If you made your life here, why didn't you become a British citizen?

[DorothyL]

How do you respond to that as an EU citizen?

I came to the UK in 98. I never applied for British citizenship because I didn't see the need - I truly felt that the fact we were all EU meant it didn't matter!

Now I'm scared because in spite of being here so long I would probably not qualify for a permanent residency card because I wasn't working (SAHM/carer).

Wish I knew what will happen

the EU countries which prevent people having more than one nationality need urgently to change their rules if they wish to help their nationals rather than scoring cheap political points .....

Hilarious. So we change our rules abruptly and with a maximum of pettiness and minimum of common sense, but its everyone else who are nasty point-scoring bad guys for not immediately changing their longstanding arrangements.

I'd like to think I was taking a full part in British life before I became a citizen but perhaps I was doing it wrong. And I probably still am doing it wrong - apparently, according to some on this thread, being truly British is all about really ostentatious displays of total commitment to this and only this country, overt nationalism and wholesale rejection of any foreign-derived aspects of personal identity. And to suggest otherwise is childish and unpatriotic, or summat.

Jassy I was the same as you. No real need for citizenship except I wanted an EU passport as I'm not sure if we won't return to Australia for a period of time.

I submitted my application 2 weeks before the vote. I will wait to see what happens after A50 before I know whether it was a big fat waste of money.

Yes Element there was me thinking being a school governor, mother of British children and teacher at an English school was kind of integrated but obviously not

Shoe on the other foot. I am. Brit abroad and I have not taken citizenship of other country as I don't think that it would make any difference apart from voting. I can no longer vote in the Uk and I can't vote here. I have paid NI into the Uk system and I also paid volountary contributions to maintain my pension... Probably one of the most stupid things I have done ...time will tell. I will be fucked without it when I retire well and truly !

Element:
I think that some posters display a very high level of ignorance as to British history hence their stupid comments regarding EU nationals and the latest, British Life!

May be they should go back to school and learn history together with visits to all the museums in this country for instance Bath Museum has a Syrian Roman Briton skeleton in display! The Museum of London at the Barbican is a good example of chronological British History.. But then lack of general culture and ignorance are bliss and allow you to behave and argue like a robotic penguin.

I was talking earlier to a someone who's been doing the Life in Britain practice questions. He posed one of them to me and one of his colleagues - his colleague didn't know the answer.

Perhaps everyone, born here or not, should be made to pass the Life in Britain test before being able to get a job. It must be important, after all, that everyone is properly integrated in order to function in employment and society.

Elements:
Totally agree with you. Not sure as to why 27 countries are seen to be'scoring points'! ? And , because the UK chose to leave and changed its laws, these 27 countries should then change promptly their own laws to accommodate the UK!! Is this for real?

Rosa: we are all in the same boat! The whole situation is immoral.

Yes Patty, to be be integrated in British Society, according to Life in Britain, it is important to know when shampoo was introduced into
the UK😃😃

I should add, re my anecdote above, that I know for a fact that the colleague who couldn't answer the question is UK born and bred.

Most UK born cannot answer any of the questions. I favour a test but not based on useless questions.

lifeintheuktests.co.uk/study-materials/

Lico It is nice to see these "British" values on the first page

The fundamental principles of British life include:
Democracy
The rule of law
Individual liberty
Tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs
Participation in community life

Shame you don't see much evidence of these values in the way the country is going about Brexit and the changes to acceptable rhetoric since the vote.

Otherwise the rest of the booklet looks like what my ancient twisted spinster Primary teachers would have put together for a test in the 60s, if someone had given them mind bending drugs, just to ensure they were completely divorced from the reality of modern British life and education. I haven't had much use for their jingoism and focus on irrelevant general knowledge since.....

What would:
Totally agree with you. I think that these fundamental values listed on the first page are a must. I wish that the questions devised by the Hone Office matched the headings. In fact, I wish that the right to vote should be given after a general knowledge test on these principles; this is another debate though ....

I submitted my application 2 weeks before the vote. I will wait to see what happens after A50 before I know whether it was a big fat waste of money

I'm getting ready to submit mine, hence my newfound obsession with past parking tickets.

I did Life in the UK when I got ILR. I do find I am a more committed and full contributor to British society for knowing how old you need to be to legally work in a chip shop.

I don't understand this

"The fundamental principles of British life include:
Democracy
The rule of law
Individual liberty
Tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs
Participation in community life"

Is there an implication that these are identifiers of Britishness, unlike other countries which don't have them?

I was just about to post something near identical piglet, but you beat me to it.

The implication that Britain has the monopoly on these "principles", and that all Foreign is basically a morass of anti- democratic mob rule, bursting to lynch anybody of a different religion, has me grinding my teeth so hard I'm going to run out of teeth soon.

Particularly when this steaming pile of shite is particularly promulgated by people who are happy to slag off Islam (other religions to deride are available, but let's face it, Islam's defo top of the charts at the moment) in the next breath....

And - "participation in community life"? Uniquely British??? Was this devised by someone who has, literally, never been abroad?

What's the desl with the parking tickets?

www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/migrants-should-have-to-perform-passable-morris-dance-20170106119757

The 'British Values' thing is pretty similar to the EU Values:

Respect for

• human dignity
• human rights
• freedom
• democracy
• equality
• the rule of law

Does the fact that the EU lists these as a fundamental part of being a member imply that all those outwith the EU are without respect for others? Do not believe in freedom, democracy or equality? Are unruly lawbreakers?

What's the desl with the parking tickets?

Current guidance asks you to list all fixed penalty notices you've received as part of the good character / criminal convictions bit.

Am reading a very interesting article on the creation of nation state, nationality etc.. Plus ça change ..

www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Nation-state

I've not heard Brexiters say much about Northern Ireland but then again it is an incredibly complex aspect of Brexit particularly in the context of the Good Friday Agreement.

Check out the dedicated NI thread in this subforum. It's an astonishing read. You will need to begin drinking before you start, and ensure you have easy access to a wall to bang your head against.

Yep, and disagree. I'm decently well versed on British nationality law and can tell you it's more expensive than many, for a start. That's one thing that puts people off. I know of at least one other EU country that allows people registering in the descent categories to do for free what costs four figures here!

Not familiar with Latin America so can't comment there. I don't think the British citizenship process is the most onerous or objectionable in the world, but it's an expensive enough nuisance that it should be blatantly obvious why some people who were entitled to avail themselves of it didn't or couldn't.

baby I agree there are some horrendous criteria for citizenship out there, including in some cases, proving ethnicity over several generations. However having earned permanent residency in one outside the EU , thriving economies tend to understand the value of attracting talent and 85 page documents that require chapter and verse of your life over decades to just have right to stay do not tend to be required. Frankly as much as I loved the place I lived and became involved and studied local culture and contributed to the economy, I never felt that my right to stay there should rest on giving up UK citizenship and I do not understand the argument that it should. think we are lucky to have come as far as we have in the face of such deterrents, largely as a result of FOM.