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?

Margini I don't think anyone wants anybody who is currently here to be removed from the UK. I'm pretty sure most people are grateful and happy to have foreign born workers here. I'm equally sure we'd need lots of skilled people to live and work here.
What we do want is the freedom to choose who we accept rather than taking anyone who rolls up in the back of a van or otherwise.
I'm not anti immigration but I am pro choice that we get to decide who we need and who we want. The same as the USA and Austrailia.
The fear being spouted by Cameron is shameful, designed to scare people into voting to remain.

Why should anything happen to,you if you are already living no and working in this country.

People are not, on the whole, worrying about being forcibly removed. They're worried about things like having to get the right paperwork in order to access housing, healthcare, jobs.

The government already requires employers and landlords to check the immigration status of those seeking housing or a job. At the moment, it's enough to show a European passport or ID. If there is a brexit, then it's entirely possible that from July 2018, any EU citizen seeking to rent a house or sign up for a job in the UK will be required to show that they have residency rights. That means hundreds of thousands of Europeans will be seeking to document their rights in a short space of time, and there is a risk of delays and other issues. This will of course be true not just in the Uk for EU citizens, but in other EU states hosting significant numbers of British people . That's what people are worried about ...

Lurking "I'd like to think that having been stung by voting Tory only to find themselves lacking their front teeth"

um...confused. Surely people who voted Tory got...Tories?

Lynnm63 are you serious? I think that is exactly what a huge number of people want. The millions of EU citizens that came to the UK when no one expected it have hardly been welcomed with open arms have they?

Lots of people suddenly applying for citizenship is also not what a huge percentage of the population want.

I'm worried about two things -

1. DH is non-EU and only allowed to live and work in the UK because of my EU citizenship

2. if Brexit happens, the pound will collapse. We have a number of things to pay for in our respective home countries (student debts etc), and a weak pound would seriously screw us over

I am quite sure that any EU citizen living in the UK will be permitted to stay following any Brexit from the EU. Any scaremongering about mass deportations and damage to businesses is just that, scaremongering. Neither the UK or the rest of the EU wish to enter a tit for tat trade war or mass people eviction process as its in no country's interest. Can we please just stick to the stated facts and stop all this 'could', 'may', 'might' nonsense that people seem to love indulging in over any possible Brexit.

Can we please just stick to the stated facts and stop all this 'could', 'may', 'might' nonsense

This is pretty ironic given that we DO NOT KNOW the consequences of a Brexit on immigration, economics, or anything really. There are no "facts" to go on here. Only assumptions, suppositions and guesses.

Talking about potential damage to business is not scaremongering. You can call it that, but it doesn't make it so.

we DO NOT KNOW the consequences of a Brexit on immigration, economics, or anything really.

We don't know what will happen if we stay either.

No we don't know, which is why I am very happy to speak in terms of "could", "may" or "might".

It's a gamble either way, although for different reasons. It's silly to try and pretend that it's not.

If we stick to the facts, there are more than two million EU workers (who incidentally are also tax payers...) in the UK.

They can be found in most workplaces and contribute to the running of important public services (NHS, higher education) and private enerprises.

If the life of these people is made difficult in the terms that Mistigri has very clearly explained, then it is likely that a significant number of them will opt to leave. This will have an impact on the running of the above services, which are often struggling as it is.

That is an entirely plausible scenario, not scaremongering.

f the life of these people is made difficult in the terms that Mistigri has very clearly explained, then it is likely that a significant number of them will opt to leave.

I thought you were sticking to facts? That's a theory. A supposition. It's certainly not a fact.

If the life of these people is made difficult in the terms that Mistigri has very clearly explained, then it is likely that a significant number of them will opt to leave. This will have an impact on the running of the above services, which are often struggling as it is.

As a woman said on Question Time the other day, if we leave the EU we could have a points-based system that doesn't discriminate against those coming from outside the EU. Then it would be easier for those looking to work in the NHS who happen to live outside the EU. She added:

"We can have someone unskilled within Europe coming in without any questions, but a really talented doctor from India has to go through an intensive process".

You know, you don't have to leave the EU to recruit skilled migrants...

There is currently nothing stopping the government from increasing the number of skilled visas. Currently it's about 20,000/year I believe, would the sky collapse if they doubled it to 40,000? It's a tiny drop in the ocean of the UK population.

There is nothing stopping them from doing it, apart from their own populist commitment to an arbitrary migration cap. It makes no sense to conflate unskilled EU migrants and skilled migrants in the same figures, it is definitely not a zero-sum game.

I thought you were sticking to facts? That's a theory. A supposition. It's certainly not a fact.

