Lobby to negotiate equal visa rights for U.K. citizens with property in EU area - Page 12

No link attached?  🤔

Thank you.  

It appears that the Spanish and UK governments are co-ordinated on message: for non-residents already in Spain, it says they will not process visas extensions for UK citizens overstaying 90 in 180 (which the British Embassy in Madrid also advised a couple of weeks ago). 

More importantly, from your perspective and that of other non-residents currently wanting to visit Spain, while the Spanish site suggests it will consider "exceptions", their link takes you to the Gov.UK website, where there are no exceptions that fit your circumstances, i.e. wanting to check on your property in Spain.

I'm not surprised, but I guess it was worth a try.

Kind regards, 

Kim

The UK had complete control.

https://fullfact.org/europe/border-security-eu/

It's not a myth. Britain had total control of who they let in, that's a fact. 

What they decided to do once these folk arrived is entirely up to the UK,  its the same issue every country faces and arguably as an island was easier to manage. 

The UK had a number of opt out agreements with EU over migration and the settlement of refugees. Again, whether they chose to implement them time and again was entirely up to the UK. 

What will happen now as the restrictions impact EU workers is that the UK will need to look to its commonwealth, and Pakistan and India especially to meet future demands of its jobs market and attract much needed younger migrants to supplement its older tax base. 

Oh the irony. 

Hi John52,

I think part of the problem is perception - too many British people seem incapable of differentiating between economic migrants, asylum seekers and illegal immigrants - with all foreigners far too frequently assumed to be illegal.  The Brexit campaign fed and exploited that xenophobia.

As with all EU member states, UK citizens had been benefiting from EU membership (for 47 years), with freedom of movement allowing them to legally move to other EU member states.  In doing so, immigrants have to comply with the residency laws of the country in which they choose to live.  It's one thing to blame the immigrant if they don't, but what about the country that doesn't enforce its own residency laws?  British illegal immigrants have been getting away with it for years in Spain, but they don't get handouts from the Spanish state.  So I think you need to ask what incentivises immigrants (legal or otherwise) to aim for the UK's shores, over any other European country?  Any difficulty the UK has in controlling its own borders is because of its own failings, not because of EU membership.

And how ironic that in October last year, the UK Government said it would not be implementing any of the recommendations from the Migration Advisory Committee report on the 'Shortage Occupations Lists'.  Yet last week, foreign "deckhands" were re-categorised as "skilled workers" under the UK's new immigration rules, so that UK fishing boats can continue to employ them.  On 2 January this year, Priti Patel published an advert on the Gov.UK website for 30,000 seasonal fruit pickers.  With the UK government paying benefits to almost 2m unemployed adults, you have to wonder why it's advertising visas for foreign nationals to pick fruit.  Whose at fault?  The UK unemployed?  Foreign fruit pickers?  Or those who create the strategy and determine the rules?  Yes, that's the UK government.

I believe that Brexit was motivated by the greed of a relatively small, but extremely wealthy and influential group of British businessmen and politicians.  In 2015, the EU followed the USA in rolling out FATCA (Financial Account Tax Compliance Act 2010) regulations, to help prevent tax evasion across international borders, with a future plan to extend the regulations to 'offshore' bank accounts.  So I find myself asking why would members of UK eurosceptic groups and billionaire backers of the Brexit campaign want to avoid scrutiny of the type of accounts that have previously enjoyed little regulation and even less transparency? 🤨

Kind regards,

Kim

Your last line is, sadly, 100% spot on. 

Take a bow Kimmy. Excellent post. 

Many thanks for the info both husband and myself have signed, will also get my son to sign it, fingers crossed!

Carol

Alot of British holiday makers pay into the Spanish system employing hundreds of thousands of Spanish people , were as when the east Europeans came in there millions they took and took some more resulting in 17.2 million votes to leave. Brexit has happened let's get the problems sorted and move on. 

I worked in the construction industry for quite a few years, and saw the impact of EU workers coming to the UK. 

But who do you blame, those coming here to work for what was lots more money than they could earn in their own county? Or the companies and individuals that took them on knowing they could pay them less than they could British workers, and pay them in cash without deductions for tax and National Insurance? One feeds the other.

Don't forget, an army of British construction workers flooded into Germany in the 1980's to work for less than German workers until the German authorities changed the rules on taxation, making in no longer worth the British working there.

As for agricultural workers, a friends family run several farms in Lincolnshire, and were always having trouble finding local people to take on to work in the fields at harvesting times, so they were forced to look for workers further afield. They very much doubt they will be able to attract local workers as they simple "don't want to do the work".