Moving to Greater Manchester

Hi everyone, I am an American with an EU passport (unfortunately not Irish) moving to Manchester in late August.  I know with Brexit that I may be limited to two years from whenever the government formally announces that they will leave the EU depending on the negotiations the British government pursues.   I lived in England a few years ago for several years and then moved back to the USA due to family issues two years ago.  I have found that I much prefer living across the pond actually so I have been anxious to get back to the UK for the last year or so.  I have considered going to Ireland but that is my back up plan if the UK actually does decide to leave the single market in 2 years time.   

Welcome!

I live in Greater Manchester. Was this the area you lived in before going back to the states?

Sadly the only thing certain right now is uncertainty!

Hi BriKH,

No, I actually moved around a bit.  I started out in Birmingham, then went to London, and then lived almost  2 years in Brighton.  I have been thinking about trying out the Manchester area for awhile before I left the UK.   A friend of mine moved from London to Manchester a while ago, and he quite loves, it but I think it is mostly the savings from London that impresses him the most.

Yeah, I was more prepared for a yes vote than my friends in Brighton / London who are all gutted now.

I think the new Conservative leader will be announced around 9 September, so we may know more then.

From your perspective, and these are just my musings, there may end up being a difference between EU folk who are here before official notification of intent to leave (the triggering of Article 50), and any EU citizen seeking to enter after that.

Here is bit about Andrea Leadsom, one of the candidates for Conservative leadership:

"She also appeared to suggest that any EU citizen arriving after Sept. 9, the date a new leader will be chosen, might not have their ability to remain in Britain protected under EU rules"

I don't know why she is saying that 9 September would be the date of change. Perhaps she is saying that she, if elected, would trigger Article 50 immediately.

She is not, at the moment, the front-runner, that would be Theresa May, who has stated she will use EU residency as a bargaining chip during exit negotiations.

More musings:

• It would seem very impractical to expel EU people already here..the economic effects would be real.
  
  2. EU residents will become a bargaining chip....everything in negotiations is a bargaining chip.

So it seems probable to me that there will be some cutoff date, after which EU migrants will not have the same level of protection. I think it is probable too that the triggering of Article 50 may be that date because if a future date was used, say after the two year negotiation phase....it may create a rapid influx.

That brings up the question of when, or if, Article 50 will be triggered. I don't think that will happen anytime soon....meaning not in this year. We still do not really have a negotiating team set up....these things take time. The EU, for the most part, and hardcore Brexiters are pushing for a date sooner not later.

This is almost nothing more than guess work, and nothing really has turned out as I have predicted. 

But it would seem logical, as much as logic can be applied to this mess, that if you were thinking of moving over, it would be better to do it before the yet-to-be-determined cutoff date. Additionally, if Leadsom wins....her statement is fair warning that she intends to limit EU movement...and that she intends to do it pretty quickly. May is being a bit more coy.

edit - and of course anything either May or Leadsom says is campaign talk...

Yeah I am keeping tabs on the Brexit news.  I am not sure exactly when I am flying yet but I do hope to be there before article 50 is triggered.

Well I have made it across the pond again  .  It does not seem to have changed much from 2 years I have gone besides various articles on Brexit in various newspapers.  Now just need to find a job and a place to live besides airbnb place for the next month.