Aibu to wonder when will I become an illegal immigrant?

[SchrodingersImmigrant]

🤦🤦🤦🤦
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?

I’d just like to say that I am so sorry for the state of affairs as it is. I did not vote fir Brexit, I love being a multi cultural nation, and believe that Britain has been made up from migration throughout history. I apologise fir the xenophobic and racist attitude of some people.
Please keep every single thing that you can to evidence your status her. You never know when you may need it. I’m so sorry.

@Raspberry681

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.

Why should you if you emigrated with EU status?

@CuteOrangeElephant they did have those residence permit cards at one time but did away with them. No idea why- was really handy to have at passport control rather than having to carry an old passport with the permit in that every time you travelled in and out of the UK.

I just want to say...
Stop apologising, some of you😁 It's not your fault. Unless you are the ones making the rules fir Home Office😂

@Babdoc I don't think you have anything to fear - the SNP have stated several times that they are fully aware of the decline of Scotland population and it's average age. That's why they have been repeatedly critical of Westminster's anti-immigration stance and legislation... Scotland NEEDS immigration, wants international students to stay in and work after graduating and is very angry about the loss of Erasmus and free movement. Regardless of whether Scotland becomes independent or not they are going to campaign for greater control of immigration simply because they have very different needs from rUK. Scottish Labour and even Scottish conservatives had said similar so it would probably be a cross-party campaign.

In any case the SNP will probably do well again at the Scottish parliamentary elections in May so buckle up.

Just out of interest - did you vote remain in the EU ref?

Not UK, but all we have as proof we lived in a country for 4 years are scrappy bits of paper we printed off each year, that were required to sit in our passports, as the e-system was unfathomable to many, and the airport staff generally wouldnt use it unless you were at an airport with a direct flight to the country we lived in.

@emptydreamer
Not saying at all that Ireland is a fascist hell hole by the way. Just that the kind of rule changes that would worry me would be the sort seen in dictatorships- and then we'd all be in the shit anyway!

@Raspberry681 I don’t want British citizenship because I am not, and never will be, British. This despite the fact that by the time I die I will have lived here for the majority of my life, have two British (albeit dual nationals) children and a British husband. The fact that I am not, and never will be, considered British was confirmed to me in June 2016 by the majority of the British people.

So frankly, anyone expecting me to spend thousands for a document that makes me a British citizen can fuck off.

I also really hate the references requirement for citizenship. Not everyone will know two people who meet the requirements -- certain professions, has a British passport number, willing to submit the reference.

If you meet the requirements for citizenship that should be it, it shouldn't be dependent on your social circle.

Absolutely @dreamingbohemian

If you want a private ceremony, places charge, but the general ceremony (which is now private and shorter during COVID - that's how it was explained to me by the person at the council dealing with mine) is part of the application fee - so the fees is still there, it's just part of the non-refundable fee you pay when you apply. It's a whole weird thing of them liking to add new fees and then consolidating them into the application fee a few years later.

All the changes have given me a thing about paperwork - I had to get so much together when I got my BRP - I ordered in old bank statements and got copies of everything possible. With citizenship it's only employment or government document paperwork allowed if your passport doesn't cover the time needed or you don't have a stamp in it that shows (I oddly have one that shows I went to Ireland, but it didn't get stamped on the way back in). I now have this massive pile and I ain't gettin' rid of any of it, I'm too nervous about the goalposts being changed and needing something to prove I was here at some point & banks only go back 7 years.

And I feel similar about people apologizing when the discussions is about immigration. It does nothing about how the Home Office works and it's always a little weird like they want to absolved of other British sins - it was really awkward once when someone told me that they'd marched again ID cards to protect immigrants - and I had to tell them about BRP cards requirements and that I strongly supported having universally accepted state ID beyond passports and driver's license as the current system actually creates a lot of barriers for some immigrants. It's going to be a bit awkward when I have to cut up my BRP and send it back, it's a handy form of ID as someone who can't drive (and coming from a country where you can get non-driver ID through the same place as driver's license, I do not get why the UK hasn't done similar).

I think you're completely right to worry OP. I actually do have a physical card as a non-EU spouse but my DH has nothing.

I assume it's so that if they decide to change the rules or benefits of settled status, they can just change it for everyone in one go.

I don't think anything could stop the UK from, say, deciding that if you want to maintain your right to work, you have to pay an annual £1000 service charge or something dumb like that. Then they can just put something in the system so that if an employer checks your right to work online, it only says yes if you've paid up.

