Barriej

You make many valid points and you are correct that none of us foreigners will ever be accepted as locals. And why should we?

Im going to improve my Spanish but I'm not going to stop drinking tea, eating bacon butties and complaining about the heat. (Not that I will as I've worked in 45 plus for extended periods)
The area we have chosen to live in has a nice mixture of nationalities and while I like Spain, it's just another place to live for us.

We are lucky as we are early retirees and I've spent most of my working life outside of the U.K. It's not a bad place to live but there are lots of places as good.

we plan to use Spain as our base because we now have a better property than we had in the uk and it's given us the money to continue to travel. The weather will be better, food is cheaper and we already have friends in the area.

We have a daughter in Australia and friends in the Caribbean so we are looking forward to spending a few longer holidays in those places.

Pulaski

In that regard I agreee you are likely correct, but that is true of all polls under universal suffrage, with many people voting based on ignorance, misunderstanding, prejudice, misinformation, lies, and stupidity, but I don't forsee any liklihood of the electoral roll in the UK being amended to require a minimum level of education, IQ, or even proof of sanity any time soon, so all polls, especially those with narrow margins of victory* will be susceptible to criticism based on voter ignorance.

* I recall that the April 1992 GE victory of the Conservatives, led by John Major hinged on only 2,000 voters in the ten most marginal constituencies.

bobd22

I totally agree with your comments. Although my view is not restricting votes to only certain individuals, more that politicians should present honest facts rather than mistruths or scare mongering which in the case of this vote was done by both sides of the debate. It has and continues to be badly manipulated by politicians and advisors simply for both political and personal gain in my view. However we are where we are and they now have to make whatever they come up with work for the sake of the UK. Whether that can be done I don't know, personally for my retirement plan I am happy that the WA gives us some protection.

wellinever

I am in Portugal trying to decide if to become resident........but totally agree with your post

Chipmonk

Hope you aren t called Juan Carlos!!

wellinever

no I am Juan Sheet !!!!!

Moses2013

There are still many doors open for those a few years away from retirement. Here in the Republic of Ireland there has been an increase of Brits moving their business to Ireland and a friend told me that 30-40% of job applicants they had were from the UK. Even for those aged over 50 planning to spend retirement in Spain are better off working here at a supermarket for 5 years and can then apply for Irish Citizenship.

bobd22

Yes there will no doubt be work around the system. I know someone who has been looking into trying to get Irish Citizenship through his family links, question I had for him was he may be entitled to citizenship but would the Republic of Ireland pay for his medical carec as a retiree if he then moved to Spain or would the UK still give him an S1 if he took Irish Citizenship and then moved to Spain? He thought they would I wasn't sure. It is something I could have possibly considered as my mother is was Irish N Ireland (not sure but I believe that still would allow me to pursue Irish Citizenship? Although I'm sure the process isn't simple and as I have my rights protected under the WA not something I need to consider now.

Pulaski

Yes, the Irish government considers everyone born on the island of Ireland to be an Irish Citizen.

bobd22

Yes thanks that's what I thought.

Novocastrian

As ever you're confused. The EU extended the Article 50 deadline which required a Withdrawal agreement originally within 2 years. Eventually a WA was agreed, first by May but that fell apart as a result of the 2017 election. Boris stepped in as an incompetent fake PM and decided to "rescue" the situation by backing down on the "border in the Irish Sea". None of this of course has a bearing on the transition period duration, first set to expires on Dec 31st 2020 when the May deal was agreed. When the renogiated WA "magicked out of thin air" by Boris backing down on the Good Friday Agreement took force, the transition period was deemed by the EU to be extendable for up to 2 years, at the request of the UK Gov lodged before July. The new utterly incompetent UK gov didn't bother with that. Consequence? No Deal. No Future. No Hope. No F***ing Sense.

scot47

One of my granddaughters was born in Ireland and has citizenship and a passport. I envy her.

dougal03

As Pulaski has said,people have always been able to relocate to Spain,a country he has never lived in.Not quite that simple,Laddie.We came in 1985 & operated a business as I have detailed before.You would imagine that would be easier than a retiree since we bought our licence from a Spaniard,bought more than one property & were in the social security system ,all had to be serviced by Spanish sources & indeed we had to offer firstly employment to Spanish nationals.Everything was severed from our home country as legally at that time you could not have an English Bank account,no child benefit for our daughter,which I do think is something you should forfeit,but we did still have a vote I remember.Our whole investment was in Spain.Things changed once Spain joined the EU,not financially for us,but it was so good to see young families coming here & starting up new enterprises without having to be chained to a Spanish origin.Over these many years the face of Spain has altered in most parts of this large country.Even south Of Alicante city to the Costa del Sol where the spaghetti Westerns used to be filmed & in the far north provinces.Look how so many areas north of Barcelona are now actively thriving by the foreigners drawn to a new life.Joining the EU was the best thing that happened since their Monarchy was restored I believe.I am saddened that my own country deprived me of a say in the referendum.This was not as Bobd22 states,because I could not be bothered to vote,or I was living under the radar.Just because my own countrymen have decided for me that I have no further interest in Britain despite always keeping my British nationality.Brexit will be a disaster for Britain & Bonkers Boris will be one day be known for breaking up what we all used to call the United Kingdom.

OrangeMango

As far as I know Ireland would still be a place for Brits post Brexit and post Withdrawal-Whatever-Agreement. Also the language barrier is minimal, excluding the Irish language. The movement rights between the UK and Ireland are older than the EU, and as far as I am concerned any Brit resident in Ireland can even vote in every election there.

I have strong sympathies for anybody wishing to leave the UK because of Brexit. It's just too much of a dumb experiment, by small-minded politicians, and the fear of the break up between Scotland and the rest of the UK will always be there. Who want's to remain in such a country, where one half is missing and the other half is isolated?

bobd22

I wish to point out that I never said or inferred that you had lived under the radar or couldn't be bothered to vote. I fully understand that for those like yourself who have been out of the UK over 15 years lose their right to vote unfortunately . In my comment on the matter of voting I was not referring to such people, my comment was in relation to those that have and do live under the radar, if people choose to live that way they can't expect to ignore the rules yet retain the rights of someone that does abide with rules. Or those that possibly could have applied for overseas voting but didn't bother yet complain re the result. I never mentioned anyone specifically and consider your mention of myself in your post a miss representation of what I actually said.