Water Lily

Hello all, I'm a newbie

I hope I'm allowed to join you! Only I'm neither a Brit nor an Expat... BUT... I've lived in the UK since 1996, I'm married to a Brit and we're hoping to become expats soon, does that qualify me?

Anyway, the truth is we were looking at trying our luck in New Zealand, have submitted our expression of interest and it's currently being looked at.... but in the meantime, I've been told great things about Switzerland, so I thought I'd have a look to see what other expats thought... I've also been told there's lots of British people living out there? If this is true, how come they don't have their own forum??

I guess the one thing that worries me most is the language barrier, I'm told most people use English at the workplace, is this true?? Of course we would want to learn the local language eventually as this opens up so many more opportunities (I'm not just talking about work here, but socially, etc), but it'd certainly help if we didn't have to worry about it from day one, at least not to earn money to pay the bills!

Anybody out there who could give us some pointers, please? Also, do you need any permits to work in the country, or is EU citizenship enough??

Guess that's enough for a fist post!

Hope someone out there can help... I'd be most grateful
Maria
x

Mizz Teapot

Go see

englishforum.ch

jdr

No forum cos there has only been about three threads on it over a long period.

Water Lily

Aaaah, that'll explain it! They've gone somewhere else!

Thanks for the tip, Mizz Teapot, I'll have a look there!

jdr

No the reason is people send them off the site before they can be answered. :-((

JAJ

Are you planning to become a British citizen? That will make things a lot easier for you in Switzerland.

Water Lily

Hi JAJ, I did look into it, but it costs over £600 to apply (plus the fees for the "Life in the UK" exam I'd have to pass) and I don't think they'd accept my application as we went travelling for 21 months between 2005 and 2007 and that means I've been away from the country for too long, even though I've lived here since 1996! But unfortunately they only take into account the last 3 years.

Ah well. I wish I had looked into it before we went away, but too late now.

Still, I do have a EU passport, so I didn't think it'd make any difference?

JAJ

What EU state are you from and were you ever formally given Indefinite Leave to Remain under the pre-2006 immigration laws?

Water Lily

Hi JAJ you're worrying me now!! "Indefinite Leave to Remain"?? I thought that was only applicable to non-EU citizens?? Have I got it all wrong after all these years?? I have a Spanish passport by the way. Cheers.

JAJ

Contrary to popular myth, living in the U.K. as an EU citizen hasn't constituted "permanent residence" since October 2000.

Between October 2000 and April 2006, the only way to be a "permanent resident" was to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) under the Immigration Rules.

Since 30 April 2006, EU/EEA/Swiss citizens who have "exercised Treaty Rights" in the U.K. for at least 5 years automatically become Permanent Residents (PR).

You generally need to have PR/ILR in order to become naturalised British.

As to your Spanish citizenship. If you became British would you be allowed to keep it, or would it be revoked?

Water Lily

Thanks JAJ, will have to look into it. I arrived in 96 and was given resident status after one year. If the law changed in 2000 you would've thought the consulate would've got in touch with me, but nope. So this is the first I hear about it!!

If we were to stay in the UK, would this affect my status at all, and could it potentially create problems for me? Or would it just be relevant if I were to apply for British citizenship?? I mean, they wouldn't kick me out of the country, would they?!? I'm now married to a British citizen so I would hope not! Where can I find out more? Home Office web pages I guess?

Regarding double nationality, a few years ago they only allowed you to have one, but the law changed again fairly recently and now I would just have to write to the consulate expressing my desire to keep my Spanish nationality as well. If I don't, I lose it after 3 years. But like I said if I leave England for pastures new I won't be able to apply for British citizenship anymore anyway...

Ray51

There are also untold numbers of Brits , living and working ( and even : retired ! ) in/from Belgium and Luxembourg !
But they appear to be happy to stick ( so far ) to the usual general forums in english language , which expats of all nationalities visit
( e.g. expatica.com or X-pats.com ).
Maybe it's just too much to expect a Forum section here , for every individual country - unless the postings' traffic proves otherwise...?

jdr

READ post 5.
How can you build up a forum if people keep sending them off instead of trying to answer them.

Ray51

True!
( Yet , uniquely for Europe . or EEA area : just how many individual countries can have own forums , even whene there are sporadic entries for places like Poland , Montenegro , Greece , Hungary , Estonia and elsewhere ; yet , many have contributed and posted , and are still doing so ...maybe : still a better solution than a single country forum that has a few posts annually ? )

jdr

That is why they are in the Europe forum, if there was enough usage I am sure admin would include them in a forum of their own, as recently happened to the Cyprus forum.
People have to remember this is a 24/7 site and not everybody reads it at the same time as the threads are posted, so there may be a time delay before people reply anyway.