Which country to retire to for fun, culture, nightlife? Ireland,France, Spain?

I can't believe the Brits are making their passports worthless.  The right to live and work in 27 countries has no value to them, or their children.  And the government is handling the entire thing with extreme incompetence.  Have fun with the new Irish troubles, and the fall of the pound, and collapsing economy due to trade frictions.

You can't generalize an entire population like that. 16.1M people voted to remain in the EU.

I was planning on retiring somewhere in the UK or Europe, live in the US.  In March 2016 I applied for British citizenship via descent and in September 2016 I got the certificate.  So Brexit happens June 2016 and my plans are now screwed. 

I can't believe the Brits are making their passports worthless.  The right to live and work in 27 countries has no value to them, or their children.  And the government is handling the entire thing with extreme incompetence.  Have fun with the new Irish troubles, and the fall of the pound, and collapsing economy due to trade frictions.

Similar boat - wanted to get this passport to make it easier to move around Europe in the future without having to deal with the Swedish authorities and paperwork everytime we wanted to pop back to sweden for 4-6 months in the future. Guess that's out the window! (Although the Swedes will grant a passport pretty quick, itll still be a hassle and I will have to do time there now).

But the incompetence of this government is truly mindboggling. At first I was hopeful there was an adult in the room or some wily plan but nope! So the border issue drags on and time keeps passing and just how panicked are people going to be by October, November, December? Are they going to panic and get something done at some point?

Are they going to panic and get something done at some point?

And is decision-making best in a panic?

I will venture a prediction: a series of murky "extensions". 

You can't generalize an entire population like that. 16.1M people voted to remain in the EU.

I kinda sense the poster was expressing frustration about the current system in the UK. Reading that post it didn't feel that the whole of the UK was being blamed for his predicament. I'm sure the Brits themselves are conflicted about the possible consequences stimming from Brexit.

I kinda sense the poster was expressing frustration about the current system in the UK.

Well frustration is understandable - it was a political stunt gone wrong. I think the Constitution needs serious looking at. Referendum has no place in any of the various constitutional bits and bobs.

I was planning on retiring somewhere in the UK or Europe, live in the US.  In March 2016 I applied for British citizenship via descent and in September 2016 I got the certificate.  So Brexit happens June 2016 and my plans are now screwed. 

Sorry, bit confused....Brexit hasn't actually happened yet so nothing should have screwed any plans as of yet and if you applied via descent that makes your plans even less screwed (unless you mean you applied in a different EU country for descent? Could you clarify as perhaps somebody here could help but it doesn't seem like you're screwed as of yet by any means but I'm not sure if I'm missing something perhaps?

Sorry, bit confused....Brexit hasn't actually happened yet so nothing should have screwed any plans as of yet and if you applied via descent that makes your plans even less screwed (unless you mean you applied in a different EU country for descent? Could you clarify as perhaps somebody here could help but it doesn't seem like you're screwed as of yet by any means but I'm not sure if I'm missing something perhaps?

Why does applying by descent make the plans less screwed?

Either way, assuming Brexit goes ahead, we’re all screwed if we had been planning to use our U.K. passports to move/retire to another EU country, whether we’re citizens by descent (like John5) or otherwise than by descent (like myself).

As I understand it, John5 is a dual-UK/US citizen who was born in the US but gained his UK citizenship through one of his parents... and therefore is a UK citizen by descent. Now that he has a UK passport, he was planning to use it to move to another EU country in retirement.

But with the Brexit vote, assuming it does end up happening, he will no longer be able to do that as he will have  lost his free movement within the EU (same goes for my parents who had been planning to retire to Austria in a few years and now likely will not be able to).


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Why does applying by descent make the plans less screwed?

Either way, assuming Brexit goes ahead, we’re all screwed if we had been planning to use our U.K. passports to move/retire to another EU country, whether we’re citizens by descent (like John5) or otherwise than by descent (like myself).

As I understand it, John5 is a dual-UK/US citizen who was born in the US but gained his UK citizenship through one of his parents... and therefore is a UK citizen by descent. Now that he has a UK passport, he was planning to use it to move to another EU country in retirement.

