t give you any proof of right to reside.

Original poster
chomalungma · 20/08/2019 21:25

What’s getting me is we are all sitting here taking this utter crap and are not out in the streets protesting

I think that's going to happen soon.

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 20/08/2019 21:29

"applying for Settled Status doesn’t give you any proof of right to reside"
Probably being dim but what is it then?

IAmALazyArse · 20/08/2019 21:32

I think @MotherWol meant physical proof like a card.

StealthPolarBear · 20/08/2019 21:34

Ah I see

howrudeforme · 20/08/2019 21:37

@camomila - I’m shit scared for ex h. He’s in denial. I spoke to him yesterday saying perhaps we should apply now for SS. He’s saying you can’t do this to all these millions of people. I agree but they’re going for it - we split up (he’s Italian), he now rents but has a business (with employees). I don’t think that will help him.

Our ds also clueless. My huge fear is that Brexit will screw xds fledgling business, he’ll lose everything, go back to Italy and will lose all rights here (he’s lived here half his life).

I want the father of my kid to have the same rights as before and not have to travel on a f’cking tourist visa to see his own son in the country he called home for pretty much all his adult life.

Getting ds Italian nationality, BUT I’d hate for ds to ‘have to visit his dad overseas’.

Similarly, if xh rides out the storm here and stays, what if he needs to go Italy for a while to care for his elderly mother?

longwayoff · 20/08/2019 21:45

Priti Patel, daughter of Ugandan refugees, is a vile human being. Fortunately, she is not renowned for her ability to make rational decisions so hopefully she'll be sacked before her frothing becomes reality.

zackly · 20/08/2019 21:45

An NI number (for example) would be no good as proof as there are plenty of people, like myself for example, who have them, are not British, and are no longer living in the UK. After Brexit day (if it ever comes) I won't have the right to move to the UK, but I still have an NI number and have done for the past 20 years.

Like @scaryteacher I have a card that shows that I have the right to live and work in the EU country in which I'm based. It's a simple and easy way to prove identity and residency rights when, for example, applying for a job.

After the whole Windrush scandal the way the UK government is handling this is extremely troubling and makes them look like a bunch of criminally incompetent clowns. At best.

GoneWishing · 20/08/2019 21:54

I really do worry about not having any kind of a proof that I have Settled Status. Rather makes you wonder if you're supposed to carry a gas bill with you at all times, just in case. I'll be going for British citizenship, which feels ironic, because I felt much more warmly towards the UK back when I never had to think about needing the citizenship.

For now, all this mainly means that I don't dare to travel. My DP are getting on in years, and there's a family get-together planned this autumn in the country they live in. I haven't met DB and his kids in nearly three years now. But I don't want to leave the country, just in case there's any problems getting back, or just in case someone somewhere decides that nullifies the last 19 years I've lived here.

Acidburn · 20/08/2019 21:57

@IAmALazyArse we needed medical insurance because DH was a student when I applied for RC. Apparently it was a criteria.
I booked my appoitment for fingerprints at Citizen Advice website. They also have free slots - in 3 months time! If you want your appoitment to happen next week (or Saturday so you don't have to actually take time off work) - you have to pay. They have slots for £60 or £125.
After they took my photo and fingerprints - they completed the application for SS for me, and said that waiting time is 8 weeks.
So here I am, waiting.

GCAcademic · 20/08/2019 22:05

Spoke to my dad just today about it who has the old settled status, in his words "I'm not doing anything until I have to, they already know I've been here 30 years."
I think there's a lot of misstrust of the home office and not wanting to be on a 'register'.

I know two pensioners, one French the other German, who have been living here for 50 years and are refusing to apply for settled status. They say that they have already been through a settlement process pre-1975 (resulting in documentation stating that they have indefinite leave to remain). They also do not trust the home office not to deny any new application.

From my own perspective, I work in a university and have colleagues currently abroad on sabbatical who will not return until after 31 October, and also EU students on years and terms abroad from this autumn. My colleagues do not know if they will be able to return to their jobs (which were permanent contracts), and it looks like tens of thousands of EU students may now need to apply for visas mid-way through their courses. It’s a disgusting way to treat people.

Saddler · 20/08/2019 22:08

Dry your eyes. They will have to get their paperwork in order just like they would in the vast majority of other countries in the world

GCAcademic · 20/08/2019 22:18

They will have to get their paperwork in order just like they would in the vast majority of other countries in the world

Can you tell me which other country in the world has removed the right to remain or study from those who previously had it? Other than if individuals have committed a criminal offence, of course?

zackly · 20/08/2019 22:19

You what, @saddler? Have you read the thread?

