[Closed] UK citizens in Europe/planning to stay/leave uk?

I need to improve my German and do the test, it is quite hard though, our office environment is English speaking, so I never get to practice enough to really learn it well. I start to learn and then never have need to use it.

I intend to stay but I could really do without this **** fest and the worry it is causing.

My wife is deeply upset over the whole affair. She has spent 20 years here and had up to Brexit considered it her home. Now she is not so sure and despite the fact that obviously she will be able to stay as she is married and crucially for the govt, a highly qualified high earner we are looking at potentially moving.

The final straw may come at any time and certainly if she is forced down the road of applying for anything like citenship or right to remain then that will do it. Her right to remain is 20 years of high taxation, commitment to many of our institutions including volunteer work and a family life.

Both our children are bilingual in her native language and so moving wouldn't be so hard on them.

So I reckon we are 50/50 at the moment.

Living in France. Absolutely zero interest in moving back to the UK.

Been here long enough and speak the language well enough to have a good crack at taking French citizenship, but it's a long process and not guaranteed. I qualify for an Irish passport, so applying for that as a simple solution for the moment.

I have no plans to leave Spain. Mrs. mogrim is Spanish, and with two kids here + over 20 years residency I don't suppose I'd have any problems sorting out citizenship were it necessary. Major case of CBA though, the Spanish do love their paperwork and I can see it being a seriously tedious exercise...

Funnily enough had a conversation with my fork lift driver today who is Lithuanian. Yes it's on the flipside of the op but he's zero intentions of leaving, loves it here and couldnt give a **** about brexit. I hope there are any others like him.

Learning Swedish and planning to leave the UK.

Not quite what you asked for, but it'd probably be New Zealand for us if things fall apart. Though I'd rather stay in Europe - maybe Belgium?

Lived in spain 15 years so have state healthcare, residency and tax residency. No idea re future but the state healthcare, free at point of purchase, is a nice to have.

No idea re future, nice to have a choice i suppose. I have uk assets and am nearly finished paying the uk state pension. Doubt i ll have to leave spain as i pay tax here and that would disappear.

I do feel for the spanish in london though, those with houses, kids at school etc.

Living in Tallinn, Estonia with my GF (who is Estonian) with no intention of returning to the UK. This place is ace apart from how difficult the language is to learn, but i am studying. After many years together in the UK we up and left to come here as this place seems good to start a family. I currently have a 5 year residency permit which hopefully will become permanent unless Brexit messes it up.

I've got a job offer for Canada.

My partner is German/French. Been here 11 years. But we are considering the possibility of going elsewhere.

Point at the moment is that we don’t have a solid reason (Orher then Brexot nonsense). so now we have to decide between various places and I guess just start applying for jobs and see what happens.

Not coming back but I've heard Northumberland is nice

I'm in Spain now, was in Germany before that. Might move on again (my partner is Italian) but certainly not back to the UK.

We've lived in Cataluña for 2 and a bit years, the leave vote happened 10 months after we arrived. We immediately applied for Residencia but our status cannot move beyond this for several years. Being "retired" but under the actual retirement age here, we had to take out private medical cover. Mrs PB has now got a part time job teaching English and pays tax and autonomo so once she has 3 months of contributions, we can drop the private cover and go onto the public healthcare Capsalut. The biggest changes we're facing are the 30+% depreciation in Sterling and the possible independance of Cataluña but the lifestyle and weather outweigh these inconveniences. Can't envisage returning to live in the UK anytime soon.

no immediate plans, but if it all goes to shit like I expect it too, then canada beckons. got family there and the sector I work on is heavily supported & funded by the canadian government

Been in Germany since... erm quite a long time, and Netherlands for 4 years before that.

No intention of moving back to UK.

If I'm no longer eligible to work on the project that I'm working on now, then I'll have to reconsider options. One is to get as far away as possible.

i moved back to UK 2 months before the brexit vote, doh! I didn't want to come back to the UK, but the job was too good to turn down.