I know it sounds paranoid but when you look at how horribly exploitative the immigration system is, charging immense amounts of money and adding new fees all the time, it's not really that paranoid I think.

@Darklingthrush

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

With respect, people who think this normally have very limited experience of living and working abroad. I have lived for 23 years in a country where I am not a citizen, it is not a question of being "unwilling" to gain citizenship - it is often a question of bureaucracy and financial difficulties. I would be really upset if someone suggested that the country where I have lived, worked, paid taxes, volunteered for my community - without getting so much as a speeding ticket was not my adopted country.

Absolutely. I love this country, I contribute to tax and I'm heavily involved in my community but I'm not British. It's very narrow minded to think that gaining citizenship is just paperwork. It's part of your identity.

OP - YANBU

Duel citizenship sounds like a really useful thing to have. You never know when having an alternative would help. If I could add a EU passport to my current one I would do it like a shot. Sadly no Irish grannies in my family

The UK is good at sabotaging itself, I’m in the same boat tbh.

Oh I feel for you!

The insecurity was causing me anxiety, so as soon as people voted for Brexit I started the citizenship process. I thought that, like you, I’d be caught out on CSI but we found there was a 5 year period (2008-2013) in which I had been insured through DH job (random I never even knew it used it), so I did my application for that time period.

I also got lots of support from the FB group (including free legal advice) who were the ones explaining to me you can pick any time period, does not have to be the most recent 5 yrs

Good luck, the CSI clause is a bastard in a country with free healthcare!

@HouseofBrieandBanter they cahnged it recently so the CSI will affect me even though it has been so many years. www.freemovement.org.uk/it-just-got-even-more-difficult-for-eu-nationals-to-get-british-citizenship/
It's 10 years "good character" now🙄 Absolutely as I was getting ready to go through it they now pushed me to wait another few years🤷🏻
That's when I dtarted looking at how to relocate to Thailand or somewhere 😂

British people moved all over the world and stayed British

it works both ways

British immigrants in Spain and Hong Kong and Dubai are not made to give up their UK passports

@anniegun

Duel citizenship sounds like a really useful thing to have. You never know when having an alternative would help. If I could add a EU passport to my current one I would do it like a shot. Sadly no Irish grannies in my family

But, as some of the posters have already said, their current passport country wont allow duel nationality. Would you give up your British passport for the hypothetical Irish one, anniegun?

Annoyingly, when it was much cheaper and straightforward to gain citizenship my OH's country of origin didn't allow dual citizenship. Now it's possible for him to hold two passports but costs a lot more to get citizenship.

[quote Raspberry681]@CynsterBitch

With respect, if you’re unwilling to gain citizenship, how is the U.K. really your adopted country?[/quote]
I've been here in Germany nearly 30 years and only got citizenship because of Brexit. Didn't do it before because it wasn't necessary - I lived in the EU and had EU (in my case British) citizenship. I felt European, and thus at home in this European country.

Your question reflects the rather different way many Brits saw it, that led to Brexit.

German citizenship cost "just" a few hundred euros, even including the basic language test I had to do despite being a qualified translator. Still took ages to get the paperwork together, though - I counted 32 different documents, many of which involved writing begging letters to different authorities to go through their archives, or taking tests. The bureaucracy is time-consuming and offputting.

Even though I was pissed off at being "made" to get German citizenship as a result of a referendum I was not allowed to vote in, it actually felt great when I got it.

When h was eligible for British passport I made him apply. You never know when they decide to move goal posts. But as he said I’ll be British but never English. I’ve kept all paperwork in an archive box and it’s in a cupboard next to the main door out in case of fire. Windrush proved I was right - don’t get rid of paperwork! Oh and added up it cost circa 25k to be legal and took just over 5 years.

I have the super important documents Home office may want in a fire proof pocket in a safe😂 Other documents which also may be required but are less of a pain or not the must haves are in my doc box.

I also have fire proof pocket for passports because they are pain in the arse to get. I, unlike my dh, at least have national id.

@emptydreamer are you talking about the appointments to enrollment biometrics? I was told they come out around midnight, and the free ones go quickly.so if you're just trying during the day you possibly wont see any free ones just the paid ones?

I have photographs of certain key documents that I have then messaged to myself so that they are stored securely in the cloud.

Populist governments DO NOT protect the rights of residents