Unintended Consequences

[ZigZagJigsaw]

A colleague who voted for Brexit has just been informed she has no right to emigrate to the Netherlands with her family. The reason she wants to move there is because she says NL have a better healthcare system than the U.K. Her youngest child (teenager) is highly dependent on the NHS and apparently that would disqualify them, unless they agreed to not use the public health care system.

The above would apply even if the NL classed my colleague and her husband as highly skilled, which they don’t. British nationals are now classed as third country nationals so they have to relocate as highly skilled immigrants. No more free movement after Brexit.

She’s trying to be exactly the same kind of economic migrant to the NL that she voted to keep out of the U.K. And for some reason doesn’t seem to see the link.

I’m just nodding politely at work but I had to come and vent somewhere.

AIBU to think “you brought this on yourself”?

that is the same here in Germany - split shifts which means if you don't live next to the restaurant, you are literally working 14 hours a day.

Some higher class restaurants have this covered by now only opening lunch or evening. Or employing different staff.

It is a shit industry to work in, and i think they just need to pay more. And i know what that does to the price of food, but we expect cheap food so we get crap situations like this.

I had to go to the hospital in the UK once, after I had moved abroad. It was pre-brexit, I showed my European health insurance card so that they could pursue costs from my country and they actually asked me to just give my parents address (who I was visiting) and put me down as resident. Seems chasing costs was too much hassle and they'd rather treat for free.

that's been my experience too, so i have little sympathy for NHS complaints of "health tourism"

Yup, very little sympathy here too.

Do you not read news from other countries? Travel to other countries? Interact with people from other countries? You actually think that every other country has those problems I mentioned in the first post? Why would they?

The other European countries have benefitted from Brexit in so far they were able to lure a lot of academics, teachers, and nurses back home. It is easier for the other countries in Europe to get fruit pickers now because the fruit pickers are less likely to come to the UK to work.

And quite frankly, it seems that a lot of people in Spain are very happy that the Brits can only stay in Spain for max. 90 days now. Funny that.

Yes, they will, but in order to get a work visa to work in the UK you now have to pay an amount to the NHS for each member of your family. It is making it very difficult to get employees from abroad as most of the experienced ones have a family.

I didn't say EVERY country but there's lack of jobs, food banks etc in many.

I've probably travelled to far more countries than you anyway

And there's more to the world than just Europe

Finland, Poland, and Germany are all in the EU. Germany cannot deport immigrants because of a German law. It has nothing to do with the EU.

Also: none of those countries have had empty shelves in the supermarkets, nor a lack of petrol in the petrol stations.

Healthcare is excellent in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland too. I couldn't say about the other countries in Europe but it doesn't appear to be something that moves people across borders.

But the problems are not in the countries that the UK normally compares itself to. Those problems are in third world countries. Are you ok with the UK getting worse and worse as long as other countries are as bad? That is such a low bar to set.

There were food banks in new Zealand when I was there. Housing prices in Australia are sky high making people worse off. Canada also has issues and someone posted on here about France having a shortage of workers in hospitality

Not sure which of those are the 3rd world countries you speak about

All countries have some problems. But do any of those countries you mentioned have all the mentioned problems?

• Empty shelves in the supermarkets, and/or lack of petrol at the petrol stations.
• Shortage of nurses, teachers, doctors, retail workers, hospitality workers, and fruit pickers
• Increased need for food banks.

Yes, the high housing prices are a problem too.

We don't have ALL the aforementioned issues. There's been no empty shelves in supermarket where I live and certainly no petrol issues

Ah you mean like the rest of the world leeches off our NHS!
Only we’re too bloody soft to do anything about it.
Should be relabelled as the World Health Service.

That loophole is long gone though…..

Agreed but it is isn't the ill teenager's fault.