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?

Did you encrypt the photos, ListeningQuietly? I'm afraid to even take photos of my documents, let alone keeping them online.

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.

Assuming you moved to the UK under FoM that is bullshit. That was the point of FoM (and still is for those of us who still have it)

I now have dual nationality, and to be honest i am glad i did get citizenship of my adopted country, i finally get to vote in a general election for starters. I was ambivalent about it until it got desperate in 2018 and I'm happy that my adopted country made a relatively straightforward process even easier for Brits at that time.

But i didn't anticipate bursting into tears when i was handed my Certificate of Nationality. It's not just a matter of signing a few forms and handing over a wodge of cash, it goes much deeper than that.

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.

Gosh, where did you do all that? I didn't have to do a language test (also been here 30 odd years) - just a chat with someone at the VHS who then wrote a letter stating that i was way over the requirement level (B1). Docs i had to get (and translate) were birth- & marriage- certificates, had to complete the 10 page (I think?) application form, certificate that I'd done the citizenship test and a CV. DH same. Offspring just had to produce their international birth certificates and their school leaving certificates. It cost us just over EUR 1k for 4 of us (which is expensive but nearly nothing compared to what people in the UK are paying)

@SchrodingersImmigrant - I hope you have a national insurance number, that should be proof enough for your status. How long you have been in work & paying tax, benefits you receive, ... and the length of yourstayin the UK!

(I worry for people who don't have an employment trail or don't earn enough to pay into the system ... )

I think the csi requirement does not affect people who work and have always worked full time

Was assuming OP was not working fulltime, and like me did not have full employment trail Ylvamoon

@Pinkandwhiteblossom

You don't want to be British or identify as British because you disagree with a referendum outcome. Okay, that's quite extreme but it's your choice. Equally you must appreciate that a country has the right to set certain rules about who can live there, work there and benefit from services. If the rule is now that you must apply for a certain type of paperwork to stay, or if you don't want the hassle/uncertainty, to apply for citizenship, you'll just have to accept that. You don't expect to carry on living there with so much resentment, do you? I can't demand to live in Australia with the same rights as a citizen (without applying- and their process is FAR more onerous than ours) or moan about having to apply for visa status as that would be ridiculous!

@Raspberry681 Have you ever lived abroad?

I had a break in 2014 and did not know about CSI🤦 So in essence I wasn't fulfilling immigration whatnot and wouldn't most likely pass the "good character" requirement.

ravenmum
I whatsapp them to my husband and email them to another of my own email addresses
they are the old documents that prove history
not the current ones

ylvamoon
I hope you have a national insurance number, that should be proof enough for your status. How long you have been in work & paying tax, benefits you receive, ... and the length of yourstayin the UK!
Ha ha ha ha
Not in the UK

One of the Windrush ladies who was threatened with deportation
-was a cleaner AT THE HOME OFFICE_
and they ruled that payslips did not prove she was in the UK

@Method

I've recently jumped through a huge number of hoops to obtain Italian citizenship. Cost far more than £2,000 and was much more arduous than obtaining U.K. citizenship, I can tell you. Took years, several interviews, translating of documents etc. However, I don't feel it's my place to bitch and moan about the difficulties - I wanted the dual citizenship and as I'm honoured to have gained Italian citizenship, I respect the fact that it's the decision of the Italian authorities how they want to run the process.

@Darklingthrush Yes, I have

Why should you if you emigrated with EU status

@Gwenhwyfar

But we’re no longer part of the EU so there’ll be people like OP that will have to make tough decisions moving forward.

I've recently jumped through a huge number of hoops to obtain Italian citizenship. Cost far more than £2,000 and was much more arduous than obtaining U.K. citizenship, I can tell you.

Even with translations it doesn't cost more than British citizenship. Either you've (over)paid someone to deal with your application or perhaps you are misremembering the costs?

It's nkt really tough decision for me personally. It's that they keep blocking me with details changing😂😂😂

Plus the fact that... Well I have nothing in my hand to prove that Inwas a good girl and got my Settled Status

@Raspberry681, I’m more than happy to have a visa, or sign whatever paperwork you want me to, short of citizenship, which was your original point. Assuming that everyone here wants to be British is a pretty stunning example of the imperialist bullshit that I manage to avoid most of the time.

@Brefugee

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.

Gosh, where did you do all that? I didn't have to do a language test (also been here 30 odd years) - just a chat with someone at the VHS who then wrote a letter stating that i was way over the requirement level (B1). Docs i had to get (and translate) were birth- & marriage- certificates, had to complete the 10 page (I think?) application form, certificate that I'd done the citizenship test and a CV. DH same. Offspring just had to produce their international birth certificates and their school leaving certificates. It cost us just over EUR 1k for 4 of us (which is expensive but nearly nothing compared to what people in the UK are paying)

Dresden, but I hear it depends on who you speak to - not just the town or region.

@Raspberry681 Why shouldn't you dream of criticizing the Italian authorities - most Italians do. Do you actually want foreigners to integrate into British society? Or are you never allowed to criticize if you are "other"?

Also I didn’t say I didn’t want to be British because of a referendum outcome. I said the referendum outcome confirmed the fact that I would never be considered British.

@Darklingthrush How would you know? Have you done it? It involved a huge amount of legwork, instructing an agent to obtain documents for me in Italy, having them translated and apostilled and then, yes, employing an agent this side to help with the application as I wanted to ensure it was done correctly. I possibly overpaid - was worth it to me as I'm sure it helped me to navigate the system much more quickly. The point is, I valued it and I was happy to pay rather than bitching and moaning about 'the Italians'

At least you had a documents to obtain😂

I get... A LINK in an email!

@Darklingthrush I wouldn't moan about the process of gaining Italian citizenship because it see it as a huge honour. I'm sorry if others feel that the referendum has revealed that they can 'never be British'- that's not how I see things and I'm sure many others don't

How would you know? Have you done it?

Yes, which is why I know the cost!

It's nkt an honour if it's kind of forced because it's essentially the only way to have somewhat secured status which isn't dependednt on someone in an office somewhere missusing a delete button. Or not dependent on servers not crashing.

instructing an agent to obtain documents

You're not comparing like with like. If you look at the basic costs, obtaining British citizenship is far more expensive. Of course, anyone can pay agents to work for them and this always bumps the cost up. Obtaining Italian citizenship is relatively straightforward and is cheaper than obtaining UK citizenship.

@Pinkandwhiteblossom

Also I didn’t say I didn’t want to be British because of a referendum outcome. I said the referendum outcome confirmed the fact that I would never be considered British.

If you could, would you like to blend in 100%? I'm not sure I would. Do you get a lot of abuse?