Yes or No?
 

I'm interested in whether people are deciding not to move back to the UK based on what you feel may happen with BREXIT?

I know many people have vastly different opinions, and I'm not looking to open a huge debate/can of worms as I know this can be a heated subject - just looking to gauge via a Yes or No.

Thanks.

Re: Yes or No?
 

Moving back to the UK or into Europe is something i've been considering for the past couple of years so obviously interested to know the outcome and i guess it might influence my final decision. I'm a dual citizen coming up the pension age.

Re: Yes or No?
 

Fairly even spread 6 to 5 for the Yes camp. Will be interesting to see what the year brings,

Re: Yes or No?
 

A few years ago I had the option to take out Bulgarian citizenship. I did not. Mistake ? Maybe. Too late to reverse the decision.

Re: Yes or No?
 

I think Brexit is a disaster, but whether it affects a decision to move back to the UK rather depends on where you are moving from, what stage of your life you have reached and your other personal circumstances.

Re: Yes or No?
 

Brexit certainly did not influence our decision to move back in January 2017, and our son also moved back 9 months later, he told us that living here through the Brexit transition is still far preferable to where he was living in the USA. We are retired so his decision was more likely to be affected by Brexit since he had a job to find and hold onto. The job he got, within 6 weeks of arriving last year, is in Transport IT, supporting payment systems (think Oyster cards and their equivalents) in the UK and different english speaking countries around the world, so no systems in Europe other than Dublin in Ireland. They also support transport payment systems in Chicago, San Francisco, Miami, New York City, and Brisbane.

Re: Yes or No?
 

I don't even want to visit the UK anymore since Brexit, let alone move back. The whole thing has left a nasty taste in my mouth.

At least our (big, fat, orange, stupid) issues here in the US have a time limit attached.

Re: Yes or No?
 

Time limit? The next six and a half years could seem like an eternity, though.

Re: Yes or No?
 

Re: Yes or No?
 

This is why I'd quite like to keep my EU citizenship. I want an escape plan that doesn't involve the UK!

Re: Yes or No?
 

Re: Yes or No?
 

We are retiring to Scotland from the US and about the only positive aspect of Brexit for us is the drop in the value of the pound

On the negative side it will make travel to Europe more complicated and possibly trigger another independence vote for Scotland which will create more uncertainty for us

If Scotland did vote for independence they would probably apply to rejoin the EU but that would take years

Re: Yes or No?
 

Robin 1234

Six and a half years ? I think Armageddon may ensue before then.

Re: Yes or No?
 

I don't think that travel to Europe as a tourist is going to be badly impacted, although travel is already more expensive than it was, and will probably remain so. The main effect of brexit is more likely to be poor economic performance by the UK economy, which will affect incomes, but also impact on public services including the NHS and social care. I've observed that one of the motivations for ex-pats returning in retirement is the safety net of the NHS, pension credit, and subsidised social care. It is worth bearing in mind that these services may be pared back as a result of brexit. For younger people, however, brexit is going to be even more negative. Most sectors of the economy will be negatively impacted and that affects career prospects. I advise young people to consider emigrating.

Re: Yes or No?
 

Re: Yes or No?
 

Re: Yes or No?
 

I've heard JRM bibbling on about the UK becoming a "vassal state" of the EU if there's no hard Brexit. The thing is, if JRM and Boris have their way and get their hard Brexit, they'll quickly steer the UK towards being a vassal state to Trump's US, bringing with it chlorinated chicken, GM foods, and almost certainly opening the NHS up to US health insurance companies. This would put the NHS in existential crisis mode, and any returning British expats hoping for their NHS health and social care are going to end up rather disappointed.

Re: Yes or No?
 

Very interesting to read points of view (thanks all for keeping it civilised)

Re: Yes or No?
 

Re: Yes or No?
 

I've noticed this and has me slightly worried should we ever return.

Re: Yes or No?
 

ps the "no" voters are currently ahead of the "yes" 16-11

Re: Yes or No?
 

Re: Yes or No?
 

Hi there,

We moved back to the UK in October last year (after the vote), so it didn't stop us. The only thing that really worries me is the likely inability to retire anywhere in Europe.
Sigh...
I've got 5 years and 9 months until retirement ... not that I'm counting, or anything...

Re: Yes or No?
 

I suspect places like Spain will still be happy for UK people to retire there.

Re: Yes or No?
 

Rich people, maybe.

