Are all of us foreigners just going to be told to pack up and leave if Reform win?

[Onegingerhead]

I might be totally unreasonable here (or not), but please hear me out.
(Bloody) foreigner here — I’ve lived in the UK since 2001. Built my whole life here: house, husband, DC, the lot. Worked the whole time in a field that requires the highest level of qualification.
I’m getting increasingly worried about the talk of Reform winning in 2029. Some even say it could be sooner if Labour are pushed into early elections. This week (as we all heard) our beloved Reform suggested rescinding ILR or even settled status from Europeans. God knows what else they’ll come up with, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they went after naturalised Brits next and started revoking citizenship, just to please the voters.
I know a lot of foreign-born women — some married to born-and-bred Brits, some to other Europeans (not always from the same country), some to men from overseas. All sorts of combinations.
So what do you think lies ahead for us? Will we be politely asked to leave, or will things just get so hostile that we’re pushed out anyway? And how likely is it that people who aren’t very white, or who have an accent, will face more discrimination in work?
I’m meeting my foreign friends tonight and we’ll be talking about it. For most of us, moving now would be incredibly difficult. We’re late 30s to early 50s, and starting over in a new country isn’t exactly easy. Some of us are married to men from different countries entirely, and we don’t even speak each other’s languages well enough to get proper jobs there.

AIBU and should think we will actually be allowed to stay?
AINBU sorry but you’d better start planning your move now

Yes that’s how I feel

they don’t need to be here

If They expel people like you who are making a contribution, are educated and fluent in English then we have serious problems.

I think you will be OK.
I suspect it will only apply to new arrivals and even if not it will be people in low paid unskilled jobs.

Farage & Yusuf said £60k - that discounts an awful lot of occupations - and its retrospective.

Are we supposed to not believe them when they announce policy?

They also.want to remove dual nationality from people who are allowed to stay. Which is ridiculous. But also what about "native" British citizens with dual nationality? Like Farage.

Seriously Reform will not get in, but they are dominating the political conversation and Labour needs to ignore them and start showing the difference they are making.

I'd expect this to backfire and put some people off voting reform, making a reform government less likely. I'd also expect the courts to rule it to be illegal if anyone tried to introduce this for people who already have leave to remain. It might be possible to change the law but that can take so long reform would be voted out again. However this could be an issue for those currently part way through the process.

As for the "hostile environment" the media exaggerate what is happening. I can see that dying down too but it will happen faster if people stop making a massive fuss over children being brats.

I'm sure that's where it will start but doubt it will finish there, penalising people because they don't reach the magic number, what a nasty bigoted country we've become if we find that acceptable

Sounds exactly like the US to me, where ICE goes into asylum hearings arrests the asylum seekers right there.
To those of us who believe in justice and democracy, it’s horrifying.
Personally, I think the government is far more dangerous than than that guy from Mexico out in that field picking lettuce.

Who is going to look after the elderly? Are they going to remove the care visa?

Well that's usually what happens with every party. They make promises and break them as soon as they come in. It seems only the pensioners are safe on their triple lock as they are the ones who bother to vote. As a side note perhaps all this will encourage people to get off thier arses and actually vote instead of only a third of people.

@anyolddinosaur As for the "hostile environment" the media exaggerate what is happening. I can see that dying down too but it will happen faster if people stop making a massive fuss over children being brats.

No, it would die down faster if parents actually took ownership of their children.

Decades ago, if a child was creating problems and being asshole, the parent would punch the child on the ear which would quickly resolve the problem.

Nowadays, you can't even tell off someone else's child without the parent being shockingly offended. Because it's impossible for modern parents to conceive how their obnoxious sprog might be doing something wrong whenever he/she runs around throwing rocks at windows, or shouting abuse at disabled people.

Perhaps the issue isn't people making a fuss over sinister children. Perhaps the issue is a breakdown in morality and ethics in British society.

I am sorry, but you do not get to dictate other people's citizenship.

We, EU citizens, moved here lawfully with equal rights to British citizens apart from voting in GE.