Gf is french and we both have itchy feet. Belgium, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, US, Aus, NZ and Spain are on the cards for us, mainly for language proficiency. After spending 5 years in Finland, I've learnt that I need complete language fluency to settle in a country. This rules out any of the Slavic, German, Nordic and Fenno-Ugric countries for me.

Piston - is it 5 years you have to clock up to qualify for residency? I assume you have gone autonomo for state healthcare, in valencia you can buy state health care for a monthly fee, c 100e i think. I m sure you know but u need 15 years of spanish state contributions to qualify for a spanish pension. I dont know if u can add uk to make up that 15 years min.

Kids just started school here, have a big mortgage (for us), family (some terminally ill), so a few things keeping me. However, I sympathise completely with those who have decided to move, or don’t feel as welcome in the UK any more. I would naff off if I could.

Real shame as I was proud to live in a not necessarily perfect, but at least somewhat inclusive society. I think a lot of decently folk are just going to get the hell out of dodge and take their skills/contributions to society with them.

Poolman, yes I think it is 5 years for permanent residency and 10 if you want to apply for citizenship. We got health insurance via the bank, a provider called Adeslas but it's €150 a month for the 2 of us. The Capsalut system is better and allows you to go to local GPs rather than pitching up at the hospital with non urgent stuff. If you have been working officially for more than 3 months and pay autonomo, you can apply for yourself and spouse to receive this benefit. MrsPB is working at a local language school with school kids to improve their English as they need a good standard to apply for University. She is Tefl qualified and was a teacher in the UK for 30 years so it's right up her calle.

I’m 10 years+ over here in Belgium, with Belgian kids...

Not sure how it will actually effect me to be honest. I’ve got Swiss & a Norwegian mates who have no residency or travel issues so don’t really expect any for me either

I do plan to get UK passports for the kids though so I guess I should pull my finger out 🙂

I’ve been in Spain for 10 years, I have a business and employees and pay tax. I have a daughter here too and my partner is local. I’ll apply for a UK passport for my daughter before Brexit, she’s trilingual so keeps her options open. We would never move back though, nothing wrong with the UK but I have made a life here which i like a lot. If that means applying for citizenship then that’s what I’ll do. I can’t see it ever being an issue given the fact that I pay taxes, employ people, own a house and hablo el lingo. At the moment I don’t think anyone is really sure how it will affect us.

I feel more sorry for the cool peolle I know who are living out here but not working. They’re going to be screwed over.

Here in Germany now 4 years, no intention of going back to the uk. My view on Brexit from this position is it's something that is happening "over there" or somewhere else.

Woke up last June to the news of Brexit and simultaneously that we'd exchanged contracts on the sale of our house and were committed to moving to France (well, we could have gone elsewhere....). Biggest downside has been the exchange rate debacle - on the upside, we love it and can't for a whole load of reasons see ourselves moving back to the UK - all our neighbours think the UK is barking mad!

Same as Doug, though I don't employ anyone. Really don't want a Spanish passport, I'll hold out for Basque one 😉

I need to improve my German and do the test, it is quite hard though, our office environment is English speaking, so I never get to practice enough to really learn it well. I start to learn and then never have need to use it.

So you want to live in a Country but can't be arsed to learn the language and that is the fault of Brexit? FFS. 🙄

The general consensus from posts above seem to be that you live abroad and have no intention of ever returning to the UK, so other than the inconvenience of gaining residency wherever you are, could you explain why the UK leaving the EU actually bothers you so much?

Sounds like being a third country citizen is a major PITA. I hope that our government looks after your interests and doesn’t just abandon you unilaterally.

could you explain why the UK leaving the EU actually bothers you so much?

For me, it's completely unnecessary: Nothing that is wrong with this country will be fixed by Brexit and all it will do is focus attention, and money, away from doing what needs to be done and on to regaining a position we already have. It's a pointless vanity project, driven, in part, by the hard right.

