Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Brexit
Original poster

Taking kids out of school for a year to escape Brexit

54 replies

BrexitBusToAnywhere · 03/02/2019 09:44

I have been reading the news and threads on here with increasing alarm. I have decided that I need to get out for the next year with the kids. I've got some savings and DH and I have talked about renting out our home.

We are in shock at what is happening here and neither of us want to stay. We've decided it is now time to go on the trip of a lifetime and travel with the kids. We are thinking of starting in NZ as several families we know have relocated there due to Brexit in the last two years.

I would be keen to have any advice or suggestions or issues we might face. Ds is 7 and dd is 9.

OP posts:
onalongsabbatical · 03/02/2019 10:17

Well if you're planning to come back, you're not going to 'escape Brexit, because we will Brexit or not Brexit while you're away and you'll come back to however the country is. If you leave is different and you need advice on migration rather than on 'escaping Brexit.'

Clavinova · 03/02/2019 10:43

What are you worried about? Civil unrest? Looting? Starvation? Mass unemployment?

In which case, you would be leaving your home under the protection of random tenants, who may or may not pay the rent.

You would be giving up your job/s, losing a year's income and may not have a job (or home) to return to.

Difficult.

WeeTinkerMonkey · 03/02/2019 10:50

I'd go if I were you op. It'll be like a post apocalyptic world by the end of 2019. The robots will take over and wars will be daughter on the streets. Mass looting, murders, dogs wearing hats and goats marrying sheep.. it'll be madness I tell you, madness...

Or, a few people will get a bit cross for a few days then everything will go back to a normal routine just with more tutting than usual.

Singlenotsingle · 03/02/2019 10:56

Like it, WeeTinker. There's way too much angst being wasted over this. I know a man who applied for an Irish passport and is now considering moving to Dublin, but apparently it's even more expensive there than London is. Personally, I'm considering buying a sack of potatoes! (But I might not!)

Original poster
BrexitBusToAnywhere · 03/02/2019 11:02

My DH and his friends have various knowledge of import and exports. They are expecting more than a few weeks trouble. It is clear a lot of posters don't seem to believe people who work in the field anyway. I do.

I also saw the new CE mark that is leading to a lowering in regulatory standards yesterday which is really serious and has long lasting consequences. I didn't want this for my children and won't have them used as guinea pigs in whatever practice is going to be dreamt up in a matter of weeks to replace the CE system.

I am not worried about renting the house - we are next to a hospital and they are shipping in people with specialist skills to ensure there isn't a shortage after Brexit. Many of them are families and we have a 4 bed home.

For anyone actually looking to help, DH has found a job already in Auckland that he likes the look of. I have been considering going back to study. If DH doesn't get the job (or any job) can I still get us over there on a study visa for a year, perhaps? I was hoping someone would come on and explain any legal necessities about leaving school for a year in UK. However the attitudes all around just make me want to emirate. So any advice on emigrating to New Zealand with kids would be good too.

OP posts:
GreenTulips · 03/02/2019 11:05

You deregister the kids
School refill their places
You can apply is there are spaces when you return
It’s not guaranteed

Camomila · 03/02/2019 11:10

I don’t know anything about NZ specifically but I looked up how many ‘points’ DH and I would have for Canada and it was lots more than I expected. Plus it’s a bit nearer than NZ.

If you are studying I think it depends...if you were doing something like a funded PhD (so you could support your family on it along with savings) I think you’d have more chance than with other studies that you pay for. But even then I think if you have enough savings plus good health insurance then maybe.

Sometimes I look at those schemes countries have giving away free delapidated houses to under 40s and think oooooh that sounds fun (Italy and Japan, no idea of actual details of it)

BikeRunSki · 03/02/2019 11:12

For leaving school, you can leave whenever you want. Plroole move house, change schools, deregister in favour of home schooling all the time. What the school don’t do is keep your dc’s places open until you come back. Once they have left, the place are available to anyone suitable on the waiting list, or who applies for those year groups. Obviously, if it is an undersubscribed school, with plenty of spaces in those year groups and no new housing developments nearby, those spaces may remain until you return, and you can reapply to the school, but the school won’t “reserve” them for you.

TheWomanin12B · 03/02/2019 11:13

I'd go and in fact would have gone if it was a realistic option for me and my family.

We will be in decline, it's just a case of how fast and brutal the decline will be.