We will not be forced to pay £2k to your country for retaining those rights that WE did not choose to strip and that WE had no voting rights in. You voted for Brexit, stop pushing the responsibility on to us to protect rights we have always had and that lawfully cannot be removed.

Fancy being threatened with not having your pension paid? Or having to reapply for citizenship every 5 years and not getting it if you're not making £60k? Thought not.

Well, there's no difference.

I do, but many of the people who posted afterwards don’t.
And honestly and you do disagree here , but I don’t think Europeans with settled status are necessarily immune to whatever Reform has brewing. My advice has been the same for my friends and colleagues: apply for citizenship.
Most of them aren’t low earners and can afford it (but on below than 60K) yet that’s not the case for everyone. £2k is a lot of money for many people. If you don’t have an easy escape route , no family left abroad, or a spouse/kids who couldn’t follow then saving for the application is something that really should be taken seriously now.
Someone further up the thread mentioned Scotland. I absolutely love it, the nature, the weather and I’d move there in a heartbeat if the opportunity arose ☺️

The Welsh government have asked the Labour government that question recently. I haven't seen a response. We have a batch of nurses who arrived here recently. There's been a scramble to accommodate them. We have many carers because we have many elderly.

It's very unsettling.

Just because you are trying to minimise the issues and tell us our rights won't be affected really doesn't make what you say right because Reform's proposals say otherwise.

If we do not stand for our rights, nobody will - certainly not the British people, sadly.

Starmer / Labour use this terminology, even if he’s an ex human rights lawyer.

It's one thing saying your going to lower VAT it's something else to threaten to drastically change the lives of thousands of people, make them live in fear for years and have the racists amongst us wetting themselves with excitement and getting more abusive, it's totally irresponsible, shame on them

How can you talk about a "breakdown in morality" and dealing with children by punching them in the ear, in the same breath?

No, but the government does... that's what this whole thread is about after all.

If Farage carries out his threat to deport foreigners it will be an own goal since his concubine is french!

I think your right. I was leaning to reform. I like their ideas of scrapping unrealistic and costly net zero targets and think illegal migration needs to be sorted out. This policy however is ludicrous and cruel and I can't vote for it. They will lose the traditional Conservatives that were moving to reform. They might gain a few more of the far right though.

Im sorry you are having to worry about this. I’m British and my husband is European (he’s now a British citizen, done before he met me) he doesn’t look white.

I try not to pay attention to the news much, but indeed I’ve heard this horrible rubbish Farage is coming out with.

I think we have to believe that the common decency of most of the population will prevail. I’m also going to write to labour PMs to tell them to do something, be clear on messaging etc. We don’t want a democrat situation where they weren’t strong enough and what’s-his-name in the US was elected.

So I think the main things are to be a citizen of possible, and then try not to worry.

We are so, so, so, so lucky to have a diverse population in the UK. During my life the UK has mostly been based on inclusion. If we stand together this should hopefully not change.

I mean I would bet a lot of money you ar. A white British person with only a white British family!

I can see why you are worried. I think the reality of it is that it would all crumble too quickly for anything to actually happen. Suddenly people would realise we'd be even shorter in the industries that we need people in. But I think in your position it will always be a worry. I know ltos of families who left once brexit was voted for, they just didn't feel it was home anymore and didnt want their children growing up where they weren't welcome, so sad.

All of this. Yes yes yes. Many net contributors left after Brexit and more will go again if Reform wins an election. Then all the British folk who've had the benefits of everything this country has to offer and still done nought with themselves will see what us immigrants have really brought to their country.

Recent news has been dire - more people are now claiming benefits rather than putting in. And that nearly 80% of those claimant's are citizens who identify as "white". The absolute absurdity of it all. Self destructive. Racist.

Having "settled status" and ILR go hand-in-hand - you have to have lived in the UK continuously for at least 5 years to gain settled status and ILR.
To apply for naturalisation you also have to have lived in the UK lawfully for at least 5 years (or at least 3 if you're married to or in a civil partnership with a British citizen). Naturalisation isn't the same as British Citizenship, but can be a route to it if you don't automatically qualify for it via one of the other types of British Nationality (note British Nationality and British Citizenship aren't the same although they're often confused).
Finally, asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants.