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Brexit

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Original poster

To ask if anyone know what happens with EU citizens after brexit

150 replies

BlueandYellowandRed · 14/08/2018 19:26

I'm from an EU country and have been living and working in England for 6 years now.

I just looked into getting British citizenship which apparently cost £1330. It's fine if it comes down to that I'm happy to pay for it. Although might move countries again as kind of started feeling a bit unwelcome here since the whole brexit thing took off.

Anyway I was just looking at the application and it crossed my mind that there must be millions of people in the same shoes as me and I wonder what the plan is for us after brexit?

OP posts:
harshbuttrue1980 · 14/08/2018 21:45

There is way too much scaremongering about this. Why would the status of someone from e.g. France in the UK after Brexit be any different than the current status of someone from India living in the UK? We just won't have a special relationship with the EU - fine, we don't have a special relationship with India at the moment and lots of people from India are still welcomed to come and work here.

I'm a leaver (and have an economics degree so don't bother tarring me with the brush of being "thick"), but, like most sensible leavers, I don't want any hard-working taxpayers to be deported, that's just silly.
What will happen is that those who are here and working will stay here, we will find it easier to deport criminals, and there will be an Australian-style points-based system for future immigration. And I don't see anything wrong with that - people who want to come to the UK should have jobs before they come or skills which will add to the economy. We will have the same number of immigrants at the moment, but we can choose people with the best skills. At the moment, anyone from the EU can come in to the UK but only some people from India or China, whereas the balance of this will change so that we have the best worker from wherever they come as their won't be a bias towards Europeans.

Remember, most countries have some sort of restriction in immigration.

Raffertysdognuts · 14/08/2018 21:46

Thanks Flatpack I must research this further and get some clarity on this issue! We are Brits living in a Northern EU country currently applying for dual citizenship. We were told that as my DH has been paying tax here for over 30 yrs, he will almost certainly get citizenship as will my dc who were born and educated here and have a couple of yrs of state education to go. The only question mark hovers over myself who, owing to ill health, has a patchy employment history and arrived much later than dh.

Anyway, didn't mean to hi-jack! It would seem there are many of us in turmoil on both sides of the channel!

Ta1kinpeace · 14/08/2018 21:47

harshbuttrue
Why would the status of someone from e.g. France in the UK after Brexit be any different than the current status of someone from India living in the UK?
Because the Indian person has already coughed up over £1000 for their visa
and has to prove on an annual basis that they earn over £36,000
Hmm Hmm
Do you really know so little about how the UK does immigration ????

HotblackDesiatoto · 14/08/2018 21:47

Why would the status of someone from e.g. France in the UK after Brexit be any different than the current status of someone from India living in the UK?

It wouldn't, possibly. Which is the actual problem. You don't know how any of this works, do you?

I'm a leaver (and have an economics degree so don't bother tarring me with the brush of being "thick"
If it walks like a duck....Hmm

Silentnighttwo · 14/08/2018 21:49

Go someone else. Move countries. Go someplace where the stupid and racist are not taking over. Go somewhere where there are decent honourable politicians.

😂😂😂😂😂😂

Where exactly is this Utopia?

Having lived and worked in many different countries around the World, my experience is that Britain is one of the more tolerant and least corrupt.

Original poster
BlueandYellowandRed · 14/08/2018 21:50

It is for sure just crap. The best word to describe it. Thanks for everyone who brought my attention to settled status - I will look into it. Hope somehow this whole thing will turn out okay though. Somehow not sure how but yeah...

OP posts:
Ta1kinpeace · 14/08/2018 21:50

What will happen is that those who are here and working will stay here
Nope, those who are here under EU free movement will say "sod off" and leave our nursing homes unstaffed
we will find it easier to deport criminals
Never been an issue for EU citizens - 3 month rule works well for EU countries with sensible governments
and there will be an Australian-style points-based system for future immigration
You mean the one they scrapped last year as it does not work
We will have the same number of immigrants at the moment, but we can choose people with the best skills
like picking lettuce and potatoes and cutting up carcasses and washing old ladies' bottoms .......
those are the jobs most commonly taken by EU migrants

shinyredbus · 14/08/2018 21:50

What happens to those who have married British citizens with a residency permit?

MingeUterusMingeMingeYoni · 14/08/2018 21:53

Quite possibly we'll end up with more immigration in the UK post Brexit. Countries we negotiate trade deals with might want better visa access as a condition, and the French aren't necessarily going to continue that fiasco at Calais as a favour to us. We do fairly well out of Dublin due to our location far from where most asylum seekers enter Europe, but that's a matter of EU law and thus we aren't guaranteed to continue benefitting after we leave.

Matter of opinion whether these are good or bad things of course.

Ta1kinpeace · 14/08/2018 21:53

shinyred
My being married to a Brit counted for diddly squat in my right to be here (non EU, non commonwealth)
nor did my having two British kids.
I could have been deported for a traffic offence.