Been living and working in Belgium longer than I have the UK now. If you have 5 years uninterrupted work at the point you apply you don't even need to do the language test although it doesnt seem too bad. I need to apply to become Belgian but haven't done so yet but can't see any reason not to. I like it here

My Mrs has indefinite leave to remain having been here 17 years and paid a lot of higher rate tax while doing so, she will get a uk passport (costing £1k+) so that she will receive a pension, which as far as we/she is concerned she should be entitled to.
but brexit has changed her attitude to this country and certainly not for the better, me having a few racist thicko’s in my extended family hasn’t helped.
i’m waiting for the opportunity to call them out on it “so which of your friends have lost a job to somebody like my girlfriend? only they struggle to get a couple of gcse passes between them let alone a masters and 20 years experience?
i’m crap at languages so dont really want to leave the u.k. have aging parents too.
i love the U.K. but sometimes it really stinks.

So you want to live in a Country but can't be arsed to learn the language and that is the fault of Brexit? FFS.

Maybe you need English lessons, your comprehension is extremely poor.

could you explain why the UK leaving the EU actually bothers you so much?

Because it affects our legal status to stay in the country we have lives in. For some it might just be [s]simple[/s]complicated bureaucratic process to sort out, for others that may not be possible. It is already affecting people looking for jobs, as our ongoing legal status is not guaranteed, and potential employers do not want to take a risk.

WOW, you really are making a plonker of yourself.

Any other fantasies you want to assume?

WOW, you really are making a plonker of yourself.

Any other fantasies you want to assume?

😀

Says the man who can't be bothered to learn the language of a country he wants to live and work in, because it's "hard". 😀

I take it that you wouldn't of bothered of all, if we have voted to remain?

You seem to not understand the word "improve" try looking it up before making such stupid accusations.

I take it that you wouldn't of bothered of all, if we have voted to remain?

The man who would fail a really basic English test such as First Certificate in English slags off MSP for admitting that the much harder German test would need some work.

My German is pretty good, I'm just as happy listening to the news in English or German. I can hold a conversation about anything I know anything about, but the German citizenship test would require a lot of hard work before I stood a chance because it's "hard". I've never learned German formally so make a lot of simple mistakes such as "wouldn't of bothered".

A great thread, with some interesting contributions, but as with just about every STW thread I've opened recently there's someone there to poison it. How did you vote, Gobuchul? When no preference for in or out has been expressed in the thread that divided STW I assume out.

*cheery wave at all the other STWers living in places other than the UK whatever their nationality*

I’ve been living in Germany for nearly 18 years now. I have four German kids of my own I am fostering another German child with my German partner and have bought a house here so it looks like I’m here to stay. I haven’t looked into getting citizenship yet but because I have been contributing to the German economy for the last 17 years and providing employment places with my company I hope it should be fairly easy.

Doug - why do u feel for the non working expats in spain? All the pensioners seem q happy, even with the post brexit exchange rate a good life here is still far cheaper than the uk.

"Livin' the Dream" for now and no plans to change it.

In the last 10 years I've lived and worked in the UK, South Africa and now Spain. No disrespect to the UK or SA but for me, Spain wins hands down.

Hope Brexit works out best for everyone in the end.

Doug - why do u feel for the non working expats in spain? All the pensioners seem q happy, even with the post brexit exchange rate a good life here is still far cheaper than the uk.

Indeed Neil, a couple of my ex colleagues bought a place in Spain 18 months ago, (Mojacar?) well before the referendum anyway, They'll be out there for good next November when they pack the shitty prison service in. Theyr'e not rolling in money, he'll have a Navy & HMPS pension & she'll have her HMPS pension. Haven't heard either of them complaining about Brexit. Theyv'e been planning the move for years.

The UK might not be the only ones. https://www.thelocal.se/tag/swexit

In Ireland and staying put. Wife is Irish and kids too, could get citizenship if needed but not spending €1,000 doing so for now. My only worry for now is my pension...i worked 15 years in UK and will have the rest in Ireland. May cause problems on retirement? We will see.