But with the Brexit vote, assuming it does end up happening, he will no longer be able to do that as he will have  lost his free movement within the EU (same goes for my parents who had been planning to retire to Austria in a few years and now likely will not be able to).


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But we don't know for sure what is going to happen so it doesn't automatically mean anybody is screwed just yet. Obviously it doesn't look good because we seem to be so close to it triggering with no actual idea of what is going to happen, but there are options for him still vs just staying in the US. And he mentioned retiring in the UK or elsewhere in Europe and having UK citizenship through descent (saying that the UK is an option for retirement - as he's based int he US at the moment from what I can see). The Bexit vote doesn't automatically mean everything has gone to sh*t. They could still come to the UK, at a minimum. Obviously it's all uncertain whether free movement into/around Europe will be totally off the table or if there will be something in place to allow for easier movement even if it's not totally open. I don't want this person to just automatically assume they've done all that work for nothing because, at a minimum, I don't see how moving to the UK with UK descent, is off the table even if Brexit makes immigrating elsewhere in Europe difficult (unless I've missed something to do with those laws?).

If your heart is set on Amalfi, Scunthorpe can be a bit of a let down....

But we don't know for sure what is going to happen so it doesn't automatically mean anybody is screwed just yet. Obviously it doesn't look good because we seem to be so close to it triggering with no actual idea of what is going to happen, but there are options for him still vs just staying in the US. And he mentioned retiring in the UK or elsewhere in Europe and having UK citizenship through descent (saying that the UK is an option for retirement - as he's based int he US at the moment from what I can see). The Bexit vote doesn't automatically mean everything has gone to sh*t. They could still come to the UK, at a minimum. Obviously it's all uncertain whether free movement into/around Europe will be totally off the table or if there will be something in place to allow for easier movement even if it's not totally open. I don't want this person to just automatically assume they've done all that work for nothing because, at a minimum, I don't see how moving to the UK with UK descent, is off the table even if Brexit makes immigrating elsewhere in Europe difficult (unless I've missed something to do with those laws?).

In what ways am I screwed?  Uncertainty.  I will not move to the UK with the possibility that the Brexit will be hard which will devalue the pound, and cause havoc in the economy.  I am not doing anything until things settle out.

Can't move to Portugal (as an example), don't know if I would have to leave or not.  No deal Brexit means all free movement ends.  Even if a deal happens, it will be much worse than just doing nothing.  I don't want to deal with Portuguese immigration and visas which is a headache.

Given how incompetent things have been to date I am not optimistic about things working out.  It will be years before this all gets worked out, years of uncertainty.

I only mentioned I am a decent citizen as background info, it has no bearing on anything.

I don't understand how an non-legal binding referendum becomes something that just can't be stopped.  It didn't even define what the Brexit would be in detail.  The government doesn't even know what kind of Brexit it wants right now.  Brexit means Brexit, which means what?
 

I don't understand how an non-legal binding referendum becomes something that just can't be stopped.

About half of the population is already angry about the Brexit decision. Can you imagine the anger if parliament decided to go against the {sarcasm} WILL OF THE PEOPLE {/sarcasm} and stay in the EU? British politicians are spineless at the best of times; there's no way any of them are going to go out on a limb and try to pull us back from this stupidity.

I can't believe the Brits are...

I voted for Clinton and staying in the EU. The results of both votes came as such a shock that I decided to put the time and effort in to understanding why people voted the opposite way to me and why they see the world so different to me. I don't think it's healthy to live in a bubble only hearing points of view that agree with your own.

The media love to portray the world as black and white, good vs evil, etc, but the reality is much different. Its lots of  shades of grey and that is reflected in the manifold reasons that people choose to vote for Trump and Brexit.

The only way to counteract the direction both countries are going in is, in my opinion, to understand the other side's points of view, even if you don't and never will agree with it.

Just wondering Groover, do you think the other team is trying to understand the opposition too? I'm not seeing a lot of it.

Well frustration is understandable - it was a political stunt gone wrong. I think the Constitution needs serious looking at. Referendum has no place in any of the various constitutional bits and bobs.

Does the UK have a Constitution similar to that of the USA or one at all?

Does the UK have a Constitution similar to that of the USA or one at all?

https://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/britains-unwritten-constitution