Thank you Theresa May for the hostile environment

HotblackDesiatoto · 14/08/2018 21:54

Move to Ireland OP. Its kinda like the UK but better Wink

MingeUterusMingeMingeYoni · 14/08/2018 21:59

In fairness talkin peace you'd have had an excellent case to resist deportation for a minor offence based on human rights grounds. Article 8 ECHR. Which is staying! And attempts to remove people for one such offence are very rare.

With you on the hostile environment though.

eurochick · 14/08/2018 22:04

The government has given assurances around "settled status" for EU citizens who have been here for 5+ years. I think I'll only feel fully comfortable when it's on the statute book and the system for administering it is in place (I'm married to an EU citizen who has been here for over 40 years - since he was a few months old).

buttermilkwaffles · 14/08/2018 22:04

@RedNed I didn't think I would need to fill in a landing card the first time I left the UK and returned - got to the front of the queue and was told quite firmly that I did and was asked to go and fill one in. I had also earlier asked which queue I should join as I was a resident not a tourist and was asked my nationality and told to join the non EU queue. Not sure why you were allowed to join the UK/EU queue with a non EU passport and did not have to fill in a landing card as nobody has told me subsequently that I don't need to fill one in or that I am in the wrong queue.

buttermilkwaffles · 14/08/2018 22:05

Unless it's because you were travelling with UK/EU citizenship family? I have always been on my own.

Ta1kinpeace · 14/08/2018 22:06

minge
I'd have had no case at all.
I was here on ILR which was never formally recorded anywhere
(none of them ever have been)
My other passport is for a wealthy country.
I'd have been on the plane out and then had to fight my case from abroad.
As many hundreds of others (including dozens of Windrush) have done.
I'd not have counted as deported, just as a "visa overstay"

The UK system is brutal.
Brits really do not "get it"

Its why I got my UK passport as soon as I saw the way Theresa May was changing things.

Patienceofatoddler · 14/08/2018 22:10

No on knows - Personally if planning on staying long term with no plans to return to your routes then I would apply for PR then Citizenship.

It's not cheap we reckon easily cost my husband 2k with PR Status, Life in UK test, English Level 5 Speaking / Listening Exam (£150 for 10 minutes!) cost of Citizenship Application (non refundable of course bar the £80 ceremony fee) then passport costs on top and it has taken well over a year Confused.

Just depends if you trust the government or not with this claimed settled status they will offer?!?

For us it wasn't a risk we were prepared to take given our investment in the UK.

It hurts - The process is so invasive and you have to prove EVERYTHING and I personally seriously resent that's money which won't spent on our children's future but needs must.

I would read up on the process and look at your individual situation.

I still can't believe we actually voted 'Leave' Sad and so many families are going through the stress up and down the country as well as throughout the EU.

Ta1kinpeace · 14/08/2018 22:14

Oh yeah, the English speaking exam ......

initially they did not want to accept my Cambridge Exam Board GCEs as evidence of competence in English
or my A Levels
or my Degree
or my UK Accountancy qualifications
or the fact that my birth Country is English speaking and I arrived here over 40 years ago

it was all a money making scheme IMHO

MingeUterusMingeMingeYoni · 14/08/2018 22:17

Did you get your ILR stamped on your passport on the way in then talkin peace? If you still had the original passport it's possible to use that. Harder when you don't!

But even if there was no record at all of your ILR, I can absolutely assure you that with a British spouse and minor children and having reduced here a long time, you'd have had an absolutely excellent human rights case. With a serious criminal conviction you'd have struggled but your removal on the basis of one traffic offence would've been considered disproportionate. There has to be a proportionality argument. And when you have British minor kids who you live with, the case law is helpful.

This is what I do professionally, and I've assisted actual overstayers from wealthy countries with British spouse and minor kids in securing leave.

FlatPackFurnitureCompAnyone · 14/08/2018 22:19

or the fact that my birth Country is English speaking and I arrived here over 40 years ago

My NZ-born and degree-educated friend was forced to do an English test Confused

MingeUterusMingeMingeYoni · 14/08/2018 22:20

None of this is intended to be pro HO btw. And the advice I give my clients is to strongly consider citizenship as soon as you're eligible if you plan to stay here. Simply because one never knows what the future holds.

harshbuttrue1980 · 14/08/2018 22:26

Ta1kinpeace, yes, and what is the problem with that?? If you wanted to move to Australia or the US you'd have to get a visa and prove earnings over a certain amount. You couldn't just rock up on their shores and demand to be let in!

I understand perfectly well how it works, and the system seems to work perfectly well for people coming from non-EU countries. You may differ on this, but the Brexit vote showed that most people don't want people coming to the UK with no money and no job, but the UK has always been welcoming to hard working people from any country.

I don't agree that there is something special about Europeans that means they should be treated differently to Asians, Africans or Americans. They are people just the same.

amicissimma · 14/08/2018 22:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Unescorted · 14/08/2018 22:29

Has there any word on the status of ROI passport holders? Are they keeping the 1948 residency act or has EU residency legislation superceded it and therefore will it fall by the wayside when (if- crossed fingers) A50 is ratified.

MNHQ
LilyMumsnet · 14/08/2018 22:31

We're just sending this over to the Brexit topic. Flowers