I'm in Austria. Once thing I do notice when I'm in the uk visiting is how anti Europe uk media has become. It's as if they want people to hate it. I have no passion to return but I like to visit.
Today I had the results of a bloody horrible small business/ book keeping/ law test that I took. It was all in German and I passed.
If you live somewhere, what's the reason you don't bother to learn their language? You will always be seen as an outsider and will never really be accepted by the locals.

Poolman, I’m just worried about whether they can remain and what will happen to healthcare etc.

Not us, tried to get a job in the middle east but it didn't pan out (wasn't Brexit related though).

Friends in Bulgaria aren't worried, the Bulgarians offered almost no questions asked citizenship to Brits pretty quick after the vote.

Another thing I found after Mrs Egf's recent long stay in Hospital (Harrogate District Hospital) & chatting to the many Indian staff (nearly all from Kerala) is that they seemed happy enough & weren't in fear of their jobs.

India's not in the EU though so maybe It's [s]your elephant[/s] irrelevant.

Not a uk citizen but I have lived and worked in the uk for 20 years .

Moved back to france in April last year with my british wife and children . Kids should be ok as their birh was registered at the french consulate and we have a Livret de famille .

At the moment not worried about my wife being deported but it might come up at some point . More worried about my uk state pension and what will happen .

Would like to add that we had decided to leave the uk before Brexit but glad we did .

I said to my wife on the 24th June 2016 "Sod this then, I'm leaving the UK"

I emigrated to Canada yesterday.

I emigrated to Canada yesterday.

If I'd had any sense I'd have done that when we 1st joined 'The Common Market'

& being an NHL fan.....

Doug - problem with many expats here in spain is that they came on a budget and sold up in the uk. They have nothing to return to, so if they have to return through lack of healthcare or residency where will they go? Ok to the uk but to live where?

I understand now the residency criteria has tightened, i m pretty sure i just applied for mine and got it, now you have to prove a min income and healthcare provision.

Amazingly i know expats who voted brexit and now complain about the exchange rate.

Moved away from the UK 10 years ago, moved back 2 years now. Not the place I left, seems a bit less happy.
Lucky to have 2 passports so might leave again soon.

Most of the working age will most likely stay outside of the UK if this thread is anything to go by; if they have kids in that country too, then I guess thats where they will stay ... but those without kids/family abroad will most likely move back to the UK when they get old and need health or social care. Thats what vast majority do nowadays anyways.

The risk I guess is if future UK governments bring in some legislation that prevents people who have not lived in the UK for 5 years or so from getting health or social care.

do other EU countries not have healthcare then?

I breaks my heart that this thread exists.
I hate this country.

I like UK in my own way not perfect but good enough. 😀

"Paradise" is what you make of it yourself.

Visited most EU cities before but as much as I like them, it would be rather difficult for me to live there without being able to speak or to write in their language.

IMO only few of the larger ones will be "easier" to find employment. The rest will be very competitive for new comers if you don't speak their language.

Personally go wherever makes you happy. I did.

I’ll retire to Europe somewhere in all likelihood, most probably France as my wife is French although she’s quite keen on Portugal at the moment (we have a few friends who have retired to Lisbon)

I have a UK passport and am confident I’ll need no citizenship test or new passport to move to Europe post April 2019

jambalaya - Member
I’ll retire to Europe somewhere in all likelihood, most probably France as my wife is French although she’s quite keen on Portugal at the moment (we have a few friends who have retired to Lisbon)

I have a UK passport and am confident I’ll need no citizenship test or new passport to move to Europe post April 2019

For me I will go where ever that makes me happy but at the moment it is just the UK, as not being well off means it is the same all over regardless. For example, I can be in the richest country in the world but if I am not well off it will be the same old shite all over again.

"Paradise" is what you make of it yourself.

