Re: "Brexit"
 

What a wonderful list! For anybody looking to see who might replace Britain in the EU, I can tell them that Noway will not be it.

Re: "Brexit"
 

Some useful advice from the FT "As a British expat in the EU, what should I do?"

https://next.ft.com/content/5424a906...5-4eaa66292c32

Re: "Brexit"
 

could you copy and paste?

Re Brexit - I think its becoming more and more apparent that it will be an exit in name only, especially as nobody can actually explain what it is.

See: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-r...n-sir-humphrey

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Just google the title and you can read it from the google link.

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Alas i dont have a subscription and it wont let me....

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From FT Aug 4 by N Rovnick.

I am a UK citizen living in France. I want to apply for dual
citizenship so I can stay here after Brexit. How should I organise my
financial affairs in preparation for the UK leaving the EU? I am 60 and
am due to receive the UK state pension. I also have a private UK pension
and own UK stocks that pay dividends into a UK bank account. What should
I do to make sure I do not encounter any unforeseen problems?

We don’t yet know the final legal impact of Brexit, and the law remains
the same for the time being, but you definitely are making the right
move in preparing well in advance for any changes, *writes James
Badcock, head of estate planning at Collyer Bristow. *

It could be a good idea to apply for French citizenship because you are
currently relying on your rights as an EU citizen to live in France. If
we simply leave the EU without any agreements in place for British
expats to keep their residence rights, you could find yourself without
permission to stay.

To secure your ability to stay in any eventuality, you can apply for a
long-term French residence card or French citizenship in addition to
your British citizenship.

I would suggest you go for citizenship, as the long-term residence cards
in France are given only to EU citizens. Once we Brexit, there is a
possibility the French government may not allow Britons who have resided
there on long-term residence cards to renew them. Dual citizenship gives
you more certainty.


An application for French citizenship involves proving you have been
resident for five years. In terms of your finances, you have to show you
can support yourself financially. You will need proof of income and/or
savings in British or French banks. There is also a broader test of
integration in the French community and this can take up to two years.

Turning to your UK state pension, I am confident you will be able to
keep receiving this in France, because the British government currently
pays it to pensioners who live anywhere in the world.

The state pension increases each year, and I would expect you will
receive these increases while living in France after Brexit. France and
Britain have agreed this under a framework

that has nothing to do with EU law. Britain also gives the annual
pension increase to its pensioners in non-EU European countries, as well
as nations including the US, the Philippines and Barbados.

Providing you are not resident in the UK for tax purposes, the tax you
pay on the income from your UK private pension and dividends will be
French tax. Each year, hire a French accountant to help you prepare your
tax return.

Your UK dividends will not be taxable in the UK if you are non-resident.
The other matter on which you should take advice is the currency risk of
having income in sterling but expenses in euros.

An important aspect of becoming a French citizen will be that you obtain
as much certainty as you can in how you will be taxed, adds *Christine
Ross, head of advice at Handelsbanken Wealth Management.*

You should attempt to cut your ties with the UK for taxation purposes,
because you will be taxed in France anyway, and it makes life too
complicated to be paying tax in both countries.

For example, as you own shares that pay dividends, you do not want to
pay two sets of tax on those dividends (one in France, and one in
Britain). You want to pay tax on them only once, and that is in France.

With your private pension, if you were living in the UK, the monthly
payments would be sent to you with income tax deducted at source by the
pension company. Living in France, the British pension company will
still deduct the income tax before sending your payment. The French
taxman should recognise you have been taxed in Britain, but will ask for
more if your French income tax rate is higher than the UK’s.

At the moment, a pensioner earning less than £25,000 would pay 20 per
cent on their taxable income in Britain. In France, you would pay 14 per
cent on this amount of money.

In order to lose your UK tax residency, you should minimise visits to
Britain to up to 90 days a year and reduce your ties to the UK as much
as possible. These include giving up homes in Britain and making sure
your spouse or partner does not still live there.

Expats in receipt of UK pensions are also exposed to the risk of
currency movements. For example, in a scenario when the pound weakens
against the euro, the buying power of the pension will be reduced for
someone living in France. When sterling strengthens, you will have more
euros to spend.

The outlook is for the pound to stay low against the euro, thanks to
uncertainty about the UK economy ahead of Brexit.

So depending on how much income you may receive from this pension, you
may want to look into hedging this risk by converting part of any
savings you have in pounds into euros now. Then you have a cushion in
case the pound weakens further and your UK pension leaves you short of
what you need to live on in France.

Re: "Brexit"
 

Thanks Phil for this FT article. The taxation aspects are the same in France and Italy but what about those of us contemplating Italian citizenship. I have Italian residency until 2022 and am worried this might be revoked then.

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What do you mean by ' I have residency until 2022'? Residency doesn't have an expiry date.??

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Perhaps I am a bit confused - When you say that residency doesn't have an expiry date do you mean once you have residency it is permanent including health cover? The tessera sanitaria that I received after obtaining residency is valid until 2022.

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Yeah but even the ones given out to "proper" Italians have an expiry date on them. A new one came automatically by post for my partner and kids. For me too for that matter.

Re: "Brexit"
 

Thanks Phil for the article. Nick - your residency will 'expire' when your passport expires Iwould think, or after 10 years, but it only means you need to go an get another ID card. Im doing my citizenship because I have been here long enough to lose the vote in the UK and not have it here, and it really bugs me. I would advise anyone to do their citizenship if they can - it costs 200 euros and isnt difficult - all online, its just the legalised copies of the penal certificate and birth certificate which are slightly irksome to sort out.

Re: "Brexit"
 

We have both plans to do the same over the winter. Could you possibly walk us through the current process. FWIW resident in Le Marche for 11 years, formerly from Manchester (although I was born in England, my wife was born in Wales). TIA, Serrano

Re: "Brexit"
 

Will you have to surrender your British passport?

Re: "Brexit"
 

From what I understand, no. Dual nationality doesn't seem to be a problem these days. Except of course that you'll have to pay for renewals of two different passports!

Re: "Brexit"
 

OK
You needto go to https://nullaostalavoro.dlci.interno.it/Ministero and register on the site for cittadinanza. Once you are registered you can see the online form, and save it as it will take time to complete it. You will need to get legalised and translated copies of your birth certificate and penal form (google ACRO UK). The Acro is only valid for 6 months so once you have it you need to get started on the rest. Also I assume marriage certificates and so on.
Upload your form, your receipt of payment of the 200 euros, the id of the marca di bollo, 3 years of payslips or accounts or whatever your status requires and keep everything safe. You will also need certficato di famiglia, residenza storica, and all the usual bumph.
Once its uploaded and done, after about 3 months you will get an email saying you need to go your local prefettura - and you take all the originals of the uploaded docs, and they then certify that its correct. Then you wait 18 months while some bloke rings every country in the world so see if you have ever committed a crime while on holiday.
During the 18months learn the words of the national anthem.