Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Josquius]

Sounds like British problems with EU bureaucracy won't be fixed by substituting the British one.

I bet most of the people who voted against 'EU bureaucracy' don't even know the meaning of the word.
Seriously.

[Zanza]

Sounds like British problems with EU bureaucracy won't be fixed by substituting the British one.

It will be worth it to be rid of those employed European foreigners.

I heard all those tax-paying EU foreigners are a major burden for the British social and education system.

[Syt]

[Tamas]

http://news.sky.com/story/eu-criminals-facing-deportation-and-uk-ban-for-up-to-10-years-10605190

I guess deportation is fine, then again depends on the details. Cracking down on landlords and banks servicing illegal immigrants is probably a good idea.

But my favourite part is

Immigrants will not be able to take jobs British people could do

Good luck cleaning your shit, finding nurses, and staffing your shops then.

[Josquius]

The problem is fucking idiots who see unemployment as a single nation wide figure.  That a Czech working in a cafe in Brighton is stealing a job from a woman in Hartlepool.
Or,  even worse,  that a Hungarian computer programmer in London is stealing work from a Welsh steel worker.

[garbon]

Yay, May's speech/interview trigger another fall of the pound. I'm nearly working for free.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I guess you could think of it as a hedge. If the dollar is strong then at least Trump isn't totally fucking your country, if the dollar collapses then at least you will get more money 

[The Larch]

Aah, the joys of bureaucracy...

Dutch woman with two British children told to leave UK after 24 years

Those Home Office pencil pushers are going to have lots of fun reviewing requests if they have to be so thorough...

Also, to think that somebody who has been living that long in the UK, who is completely settled, with family and work and no apparent drawbacks whatsoever would have difficulties is really perplexing.

After this case some other have surfaced as well:

Man told to take citizenship test despite living entire life in UK
Dom Wolf, born in London to German parents, hits bureaucratic wall trying to apply for British passport after Brexit vote

A man born in London to German parents has been told he cannot get a British passport unless he takes a UK citizenship test because he cannot prove his mother was legally in the country when she gave birth.

German neuroscientist also told to leave UK after residency rejection
Sam Schwarzkopf, who has lived in UK since 1999, tells the Guardian he had a similar experience to Monique Hawkins

Sam Schwarzkopf, a German neuroscientist living in the UK, contacted the Guardian after it published the story of Monique Hawkins.

He said he had a similar experience at the hands of the Home Office to Hawkins, a Dutch woman who was told to make preparations to leave the UK after she applied for British citizenship following the EU referendum. This was despite her living in the UK for 24 years and having two children with her British husband.

Schwarzkopf said: "I am a German citizen who moved to the UK in 1999 to study neuroscience at Cardiff University, both my undergraduate degree and my PhD. After I got my PhD in 2007, I decided to remain in the UK to work. I am now married to a British woman and am a faculty member at University College London.

"I originally applied for that permanent residence document in March 2016 because it is necessary for a British citizenship application.

"In June, one week before the referendum, my application was rejected. The reason was that I hadn't included my passport in the application, only a legally certified colour copy. This rejection letter contained the phrase that I 'should now make preparations to leave' the UK.

And apparently somebody cracked the numbers of people affected and the time it'd take to solve their situation:

Brexit: 1m EU citizens in Britain 'could be at risk of deportation'
Campaigners say it would take the Home Office 47 years to process applications from EU citizens for permanent residency

The government has been warned that up to 1 million EU citizens living in the UK could be at risk of deportation if it does not come up with a simple way of recognising their status in the country.

The 3 Million, a grassroots group lobbying for the rights of non-British citizens who have made the UK their home, has told the home secretary it would take the Home Office 47 years to process applications from EU citizens for permanent residency (PR). "We are people with families, children, friends and work colleagues, and we are rightly worried about a very uncertain future," said Nicolas Hatton, chair of the 3 Million, in his letter to Amber Rudd.

Yet the Home Office won't guarantee these people's situations because they don't want the UK to "lose negotiating capital".

Assuring EU citizens of right to stay 'would lose UK negotiating capital'
Home Office says in letter that it cannot give unilateral assurances until status of Britons in other EU countries is protected

The UK would lose "negotiating capital" in Europe if it unilaterally granted EU citizens the right to remain after Brexit, the government has said.

In a letter to a group of EU citizens from the office of the home secretary, Amber Rudd, the government said it "recognises that EU nationals make an invaluable contribution to our economy and society".

However, in an apparent hardening of the official position, the letter warned that the government cannot do anything to address their position after Brexit until it has assurances that British citizens in Europe will receive reciprocal protection in the country where they have settled.