Visited most EU cities before but as much as I like them, it would be rather difficult for me to live there without being able to speak or to write in their language

There must be some [url= http://bfy.tw/FMS7 ]magical solution[/url] to such a conundrum! 😉

My story is similar to many here. I left the UK twelve years ago, with eight years in Denmark then four years in Australia. Wife and daughter have Danish passports and between us we always considered that at some point we would move 'home' - with that loosely defined as Europe, probably UK or Denmark. Looking at the UK from afar, it seems less welcoming now - as does Denmark, which has also moved towards nationalism as part of a broad 'anti' movement. I'm not sure the UK would let my wife and daughter in, post-Brexit, and similarly I'm not sure Denmark would let me in.

What that means for us is that we're now looking at longer term living abroad, probably stay in Australia, maybe SE Asia. Likely going to sell property in London and Copenhagen as a result of this, which feels like cutting off the return route. Certainly not massively unhappy with that, but there is a regret that the 'rules' have changed re. Europe and I'm now on the losing side. And, not to brag (though this does sound like a dick comment but it's not intended to), me and many of my mates in a similar situation probably fall into the category of people the Brexiters like: degree-educated, professional and earning more than the prime minister. Seems like everyone loses out from my perspective - thanks my Mum for voting exit without thinking it through!

andytherocketeer - Member

do other EU countries not have healthcare then?

At the moment expats get healthcare free under EC rules. After brexit unless there is a deal they won't be and insurance will be unaffordable for many

Been out of the UK for 10 yrs now, for me and the missus there was always the assumption that it was ‘home’ and that we would move back. But with our kids really doing great in schools here, and the current situation has meant that seems a very unlikely outcome these days.

At least we can always have holidays in Aviemore 🙂

Been in France now 6 years started to seriously study french this year,domiciled here and pay tax when I am lucky enough to earn any money, my partner is french, Brexit has seriously affected my work in a negative way I dont want to leave, the stress of all this is horrible I wake in the night sometimes in a complete panic.

@doug healthcare has been “resolved” in the Brexit negotiations already - of course it can all fall apart at the last minute but remember that things like healthcare and right to remain can be decided on a country by country basis if needed. So if EU says “no” Spain can make its own rules. It’s obviously better to do it all at one UK/EU level (not least fir efficiency and also ability to reside permanently in any eu country rather than just one - btw eu only offered the latter initially) but its not needed.

Without wanting to make this an EU Mk2 thread regarding UK having somehow “changed”

Dutch nearly elected a far right leader and are so unhappy at EU they passed a law some time ago saying all new treaties / changes MUST be subject to a referendum
Le Pen made final Presidential run off and got 35% of the vote
Switzerland voted to end freedom of movement, not build any more Mosques and never to join the EU
Austria has a far right leader and a party in the ascendency
Germany has far right in Parliament and their number 1 election issue was Turkey
Numerous EU members simply refused to accept the refugee quota deal Junker tried to enforce
Poland is being sued by the EU

The eurosceptism in the UK re “superstate project” and concern over security, immigration and asylum seekers is widely shared

andytherocketeer - Member
do other EU countries not have healthcare then?

Yes ... but tad different. France is particularly interesting on funding social care costs; Germany I expect will soon need to revise their policies too ... they are potentially on a cliff edge with a very high portion of over 65’s ... if their economy was to dip - it could have a huge impact.

[url= http://https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/commission-background-paper-social-care-health-system-other-countries.pdf ]Health & social care comparison [/url]

I think i read that the uk healthcare recipical agreement costs c 3.5k gbp pa, so if expats have to pay this many cannot afford it as something like 80% rely on the state pension at c 8k pa. Numbers may be slightly out but that sort of magnitude. Its pretty much why the pensioners moved to spain, better quality of life at lower cost.

Also, as the state pension is so expensive to provide i really think the govt will freeze it for pensioners outside uk, like canada, aus etc now.

