Freedom of movement with Aus, NZ and Canada, post Brexit?

[Mackerz]

www.canzukinternational.com/category/free-movement

This is interesting. As part of a post Brexit trade deal, Britain and Australia are considering relaxing immigration controls between the two countries.

@bogglesgoggles

That differs from my experience. I have an Australian passport but British accent and have spent several years living in Australia. Sydney and Melbourne though, things might be different in other regions.

I think India is also looking for the same deal. That'll please the Brexiters.

Yes, me too @Mackerz. I understand that though. I'm married to someone from another country and we lived in his country for several years, but moved back to mine eventually (which he was equally keen to do - or so he said )

This is so wrong. The government will give freedom of movement to Australians, Canadians and New Zealanders but take it away from Europeans.

Britain will surely not agree to that with India though. Canada, NZ and Australia are all very similar countries to the UK - fully developed, strong economies, good standard of living, welfare state, state-funded education, good healthcare, etc and relatively small, well-educated populations. India has a billion people and is none of those things. Millions would come - quite literally.

I have this theory that we'll end up having to relax immigration, at least of people with certain qualifications, from India, Africa and China to fill the shortfall of nurses, doctors, builders etc and anti-immigrant people will end up nostalgic for the days when 'at least the immigrants were white'. Which would be quite amusing.

BogglesGoggles go to the gabba with a black or Asian friend & tell me the only racists are the British baby boomers.

@kiwiblue

I had heard that too. From Aussie friends who didn’t have access to an ancestry or working holiday visa.

Sorry all the stuff above about the 457 visa being easy to and how welcoming Aus is to Brits is outdated. The 457 visa was abolished last year in favour of a much harder to get temporary visa in response to the government's concerns about uncontrolled immigration. Australia is now a very difficult place for Brits to emigrate to even for a limited period. They have decided to encourage /relax immigration quotas from SE Asia instead as China and the rest of the SE Asian bloc are so important to Australia's economy.
The whole £5 pomms thing is very outdated - Australia doesn't need anymore Brits flooding into Melbourne or Sydney as there are plenty there already. And professional qualifications are not necessarily equivalent between the two countries.

My understanding of Australia is that it's tolerant up to a point - and that if you're an aboriginal Australian then it's not tolerant at all.

Oh and just to add - the relaxation of immigration rules for countries like India is being linked to trade deals - allowing less controlled immigration into Britain from these countries will be the price we pay for trading with them.

The UK has a problem with racism and Brexit has highlighted how bad it is. I can’t unfortunately see it getting any better.

@Mackerz well generally people don’t make a big deal about it? Or maybe you hung out with British Australians? They tend to keep to themselves a bit more than the rest of us. I think some of them don’t realise that they aren’t the Australian archetype.

@nancy75 wtf is a gabba?

@bogglesgoggles

I didn’t hang around with just British Australians. Are you saying that because I’m British Australian?

My friends in Sydney and Melbourne are a mix. Amongst my good friends there are 2nd and 3rd generation Greek and Polish Aussies. I tend to choose my friends based on how well we get along, not where they come from.

@BogglesGoggles

The Gabba is Brisbane’s sports stadium.

An Australian that doesn’t know what The Gabba is? That’s unusual. It’s the Brisbane cricket ground, quite famous around the world, very famous is Australia.

@nancy75
I’m only a British Australian (and not a massive sports fan) and even I know what the Gabba is! It’s mentioned a fair bit in office conversations / on the news.

Mackerz I’m only married to an Australian & I hate cricket and I’ve been made to visit the damn place!!

My experience of Oz was similar to zafferina above, I also remember a lot of Oz/NZ Nurses were staffing the UK NHS in those days too (late 80s) on 'special visas'. Maybe this is one of the reasons this 'idea' has been resurrected.

@nancy75

Sympathies, I manage to avoid sport as much as possible.

Oooh - sport - I'm very proud to have played Aussie Rules for Parkville Scorpions when I was there - after being told women don't play. Besides having loads of fun it was a backlash to being called a whinging Pommie Sheila just for the sake of it (Pom and Sheila was correct - whingeing was incorrect).

"I think India is also looking for the same deal. That'll please the Brexiters."

It will please many of those around my part of the country @sarahlou63 . I've spoken to quite a few people who have a family background from outside the EU and voted leave as they wanted their families and countryfolk to be on a equal or better footing to those in the EU in terms of coming here.

On a personal level, great, it'd give me and my children more countries to go to .
On a political level though, it would do nothing to help build bridges and that sorely needed trade agreement with the EU. If we go ahead with that while imposing a hard end to FOM with the E27, we will get absolutely crucified.

I’m rather mystified by the statement that Australia is easy to move to if you speak English and earn over 30k. I earn over this and have a PhD and I looked into it a few years ago, but didn’t qualify at all for a visa.