"Agreeing a unilateral position in advance of these negotiations would lose negotiating capital with respect to British citizens in EU member states and place the UK at an immediate disadvantage," said the letter signed by Peter Grant, an official in the free movement policy team of the immigration and border policy directorate of the Home Office.

"The prime minister has been clear that she wants to protect the status of EU nationals already living here, and the only circumstances in which that would not be possible are if British citizens' rights in other EU member states were not protected in return," it added.

Nicolas Hatton, the chairman of campaign group the3million, which represents EU citizens in the UK, said: "This is a very disappointing letter.Whatever happens in the negotiations, they will have to find a way to register 3 million people, and if they do not start this process early, it will be impossible.

"The Home Office is overwhelmed by [the backlog of 100,000] applications for permanent residency. The system is not working, but instead of addressing it, they just stick their heads in the sand. It is quite shocking really.

"It is quite clear that there is no change in their position and no recognition that the current system will not work."

The letter has incensed members of the3million, a grassroots organisation founded by Hatton and a group of French citizens in Bristol following the EU referendum in June last year.

One member wrote on a closed Facebook group on Monday: "We have been referred to as 'main cards in the negotiations', 'bargaining chips' and now 'negotiating capital'. Does that make you feel valued?"

Another said: "We are, it seems, not really people at all, just 'negotiating material'. I have never been described as a 'chip' or 'material' before. Surely this is discriminatory language prohibited under equality laws?"

The letter was sent in reply to one from the3million before Christmas warning Rudd that up to 1 million EU citizens could face deportation after Brexit, unless the Home Office came up with a simple way of recognising their status in Britain.

The group is concerned that families with one or more EU citizens are becoming collateral damage in Brexit talks, facing stress and anxiety because their right to remain will not be enshrined in law when the UK leaves the EU.

Some EU citizens who have been in the UK for more than five years are seeking paperwork to support their status, a process that entails filling in an 85-page application form for permanent residency that was designed for non-EU citizens coming to Britain.

Hatton said others who have been in the UK for less than five years are opting for a "residency certificate" to enable them to provide proof that they were in the country before the referendum.

Completing both forms involves a large number of supporting documents. They have been criticised as unfit for purpose.

The permanent residency form requires evidence of every absence out of the country and, in some cases, such as stay-at-home parents, proof of comprehensive sickness insurance.

This has come as a shock to many, including Britons married to EU citizens whose partners have stayed at home to bring up children. It may also cause problems for those who find that a five-year continuous period in Britain does not qualify them for residency, if they have taken a year or two out of work.

Hatton pointed out that the systems deployed by other EU member states for EU residents who are not nationals are much simpler.

"The amount of proof they require in this country is quite ridiculous and I wish that the Home Office would have at least started to think about that and think laterally," he said.

All news items from the Grauniad.

[Josquius]

Yay, May's speech/interview trigger another fall of the pound. I'm nearly working for free.

Why do you think I cancelled my thoughts of moving back to the UK post brexshit

[Tamas]

WTF I will have to mail my actual passport when I apply for permanent residence?! It is pushing it enough that I am supposed to mail them my drivers license to get a British one, instead of just showing up in person somewhere, but really? Take my prime identity document, one that could be abused in all kinds of ways in the wrong hands, put it in some envelope, and hope for the best?! Really?!

[Duque de Bragança]

Surely they recommend registered shipping for sensitive documents? 

[Tamas]

Surely they recommend registered shipping for sensitive documents? 

IDK about passports, but for drivers licenses, I researched it online and apparently it's next t meaningless, as the main office where those go to, they just sign for the bulk of mail they receive a given day. So just because you use registered shipping, and it will be signed for, it can still get lost and it still gets the "tough luck, mate" treatment from the office.

[Syt]

Surely they recommend registered shipping for sensitive documents? 

German embassy sent me my passport in regular mail.

[garbon]

WTF I will have to mail my actual passport when I apply for permanent residence?! It is pushing it enough that I am supposed to mail them my drivers license to get a British one, instead of just showing up in person somewhere, but really? Take my prime identity document, one that could be abused in all kinds of ways in the wrong hands, put it in some envelope, and hope for the best?! Really?!

Yeah, I had to do so for my work visa. It was rather unsettling trusting the post office to send to a foreign gov't said document and that's leaving aside things like a foreign gov't controlling whether or not I could leave my own country for an unspecified amount of time.

[garbon]

Yay, May's speech/interview trigger another fall of the pound. I'm nearly working for free.

Why do you think I cancelled my thoughts of moving back to the UK post brexshit

Well unless the country collapses, it'll eventually go back up. But yes, if one were planning to leave UK soon, wouldn't be the best idea. Though, if I do leave and pound is down, I'll just leave that money in UK till there is a better time to repatriate that money.