GCAcademic · 20/08/2019 22:20

And, as I said, the pensioners had already submitted their paperwork some 45 years ago and had official confirmation they they had the right to remain.

IAmALazyArse · 20/08/2019 22:20

@Acidburn it just sounds really odd that they would charge that much😮 It's ridiculous. My DH got them done in Post Office for 19something😮 In the other hand they at least finished your application for you
Oh yeah, if you were applying before 2016 and 1 wasn't working CSI was needed. They scrapped it after referendum when it transpired that majority of people including insurance companies never heard of CSI🤷🤦
Sorry, I got it jumbled in your previous post and thought you were applying for RC not SS.

CraicGalore · 20/08/2019 22:22

Is anyone Irish getting worried about the lack of need for settled status? All the material says that it isn't required as the Ireland-UK free movement treaty pre-dates the E.U. and the SS website still says it's not required.
But I'm getting worried in case that changes suddenly too and I'm suddenly illegal in the UK.
And no, I can't just leave. My DH is British, he has a business and employs people, I have lots of business interests here. We will only go if we have to.

zackly · 20/08/2019 22:27

@CraicGalore although I don't think you've got anything to worry about, I can understand why you'd be worried. The government seems to have gone mad. But yes, all that information is correct, Ireland and the UK have other arrangements which will not be changed by Brexit.

Camomila · 20/08/2019 23:03

I am going to make sure DM and DF have absolutely everything sorted SS wise! (And nag DBro too if he hasn't sorted everything yet, but he's front line NHS so the best immigrant of the family Grin ) Will remind dad that nonna is 85 and he needs to be let back into the country if he goes to visit her!

I'm currently having a 'high risk' pg and on sick leave but I can cope with being 'family Brexit organiser', but there are 1000s of people that are more vulnerable than me, who maybe don't have any adult dc to sort things out for them, I'm so cross on their behalf!

howrudeforme how stressful Sad I would continue trying to persuade him to get settled status.

I was thinking about the claims mixed EU/UK couples may end up making in the future on 'right to family life' grounds but of course a lot of people aren't fans of the ECHR...

Pjsandbaileys · 20/08/2019 23:47

Northern Ireland here we are being kept well in the dark over here and still do not have a working local government. As well the obvious concerns of stability and movement of good across the border, we have an agreement at the moment for example children's cardiology centre of excellence was centralised from a centre in Belfast and Dublin to Dublin and alot of ROI citizens have cancer treatment in the north as it's actually much closer than Dublin to them. It also worries me that goods won't make it as far as us if only 50% makes it through via Dover as our border process hasn't even been decided yet!!

CraicGalore · 20/08/2019 23:56

I think the government's treatment of Northern Ireland has been particularly terrible @Pjsandbaileys
It seems like the Good Friday Agreement has been forgotten entirely. The island of Ireland was already sharing tourism and other key initiatives like those you mention. I doubt the current UK cabinet knows anything about N Ireland and those complexities - and I include the truly awful Theresa Villiers, former NI secretary, in that.

Pjsandbaileys · 20/08/2019 23:56

Having to apply for settled status when you have lived, paid taxes, had children and contributed to the UK is an horrific way to treat people. Will all the pensioners who retired to sunnier regions have to do similar? Will they still be entitled to the same benefits as now?

SaskiaRembrandt · 21/08/2019 00:11

She could have applied for the British citizenship only if she held permanent residence for at least 12 months- which meant she had applied for it at least 18 months before the referendum (it took the Home Office 6 months to process PR applications then).

What? No, she applied after the referendum. She had no reason to beforehand. As I know her and you don't, I think I have more idea about what happened than you do. And FYI, she had lived here for 20 years working in a profession, is married to a British citizen, has two British born children, and is now a British citizen herself.

Greeborising · 21/08/2019 00:17

Brexit is an absolute fucking circus.
It’s embarrassing and scary.
Stupid, so bloody stupid

EEmother · 21/08/2019 00:27

As I know her and you don't, I think I have more idea about what happened than you do.
Errr... of course, you know her better, but it does not mean that she was not required to follow the usual process of naturalisation (as any EU citizen or their family member).
You cannot just apply for British citizenship like this. The first step had to be made at least 12 months in advance, i.e. she had to be a permanent residence card holder for at least 12 month before actually applying for British citizenship.