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

That's not going to work if they want to revoke naturalised citizens with British passports. How is getting citizenship now going to help if you're foreign anyway, esp non-white? They'll take the money and get rid of you anyway.

Farage is a proto fascist, he'll say whatever he wants to get elected and then change the rules anyway to suit him. Look at Trump.

And all this focus on whether you pay tax or not. Farage thinks the only thing that makes you worthy as a human is whether you contribute to the govt's coffers.

I'm worried for my mum, who came here in the early 70s, married to my Dad, who was a British citizen (but also from abroad). From former colonies. My mum was mostly a stay at home mum ("housewife" as it used to be known), but she worked part-time at times, and did pay tax out of it ,though she only earned what she called "pin money". Now she's on a state pension (in her late 80s). Will she be asked to leave because she was a housewife and didn't pay enough tax?

What about all those stay at home mums who didn't pay tax at all and are now pensioners - are they ineligible to stay because they weren't "net contributers to the system"? For people like Farage the only thing that matters is money, so the value of mothers at home never working (except bringing up the kids of course - the invisible labour) wouldn't matter to him. What about them?

That's not going to work if they want to revoke naturalised citizens with British passports.

Because removing all naturalisation is way harder than removing ILR or benefits for Settled Status.
Any idea about how many people would be affected?
The possible downward consequences?

About 80% of people with ILR actually apply to get the British citizenship anyway…. (That’s against about 15% for EU citizens). They don’t do it because they so strongly feel British. They do it because theyre settled in the country and want to protect themselves. Remember Windrush? You can easily understand where theyre coming from right? Same applies to EU citizens with the added bonus that we dint have any paperwork to prove we’ve actually got ILR. So we’re at the merci of any glitch in the IT system. (See also going through the border btw)

AFAIK, It’s quite difficult to get Spanish citizenship, most people have to have lived there for 10 years to apply and have no criminal record, be financially stable etc. You also need to take language and cultural exams and they don’t generally allow dual nationality.

My friend lived in Spain and experienced a great deal of racism unfortunately. She was also hounded to provide proof that she was working so that she could access non urgent healthcare, you had to be paying into the system for this not just living in Spain. You can be deported for trying to claim benefits if your immigration does not entitle you. The benefits system is also far less generous, is only available for people with very specific. circumstances and as far as I know has limits on the amount of time that you can claim for.

Spain has a lot of laws allowing people to be deported including Denouncia, my friend received one of these as her neighbour was upset with her for a very very minor matter. Think something like having a bench in your garden that your neighbour objects to. It is then up to the authorities to investigate. Having a denouncia can also affect whether you get Spanish citizenship.

No country is perfect and the more I travel, the more I realise this. When I was in an EU country recently all people seemed to talk to me about was immigration which shocked me tbh.

I really hope that Farage does not get in at the next election and, it’s very scary what is happening, but I would apply for citizenship if at all possible now if I had ILR just to be safe.

I'm worried for my mum, who came here in the early 70s, married to my Dad, who was a British citizen (but also from abroad). From former colonies. My mum was mostly a stay at home mum ("housewife" as it used to be known), but she worked part-time at times, and did pay tax out of it ,though she only earned what she called "pin money". Now she's on a state pension (in her late 80s). Will she be asked to leave because she was a housewife and didn't pay enough tax

She barely paid tax and lived off our public services for most of her life, and now expects a pension etc? And we’re supposed to be fine with that?

My friend lived in Spain and experienced a great deal of racism unfortunately. She was also hounded to provide proof that she was working so that she could access non urgent healthcare, you had to be paying into the system for this

Requesting to see proof of employment to access other people’s tax money and be treated by their health services is racist?

Your reply is disingenuous and you know it.
I didn't mention deportations (although that's the logical conclusion for people who would no longer meet Farage's proposed 'new' visa requirements).
Nor did I mention changing the rules for future immigrants.
My post was very clear. This is about people who have already established settled status and have ILR (which for EU nationals is a preserved right under the EU Withdrawal Agreement). If you can't see that stripping these people of their legally established rights is unjust and reprehensible, then you've really bought in to Reform's propaganda.

So I ask the question again - is it in the manifesto?

I make a mean Yorkshire pudding and gravy
My pork crackling is the best I have ever seen
I soak my mixed fruit in Oct and bake my Christmas cake in Nov
I partial to a good fish and chips
I am obsessed with test cricket and cheer my arse off for the Lionesses
I drunk 20 cups of tea a day. OK may be 8 to 10
Surely I will be allowed to stay?

But I will probably just pack my bags and leave the day they win anyway

No, sorry if that is how it reads. She did experience a lot of racism, I didn’t mean that those things are racist.

You know your talking about an actual person don’t you?
an old lady who has settled, built her life here, had children, been part of the community. Probably helped out with school stuff, neighbours. Raised her children here who now probably pay taxes.

where do you want her packed up and shipped off to for her dotage? Away from all she’s known for the past 40 years.

Which manifesto?! Political parties produce their manifestos in the lead up to a GE and my opening comment was ”It wasn't in their manifesto produced prior to last year's GE ..." Which part of that sentence did you not understand? Reform, in common with the other political parties, won't publish their next manifesto until 2029, but the link I posted is to the policy they published on their website last month and which was the subject of Farage's recent announcement.
Dear God, some people are just too lazy to do their own research and then expect to be spoon-fed. 🙄

Again, I applaud your honesty.

Most of the Reform apologists haven't had the courage to actually come out and say what exactly they're thinking even though they agree with you, instead dancing around in a cowardly way with weasel words.

People who think like you are a minority of people.
Most people can see past nationality and can see contribution to society in a holistic way.

It's Nigel & The Patriots' vision for the sunlit uplands. Isn't it beautiful?

What would happen if we all decided to only make a holistic contribution to society?

What’s your obsession with manifestos?

Are you really suggesting that political parties don’t announce policies at all for 5 years?

(Great if so - Farage can sit down and be quiet until 2029!)

This was apparently the 70s, plenty of women that age have only ever made holistic contributions to society. Should we punish all of them?

Oi, no need to get snippy.

When we get the pre-election manifesto we can have an informed discussion.

Until them it is all speculation and a lot can happen in 4 years.

Hence the poo poo our society is in now with unaffordable pensions 🤷‍♀️

It would be a truly wonderful country.
If people were contributing to every part of society, things would get better and better.

He votes Labour and will absolutely never vote Reform.
im a citizen too btw, not through marriage

Yes, except these "patriots" lack the vision to see that one day it could affect them. Like all the MAGA "patriots" who were so supportive of Trump's illegal immigration policies until masked ICE agents started grabbing their relatives off the streets.

I’ve looked into this issue (as a naturalised citizen myself), and it appears that revoking naturalisation is in practice easier than removing ILR, even though that feels counter-intuitive. There is already a clear legal route: the Home Secretary can decide that holding British citizenship by any individual is "not conducive to the public good." The wording is deliberately broad, and while it has historically been applied mainly in cases involving terrorism or national security, nothing in principle would prevent a future "reform" Home Secretary from expanding its scope, for example, by arguing that naturalised citizens dependent on welfare are "not conducive to the public good."

Such decisions can, of course, be challenged later in court, but with legal aid potentially restricted, not many would be able to fund a challenge that might easily run into six figures. By contrast, revoking ILR or settled status would require major primary legislation changes, i.e. a full change to immigration bill, debated in the Commons and Lords and given Royal Assent... a process likely to take many years.

Like the USSR?

If we get to the point where Britain will become like a Nazi Germany there won’t be many good options anywhere in the world to run to