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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to wonder when will I become an illegal immigrant?

212 replies

SchrodingersImmigrant · 15/01/2021 09:29

🤦🤦🤦🤦
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55672194

EU citizens now have their status online with no physical proof given... It looks like accidental deletion isn't that hard to do.

Aibu to wonder when will I turn from Schrodingersimmigrant to IDontKnowHowButIAmIllegalImmigrantNow ?

Any fellow stealers of all jobs while also takers of all benefits here and having thoughts about this?

OP posts:
Original poster
SchrodingersImmigrant · 15/01/2021 09:29

Oh. Forgot to turn iff voting

OP posts:
thegcatsmother · 15/01/2021 09:37

The article linked to is about deletions from the PNC relating to arrests and releases. Unless that is you, why are you worried?

When we lived in Belgium, the Gemeente kept writing to dh about his Swedish driving licence, despite knowing full well he was a Brit, and were most upset when I pointed this out to them, insisting he was Swedish, even though they had known for years he wasn't, having seen his passport.

Original poster
SchrodingersImmigrant · 15/01/2021 09:42

It is worrying that any data can be deleted like this. Whether it's arrests, or immigration.
We were already worried about it before due to how Windrush was handled.

This, along with thousands other dmall data lose is just showing how ridiculous it is to have status only online.

That's... 😂 That's amazing. Did you get it sorted then?

OP posts:
MaxNormal · 15/01/2021 09:44

Given Windrush and the general mixture of incompetence and callousness with which the whole thing has been approached, I don't blame you for worrying.
Plus there will be plenty of Brits delighted if you're declared illegal and deported.

CuteOrangeElephant · 15/01/2021 09:45

YANBU OP. I just left the UK to go back to my home country in the EU. Insecurity about my immigration status definitely contributed to that.

My DH just got a residency permit in my country. It's on a driving licence style card. Why they could not have implemented that in the UK is beyond me.

Original poster
SchrodingersImmigrant · 15/01/2021 09:50

I have to sya that I was fine with it all until few months ago when requirements for citizenship changed and the devil's CSI made yet another appearance 🙄
Now I am taking it personally.

@CuteOrangeElephant that's the same my DH had here as a third country national. His one is now online too! Though he can use his physical card until it expires. What after? Who knows!

I know quite a few and of quite a few leaving because of things like this. It's ridiculous

@MaxNormal sadly, yeah. They would.

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CynsterBitch · 15/01/2021 09:54

It’s definitely worrying, I’m not looking forward to my first trip out of and back in to this country.
I’ve been seriously considering going the whole citizenship route, but I really resent having to spend money on that. At least my birth country allows dual citizenship now so I can have both.
This year I have officially spent half my life in the UK (19 years), I sometimes feel like a foreigner when I go and see family, so it does hurt that my adopted country, where I feel most at home, would rather be rid of me

Original poster
SchrodingersImmigrant · 15/01/2021 09:59

@CynsterBitch I wanted to do the citizenship, but the bloody CSI I didn't know about in 2014 is blocking it now!

That one broke my patience. And yes, it feels more home here now as well, absolutely get what you mean. I am going on 15 this year. Congrats on 19 years!

OP posts:
SimonJT · 15/01/2021 10:00

My partner decided to gain citizenship as he didn’t trust the government to not completely cock it up again as they did with Windrush.

Babdoc · 15/01/2021 10:01

As one of the approximately million English people living in Scotland, I also wonder about our status if (God forbid) the SNP ever achieved their nightmare of independence.
The entire million of us would become ex pat immigrants in our own country overnight. There is no way I would ever accept citizenship of the newly created banana republic, so I would become a foreign migrant in my own home.

onlychildandhamster · 15/01/2021 10:04

I am non EU but my right to remain here is by virtue of EU law as my DH and I lived in germany together while he was doing his masters before returning to the UK (Surinder Singh). For non eu citizens here by virtue of eu law, we are able to get a physical card stating we have pre-settled/settled status. I understand that there is a campaign for eu citizens to get the same.