@doug healthcare has been “resolved” in the Brexit negotiations already - of course it can all fall apart at the last minute

Evidence? Cite?

jambalaya - Member - Block User
I’ll retire to Europe somewhere in all likelihood, most probably France as my wife is French although she’s quite keen on Portugal at the moment (we have a few friends who have retired to Lisbon)

I have a UK passport and am confident I’ll need no citizenship test or new passport to move to Europe post April 2019

Hang on...so you voted for the massively racist, retarded, benefit-the-1%-****-the-99% FUBAR situation that is Brexit, then you are just going to swan off to ANOTHER EU country to retire?

I'd quite like to get to the ROI not sure of the where and how. I have an Australian passport through my father but sadly Australia is the last place on the planet I'd want to go. Trapped!!

neilco - Member
What that means for us is that we're now looking at longer term living abroad, probably stay in Australia, maybe SE Asia.

perditus - Member
I'd quite like to get to the ROI not sure of the where and how. I have an Australian passport through my father but sadly Australia is the last place on the planet I'd want to go. Trapped!!

Why if I may ask?
Why is Australia the last place to go?
There are tonnes of Brits wanting to move there every year for various reasons. 🙂

I'd quite like to get to the ROI not sure of the where and how.

[img] https://flic.kr/p/DZUS1N [/img]Funny lived here since I was nine (28 years or so) , went through UK School Uni system, always worked. I’m Registered to vote etc, Wife is English so are Kids. But the more this goes on the more I’ve started to feel uncomfortable, lots of Anti Irish stuff being spouted now, Good old UKIP wishing Cromwell was still around as he knew how to deal with the Irish!!

I see it as just a symptom though the world seems to be going to shite at the moment!!

TJ David Davies evidence to Brexit Committee and statement to Parliament. There are 3m EU citizens in the UK and 1m of “us” “over there” - thus it’s a pretty easy thing for EU to agree recipricol rights IMO

As I said even if the EU makes no agreement it’s within the power of individual countries to grant rights

nothing has been agreed .

i think the UK proposal is ok .

I have to agree with Jambalaya. Most of the rest of Europe has very strong xenophobic or racist or islamophobic tendancies.

I am in Germany and when I read the Guardian talk as if the country is a liberal promised land, i cannot believe my eyes. The traditonal CDU voter is mildly xenophobic to say the least and then 12% vorted for the popular right AfD, so i would guess nearly half the population are at least mildly xenophobic. Even many liberals will privately moan about the Turks and Arabs. In Saxony, the AfD was the 2nd most popular party in the junior vote for under 18s this year. I often hear the opinion that the EU is basically rubbish, Greeks are lazy tax dodgers, Spaniards more or less the same, no-one seems to like the French, but the EU is worth staying in due to economic reasons. And I have often asked Germans if they would be willing to fight for other EU countries such as Greece or Lithuania, and none have ever said yes!

Funnily enough, I read a report from Poland which in part explained their swing to the right as coming from those who have returned from Britain with tales of multiculturalism which have scared the Poles into swinging to the right to save their identity.

But anyway, I think the only proper reason to settle for good in a country is perhaps that you really like it and the lifestyle....

I will stay in Germany, I like it here but to be honest, I think Brits are generally more welcoming to other cultures in general than the Germans, Brexit or no Brexit.

And I forgot to mention the more or less daily attacks by neo-Nazi idiots on refugee centers etc....

Wasn’t this thread supposed to be “non political” ?

Proves again some posters can’t understand the original requirements. 🙄

Living in the south of Germany on the German/Swiss border, my german is improving all the time and having lived in the UK all my life, there is absolutely no way I would return to live. Getting married to a native german in March so all being well i'm hoping Brexit wont effect us too much (fingers crossed!)

I just prefer the lifestyle over here.

Jamba - thats davies being wishful. Not an agreement. He still wants to register every EU citizen and that is unnacceptable

He still wants to register every EU citizen and that is unnacceptable

Why is it unacceptable?

Everyone in the UK is "registered", when they are born and when you die.

Why should EU citizens be different?

Its unacceptable to the EU to treat its citizens differently from UK ones. Its actually against EU law I believe

Its unacceptable to the EU to treat its citizens differently from UK ones

What is the different treatment?