It is a theory and a supposition becase we don't know what the situation will be like. We don't know whether EU immigrants will be asked to apply for visas, whether there will be a point system, whether the UK will remain in the EEA and freedom of movement will not be affected...

We don't know because nobody in the "leave the EU" camp has provided any detail on this or any other fundamental issues (do we have to renegotiate trade agreements? will cooperation with other EU security forces be affected? what will happen to UK citizens leaving in Europe?).

Voting to leave without any clarity on these points seems to me a huge leap in the dark.

huge leap in the dark.

Or a "stride into the light" as IDS says!

We don't know because nobody in the "leave the EU" camp has provided any detail on this or any other fundamental issues

If we leave we will have the terms of our exit decided by the other 27 states of the EU. That's what's preventing people from knowing exactly what would happen. But if we leave, that's another step away from Brussels telling us what to do. If we stay, we move towards a federal Europe with no return.

I think we will get Brexit.....I know only one person wants to remain in the EU, and immigration is the main reason we want out ( well that and benefits)

Being in the EU is like being in a prison where the warders are going to leave the prison door open for 15 hours on 23 June 2016.

The prison door shuts forever after that.

I have already planned my escape - vote LEAVE

Those who are arguing that there will be no impact on EU citizens in the event of a brexit need to explain how the government will distinguish between those EU citizens who have the right to remain in the UK post-brexit, and those who don't (ie tourists and new arrivals).

I cannot see how this can possibly be achieved without some form of registration programme - basically, a visa or resident's card. This will inevitably involve a fair bit of paperwork (and patience) from EU citizens, and will require the commitment of resources by the government.

This may not be a "fact" but it's an inevitable and unavoidable consequence of needing to distinguish EU citizens with residence rights from those without.

Are there any estimates available of how many EU citizens are currently living in the UK, and what proportion of these will fall short of the approximately 6 year residence requirement to qualify for an application for british citizenship?

That's interesting longjumping, I only know people who will vote to stay in, as they work in sectors that rely heavily on skilled EU migrants.

I suppose we each live in our own bubble.

That's why I like to come here

mistigri my guess is: National Insurance Number. You need it to work, pay taxes and receive medical assistance in the UK.

At the moment applying for it is a mere formality as a EU citizen.

In case of a Brexit the process could turn into a real application (like applying for a work visa) for new EU immigrants.

However established EU immigrants who came to the UK and got their NIN before the Brexit would potentially be automatically allowed to keep living and working here with their NIN.

That is at least the easiest way I can see for the British government to distinguish between new EU arrivals and "established" EU immigrants.

GlassOfPort - similarly, I work in a sector where we have to cast the net pretty wide to get the right people in. Most of our EU hires had looked at several countries - i.e. they can pick & choose. I know some won't like to hear this, but it would be in many ways easier to move the work we do out of the UK if hiring skilled people becomes as tricky as it is for our tiny handful of non-EU employees (sponsoring is just too expensive for SMEs, so that's not an option for new hires). It wouldn't be overnight, but I know how the execs work and there'd be a gradual slow dribble.

marghini what about non-working partners and children, though? Or retirees? Do they have a NIN? (You can tell it's a while since I lived in the UK). What about EU nationals leaving school and entering the workforce for the first time?

And how do landlords and employers to check immigration status? (Just having an NIN isn't proof, they are required to check immigration status via passports or other ID documents, but it will be impossible for them to distinguish someone with an EU passport who has residence rights from some one who doesn't.)

These are the sort of questions that the leave campaign should be able to answer ...

slightlyglitter my workplace is similar, UK and global manufacturer, high tech, specialised, lots of highly trained Europeans, and many British people who've spent parts of their career abroad. My department consists of science grads and PhDs most of whom are bi- or tri-lingual. You'll be unsurprised to learn that I can't think of a single Eurosceptic in my workplace (there may be some less vocal ones of course but more likely in less skilled roles).

I work in higher education. Everyone I know is anti-Brexit, it would so clearly be a catastrophe in our sector.

But I am very aware that HE is a small bubble, and very very worried that Brexit may prevail.

However established EU immigrants who came to the UK and got their NIN before the Brexit would potentially be automatically allowed to keep living and working here with their NIN.

I know many EU immigrants like me, who have overseas spouses living in the UK thanks to their EU rights. What will happen to all these people?

The UK treats its own citizens appallingly in this situation, refusing visas to many international spouses of British people. So I can't imagine they'll be rushing to give visas to overseas spouses/children of EU citizens.

mistigri I think every EU immigrant in the UK should be entitled to a NIN since you need it to receive medical assistance. So I assume that yes, children and SAHMs have NIN too.