Original poster
BrexitBusToAnywhere · 03/02/2019 11:16

Schooling is the hardest area as I know switching will be hard - although both kids have said they would be happy to leave UK. I know the reality will be different when they are somewhere new with no friends. For that reason I think perhaps actually emigrating would be better for the kids than just travelling about. Perhaps DH and I got a bit carried away there!

I've not seen the schemes for under 40's! What have I missed? That sounds very interesting!

OP posts:
onalongsabbatical · 03/02/2019 11:37

That was my point, OP. The only way to 'escape Brexit' is to migrate. So why put it on the Brexit threads, the advice you want has nothing to do with Brexit and everything to do with migration? Surely?

Camomila · 03/02/2019 11:41

I think it was Japan that is giving away houses to under 40s with a dependent to encourage the population to grow...it was on fb and I didn’t read any of the details. You didn’t have to be Japanese but you probably already need to be resident.

Italy I know more about, basically there are lots of villages with houses standing empty as young people move to the cities. There’s lots of grants around for people to take on a house and do it back up again (sometimes with a plot of land to farm)

PotteringAlong · 03/02/2019 11:43

You’re going to do well to leave the U.K. and move to New Zealand before brexit...

RollerJed · 03/02/2019 11:44

I think if you want to travel, and have transferable skills then now is the time to do it.

We left the UK last summer. An opportunity presented itself and we knew if we didn't do it then we would probably have to stay put for a few years.

You don't have to emigrate permanately. We won't go back to the UK but imagine we'll move back to Europe in 5+ years.

TaimaandRanyasBestFriend · 03/02/2019 11:46

I'd get out of here. The big issue might be the amount of rent you can charge on the house in the event of pound devaluation.

Dyrne · 03/02/2019 11:48

New Zealand operates on a points based system. It costs an absolute fortune to emigrate - after medicals, visa fees, moving/storage costs, plus whatever you spend on your home to get it up to spec for renting out.

If you go on a student visa, then there’s the cost of international fees, plus your family would have to apply to go separately based on their relationship with you, and it’s not guaranteed (and I believe your DH would be limited in his work options on that visa).

I would suggest, if you have the amount of money available that would make paying for this on extremely short notice possible, then you have enough of a financial buffer to get through the uncertainty of brexit. (And I say this as someone who is currently building up a financial and food stockpile, so i’m not scoffing at your concern).

RomanyRoots · 03/02/2019 11:50

Doesn't it take more than a month of applications, took my friends almost a year.
You'll never have the paperwork done in time.

Unbearablecollies · 03/02/2019 11:50

Yes I don't think a year will cover the carnage in all honesty Hmm

Unbearablecollies · 03/02/2019 11:51

Yes I've got a friend who has been trying to emigrate there for years, the medicals for her and her husband have cost over £6k already and no sign that they'll be accepted.

Original poster
BrexitBusToAnywhere · 03/02/2019 11:57

I think it will be more than a year. Regulations and trade take years to implement (properly at least). It does feel rushed which scares me as I had said to DH about going off or trying to last year but he said Brexit probably wouldn't happen. I think we were both hoping people would see sense.

Is there any way of going on a holiday visa from one country to another? I've got a bell going off saying we need to come back once every 6 months if we rent our home out, right?

OP posts:
Original poster
BrexitBusToAnywhere · 03/02/2019 11:58

Yes we have a financial buffer too. Plus could sell the house as it hasn't got any mortgage.

OP posts:
DrinkFeckArseGirls · 03/02/2019 12:04

Why would you even conside selling your house? It only would make sense if you plan never to come back to the UK.

1tisILeClerc · 03/02/2019 12:12

To me it depends on your attitude as a family.
Your children missing some school isn't necessarily a disaster although obviously they would not 'fit in' with their current classmates level of teaching. Home (or on the road) education is not impossible but you should probably be getting settled in the next couple of years if you want 'regular' education for them.
Don't treat it as 'escaping Brexit' but as a novel and interesting change to your life. The world is a big place and nothing is guaranteed but all you can do is grab life with both hands and 'go for it'.
The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence, but sadly the UK grass is wilting badly.

1tisILeClerc · 03/02/2019 12:14

There was a story on BBC website I think about a family who bought a big car and set off on a year's drive around the world.
Their children may have missed out on 'formal' education, but they will have a fantastic perspective of the world.

alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 · 03/02/2019 12:14

You really need to work out if you are emigrating or taking a year long holiday. I’ve emigrated, the process took over a year and was expensive, totally not worth it for a year! Will you need to work?