Brexit: what would happen to EU citizens living in UK?

[marghini]

I am a EU citizen and I have been living, working and paying taxes in the UK for a while.

I am really concerned about what would happen to the EU citizens who built a life for themselves and settled here in the UK in case of a Brexit.

Do you think all EU citizens already living in the UK would be pushed out? Or perhaps the government would just stop allowing further EU immigration?

Surely there would be an amnesty for EU citizens already here? Y'know the ones who have mortgages, jobs, children here? Asking them to cough up money for citizenship - money they may not have - after living here for decades seem churlish. It also sounds like an expensive, administrative nightmare for the Home Office. Or have missed something?

There may be special arrangements put in place, sure, but for people who are concerned about their future right to reside and work in the UK, then at the moment, ILR followed by naturalisation is the only fool-proof insurance policy.

Any "amnesty" or other arrangements for existing EU citizens is going to have a significant cost - with something like 3 million applications to process, presumably in a limited time, there is going to be a need to expand the government units dealing with this. Someone is going to have to pay for this and it's a fair bet that it will be the immigrant him/herself.

As the date gets closer I am getting more nervous but also can't wait for it to end. I'll be finally relieved because the UK would have made a decision. Unfortunately if this will be a Leave vote, I see the uncertainty carrying on for a few more years until we know for sure what a new deal will look like. I certainly hope that any arrangement would be for future migrants after a certain date and not to retroactively change the 'right/status/contract' of previous EU citizens who are in the UK and working. Judging from previous UK legislative processes, they don't change the deals retroactively but only affect the ones after a certain agreement/date has been reached. Let's hope they continue this way.

Cross Ref another thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2663009-to-think-that-people-voting-out-because-of-immigrat

Any idea about pension rights for those EU nationals who have lived in UK for over 35 years and have contributed to the state system for all these years? (If Brexit, that is).

I do not trust anybody from the Brexit side to be reasonable and moral with EU citizens following their display of xenophobia and racism during this campaign.

A (perfectly intelligent) colleague grew up in a Commonwealth passport, has EU passport, English wife, has lived in UK about 20 yrs of last 40.

Wouldn't he face a ~ £2400 bill if he has to naturalise? Several people in the office are going thru the process & often talk about the costs, too. Colleague wasn't going to vote at all in the Referendum.

I have no idea. This is what bothers me with this whole thing, nobody seems to know anything. Lots of opinions and conjuncture.
Going through the Home Office stuff shows that permanent residency is not that straight forward for EU nationals.,therefore I shudder to think about the changes to these requirements if Brexit.
Some of them might stay the same, some of them might change. A lot of 'mights'..

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/464872/Direct_Family_Members_v3_0.pdf

Lots of stuff!!!
www.gov.uk/government/collections/eea-swiss-nationals-and-ec-association-agreements-modernised-guidance

I'm sure if you did have to leave there are plenty of other countries you could find work so it won't be that bad

If I'd lived here for 20 years and made my home here I would not want to leave.

But at least the EU citizens have that option. Those of us who vote remain, and then have to live with a brexit, have to live with it. I have no options to get any other sort of passport and would not, for example qualify to live in Australia. So I have to live with whatever a post-brexit government imposes. At least if we are in the EU and you don't like what's happening in the UK, you've a choice of 27 other countries to live in (plus EEA ones).

Nothing.
Anyone already here entered under the existing treaty.

No, and no. Immigration will not suddenly cease, and if people are stupid enough to be voting on the basis that they think it will be significantly reduced if we leave then they are deluded.

Yes-1977. My first Degree was at the University of Nottingham. In these days European citizens had to pay for their own tuition fees.

I used to come on holidays to Nottingham as a very young child in the late sixties and very early seventies. My mothers' godmother married a Latvian refugee ( not sure whether he fled the Nazis or whether he was a Nazi sympathiser...). I remember meeting many Poles, Latvians who used to work in textile factories around Beeston, Long Eaton and in the Woodbines factory in Nottingham. A lot of Eastern Europeans emigrated to the UK well before the EU to work in factories in the North and in the Midlands.

I also remember that one needed a polio vaccine to enter the UK because there was a polio epidemic there. Things have changed , thank goodness..

Life would be so awful if the Brexiters won that no one would want to live here anyway. There would be a shrinking economy and huge tax hikes and public spending cuts to compensate.

It would be like the 1970s, a brain drain and struggling underinvestment in public services, and many clever and spirited people would pack their bags and go to where the work was.

Brexit really would be like the bad old days of the 1970s.

Well if we deport all the EU health care professionals working in the NHS it will collapse.As will the London restaurant trade .
So I think it is unlikely everyone will be 'sent back'

We have our home in Spain, my son is in the spanish school system ... I am very keen to KNOW, rather than speculate, where we stand... Roll on tomorrow!!

Still plenty of time to go out and vote. It is important and does affect real people's lives!

fullfact.org/
This is an independent fact checking organisation which has a section on immigration. The debunks the myths on both sides of the campaign. It might have some useful info.

For what it's worth, it's advisable to marry since there is no such thing as a common law partnership so for example, if one of you dies, the other can get kicked out of your home. Otherwise, make sure you have very good wills and consult a financial advisor to make sure that you are both protected in case of death, illness or incapacity. Particularly important if you have kids. If you aren't married then there are issues with who is next of kin, who can get power of attorney... all sorts of things you don't want to have to think about until something unthinkable happens. Our financial advisor warned us that 1 in 4 people become critically ill and that really made us think about wills and insurance and setting out an emergency plan for our kids.

I never wanted to marry for the sake of citizenship, so I got mine the long way. It's worth noting that the price of citizenship goes up and up every year. My friend tells me it's about £1k now. It was about half that 9 years ago. It's also easier to get citizenship as a spouse. The requirements and timescale are more lenient.

I'm sure if you did have to leave there are plenty of other countries you could find work so it won't be that bad

Fuck off. How dare you tell people like me - who have lived here most of our lives - to go somewhere else?

Why don't all those Brits supposedly unemployed because of migrants fucking go somewhere else, then, if it's not a problem?

WTAF is wrong with some people?

Haven't read full posts... But obverse question - what will happen to UK citizens living in Europe. Particularly those who have married a European and have children not born in UK who subsequently have children not born in UK... And what will happen to all the homes owned overseas by Brits and the pensioners who draw their UK pension and live in Europe?

Lone4anger I just saw your post as I am watching the results of the referendum. I went out to vote earlier. You R asking What will happen to the pensioners Brits who draw their pension in UK whilst living abroad. Regards the taxation of pension, there are dual agreements between UK and other countries where they live. You will be able to find those online. Regarding the remittance of the pension from UK to the country of residence , the fund should have notified details in writing the pensioners at the time of maturity the details. They should also have said whether the increases annually would apply.

Ok people, tighten your belt. It is happening.

Mamma Mia.

Well after I've finished crying and drinking my tea (with milk!) I'm investigating how to get baby DS an Italian passport as I only have an Italian one and he only has a British one which I find very scary. Realistically, I probably am not going anywhere but I just want the psychological safety net of having the same nationality as my child.

Well said Glowfrog.

I was married and my ex husband left me with children, I was unable to work or study, but now my kids are grow i wanted to go back to college and get an education, can i still get a free college education? Do i have the right to remain in britain? Since i have kids.

StrawberryQuik I believe you can give your nationality to your child. Do this asap. I have a dual citizenship and my DS has one of them and can get my other one too. I drink lavazza in the morning with milk. This morning I need tripple cup to recover from the shock of the result.