This is one of the big problems with Brexit and free movement - before the EU, free movement was a class thing. If you were rich, you could pretty much move and live anywhere.

The EU, and the introduction of freedom of movement, combined with the rise of the likes of Ryanair and Easyjet, levelled the playing field, all of a sudden anyone could go and live anywhere in the EU if they had a job to go to and enough cash to start themselves off. The Europe section of this site is testament to the fact that many of us, from all backgrounds, have done just that.

Brexit risks throwing us back to the time when living abroad was only for the rich.

Re: Yes or No?
 

So very true! And I ain't one of 'em, unfortunately...

Then I worry about the poor sods over there now ... it isn't going to be easy for them ... no matter the rhetoric coming from both sides...

Re: Yes or No?
 

Re: Yes or No?
 

Just going to leave this here:

Re: Yes or No?
 

Bwah ha ha ha ... most cool!

Especially given I'm originally a Kiwi...

:)

Re: Yes or No?
 

I don't think you'll need to be rich to retire there - if you have a pension and enough to buy or rent a house, I suspect the Spanish will be OK - it's not like you'll have any recourse to Spanish income benefits and your healthcare will be paid by the NHS.

Re: Yes or No?
 

With Brexit, the UK will no longer be a member of EHIC, so, no, the NHS won't be paying their medical bills.

Given that most Brits who move to Spain are retirees and at the stage of life where they consume more healthcare resources than younger people, they'll have to have the money to pay for private insurance (which comes with its own hurdles with pre-existing conditions, etc).

The scary part is, many of these retirees on the Costa Del Sol are Brexiteers, despite the obvious irony and hypocrisy involved.

Re: Yes or No?
 

Yes ... always thought that a bit strange!

Well, there'll be a lot of navel-gazing going on when they're tucking into their roast beef and Yorkshire puds in the many 'British' eateries lining the Cost Del Sol now, I'm thinking...

Re: Yes or No?
 

It's a business and as long as it's still cheaper to do the hip replacement in Spain, the NHS will pay? Spain will also be happy to get the money, so I don't see a problem there. EHIC is also just for temporary visits, but it's not called EUHIC. You are still in Europe, after Brexit.

Re: Yes or No?
 

I don't think EHIC covered retirees medical costs in the past (EHIC is for travellers, not residents) - to my knowledge retirees with pensions were covered under a different system of S1.

I'm sure the UK will agree with Spain a continuation of the system whereby retirees medical costs can be reimbursed to the Spanish medical system by the NHS - why wouldn't they?

Re: Yes or No?
 

EHIC is not confined to EU Iceland accepts it for example and is not in EU There is still hope that a negoitaed BREXIT or better still a CANCELLED BREXIT will mean that we can iuse EHIC as travellers

Re: Yes or No?
 

Depends on what the Brexit deal ends up being.

If it's a full-on WTO hard Brexit, then all bets are off and it's not likely that there'll be any reciprocity in healthcare provision whatsoever. It'll take years to negotiate everything that will come of that.

Right now, the most likely outcome, since the Maybot's deal is dead in the water, is probably Norway++ (ie, EEA with customs union membership), if that does end up being the case then things will probably carry on mostly as they are now, just without the UK having a seat at the EU table.

Re: Yes or No?
 

Spain currently requires non EU citizens applying for non lucrative visas (including retirees) to have a minimum annual income of €25,560 for a single person, plus €6,390 for each additional family member (ie a total annual income for a couple of €31,950). That would rule out a significant proportion of the people who have retired here under EU freedom of movement rules. There is no reason whatsoever to suppose that Spain would not apply the same rules to UK citizens once the UK becomes a third country.

http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consula...nLucrative.pdf

Re: Yes or No?
 

As I said, you don't need to be rich, just average.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/...me-19-900.html

Looks like an average for two people would be £39,800 or around Euro44K.

Other data suggests a lower average - £29,952 for a couple - Euro33K
https://www.pensionbee.com/blog/2018...ple?ast=5PG7ld
This seems to show that the average retirees will meet the current hurdle, although clearly those below average may not.

Re: Yes or No?
 

Still requires people to have a private pension - those who have only the state pension to rely on are out.

The pound will also be worth less than it is now assuming a hard Brexit, so any UK-sourced income will be worth less in Euros than it is today.

Then, as previously mentioned, there's going to be the possibility/likelihood of having to pay for health insurance.

Re: Yes or No?
 

You said:
I'm merely pointing-out that it will likely be for the average, not the rich.