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”?

Too bad if you don't appreciate my 'touchy posts'. Maybe read the room. You are in a European country and didn't like to have to pay a few thousand Euros to set it all right. The consequences for those who voted against Brexit in the UK are infinitely much greater. Therefore your high and dry schadenfreude grates a bit.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a colleague a few weeks ago.
I travel to Spain fairly frequently and on returning from my recent trip I was showing her pictures of my DM and DSD Finca and pool.
I told her I would likely buy in Spain once my current mortgage is paid. She responded by saying that was exactly her plan, but when she retires.
I asked if she has Spanish citizenship, or a right to live and work there? She said she didn't need that, because buying a property was enough and she would live off her pension eventually.
I didn't want to burst her bubble so suggested she looks into it a bit more. But it's not likely to happen for her.

Healthcare in Canada is as hard to access if you are not a resident as these other countries. They often refuse residency to people with chronic health conditions, as I personally found out.

no You read the room.

You have posted to me, twice now, touchy because you think i'm sniggering at you.

I'm not.

I have made it clear who i'm laughing at. Stop it.

you have clearly not read, or not inwardly digested what i said. Brexit was devastating. I am now in the ridiculous fucking position of having to get an ETA to enter my own fucking country. So quit it with the "oh you're gloating" bollocks. I can assure you, i am FAR from gloating. There is no schadenfreude.

If i have understood you correctly, you voted remain. I am sorry the country is in a mess. But your side's arguments were clearly not persuasive enough. IIRC the remain attitude was hugely "if you vote leave you're a thicko racist" which put many backs up. I am not surprised. Unfortunately, in a hugely important referendum that has affected my future (you may like to indulge a bit of schadenfreude for yourself: thanks to Brexit mine and my DHs pensions are a bit fucked up). The good news is: i am now allowed to vote in general elections in the UK again, too late for it to really help me.

If you did vote for brexit, of course, then tough tits, you got what you voted for.

How old is your colleague now and how much will her income be on retirement? Why wouldn't she be eligible to apply for a non-lucrative visa? How do you know she plans to live in Spain all year round or that the 90 day rule won't have changed by the time she retires?

I voted leave. One of the reasons was the freedom of movement. Your friend sounds pretty dumb even to think that moving to a foreign country with a different language would be beneficial to her sick child. And even dumber to think that they would accept such a drain on their health system anyway, especially as they are moving for a country that provides health care.

On the plus side we have 10% tariffs and the EU have 20%

However, that’s just the start of the negotiations and who knows where we will end up. The power balance between EU and IS is very different to that between UK and EU. I’d much rather be negotiating as part of the EU.

Healthcare in the Netherlands is not even free for most residents though is it? Or not for most adults at least. I thought public healthcare in NL was a mixture of mandatory health insurance, co-payments and optional top-up insurance? Likewise, healthcare in Ireland and other EU countries is not free for most residents.

I don't believe you because nobody is that stupid.

Your "ridiculous fucking position" is, as you say, ridiculous but surely one stage removed from that of those who are experiencing Brexit first hand by actually living in the UK. It is pretty obvious from my posts that I voted remain. I have a senior international professional career and I am fluent in four European languages. Why wouldn't I want to be part of the EU? I don't know anyone in real life who voted Leave or at least admitted to it. I'm very well insulated financially but I still hate the idea of it nine years down the line. I don't think I will ever be at peace with it and every time I have to go through a non-EU lane in a continental European country, I practically have steam coming out of my ears.

My mum pissed me off for getting an Irish passport after voting Leave. Denying other people the right to have a European passport while getting one herself.

you say you're so clever. You have not understood one word of my posts.

But go you. I speak 4 languages too. What of it?

@MounjaroOnMyMind 👏this!!

That's fair enough. New Zealand is similar. Why take people that are going to be a drain on the health system?

Of course you do 😂

How are we ALL worse off? Heard this said so many times but with no real information

A colleague after brexit asked why I was still allowed to live in the UK, I had to explain that Pakistan is not part of the EU, I also cheerily pointed out that if a lot of EU citizens left the UK there would be more opportunities to us Pakistani’s to migrate to the UK, that cheered them up!

@Brefugee- FYI, dual nationals aren't allowed to apply for an ETA on their "other" passport. We either need to request a "certificate of entitlement" - £550 - or maintain a valid UK passport.

I’m not sure, I’ve never looked into moving to NL.

I don't believe your colleague has either to be honest.

Haven't you got a Swedish partner though? Were you born in the UK? Perhaps your colleague thought you came to the UK under EU freedom of movement rules. Apparently nearly 100,000 people born in Pakistan applied to the EU settlement scheme.

Never underestimate how woefully uneducated and hard of thinking a huge percentage of the British population are.

Last time I looked, our national literacy levels were lower than Cuba FFS. I think it's something like a 5th of the population are functionally illiterate? Far too many are far too thick.

Arraminta
I think it's something like a 5th of the population are functionally illiterate?

What percentage of these people were eligible to vote in the EU referendum and bothered to vote in the referendum?

It's not a huge surprise that the majority of Brexit voters aren't very intelligent is it?

She's just one of many.

I know at least 2 couples in their 70s who voted for Brexshit and fucked up the export market for their businesses.

Oh , and one of the couples wanted to buy a holiday home to winter abroad but that leaves non EU options which are too expensive and take too long to get to.