I don't plan to get british citizenship as my home country doesn't allow dual citizenship. But i feel a lot safer as I have a physical card. The problem with windrush is that they had no physical documents that they kept with them.

onlychildandhamster · 15/01/2021 10:07

@SchrodingersImmigrant third country nationals should apply to update their cards to pre-settled status and settled status, esp if they want to travel. at least then your partner would have physical proof of his status.

visas-immigration.service.gov.uk/product/biometric-residence-permit-replacement-service?_ga=2.9880885.1408909759.1597665806-1939459641.1592321380

Aahotep · 15/01/2021 10:08

YANBU it's all very worrying. I'm a Brit in the EU and basically if I want to live with my husband back in the UK I probably can't because of the income requirement. Really makes me angry. He lived in the UK for 20 years and paid high rate tax.
I wouldn't trust something that can be deleted. The rug can be pulled from under you.

Original poster
SchrodingersImmigrant · 15/01/2021 10:10

Ive just seen the card. Thanks! He still has couple of years on his left so no rush. Hoped that by that time he too would have British citizenship, but we are not sure if I affect his application so that's another money on lawyer🙄

OP posts:
Raspberry681 · 15/01/2021 10:21

@CynsterBitch

With respect, if you’re unwilling to gain citizenship, how is the U.K. really your adopted country?

Original poster
SchrodingersImmigrant · 15/01/2021 10:31

Tbf Raspberry it can easily cost close to 2k and not everyone can do it without losing their original one.
I kind of get it. It's the fact that it's forced now basically to ensure security.

OP posts:
Raspberry681 · 15/01/2021 10:36

That is a decent chunk of money but, personally, if I’d spent half my life in a country and saw it as my adoptive home I’d save up, just as I do for the other things that really matter to me like maternity leave, buying a home etc.

bambinaballerina · 15/01/2021 10:42

YANBU, I'm worried after what happened with the Windrush scandal. I'm applying for the passport but it says it will take months and they can reject the request.

Original poster
SchrodingersImmigrant · 15/01/2021 10:42

The thing is that you don't need a citizenship to feel a part of the country and people. We didn't need it. We were home here without it.
Now it's kind of forced and it doesn't feel right.

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Original poster
SchrodingersImmigrant · 15/01/2021 10:43

I am honestly just pissed off about that CSI requirement now.

OP posts:
bambinaballerina · 15/01/2021 10:46

The money to apply is a lot, and if the application is rejected not sure it's refunded. I cannot remember the precise date I started new jobs at my workplace, hope they will still accept my application.

RandomLondoner · 15/01/2021 10:49

That is a decent chunk of money but, personally, if I’d spent half my life in a country and saw it as my adoptive home I’d save up, just as I do for the other things that really matter to me like maternity leave, buying a home etc.

You've only commented on half the issue. It wouldn't bother you at all if you had to renounce the citizenship of you country of birth, where possibly a lot of your extended family still live, giving up your right to live there, or possibly even visit, without a visa?

SerendipityJane · 15/01/2021 10:54

I can remember - over 10 years ago - countless assurances that government databases were 100% totally secure and perfect and indeed had been blessed by the Almighty themselves.

This was to persuade use to have ID cards with everything on a big single database.

Luckily, as a nation we said "Fuck that" and it didn't happen. Which just means they put it off. I can see this lot resurrecting it again.

(Oh, they wanted you to pay for the card ... £50 if I remember. And you had to have one.)

CynsterBitch · 15/01/2021 10:54

@Raspberry681

I don’t know what else to call the country I’ve spent my entire adult life in, apart from 3 years of Uni work and paid taxes in like any other citizen. The unwillingness to get citizenship hasn’t always been there, it was mainly the dual citizenship that stopped me, especially once there started being talk of allowing dual citizenship in my birth country. The sensible thing seemed to be to wait it out so I could have both, that only became law last year. But by then Brexit happened and I feel like why go to all that effort for a country that doesn’t want me. It feels a little like staying in a relationship with someone who doesn’t feel the same way. And in that case the standard MN response would be LTB

bambinaballerina · 15/01/2021 10:59

With respect, if you’re unwilling to gain citizenship, how is the U.K. really your adopted country? Lots of british nationals have applied for other passports, why should the PP give up hers? Why not having both?