BlueMorpho

Will this- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21439945
have an effect on this- my family immigrating from the USA?

(Details- I am UK citizen as is daughter, wife is USA citizen, using savings of £62K+ as means.)

jjmb

how will this help- its about trade barriers, not immigration. Am I missing something?

Pulaski

I don't believe this will help you - a trade deal is not the same as a free trade area, and has implications only for movement of goods and services, not labour.

BlueMorpho

I didn't draw out my reasoning but it went as follows-
A barrier to trade is needing personnel to easily and for lengths of time be able to pass from one country to another. If the process is tricky then trade is affected.
In the EU there is free trade and free travel between EU countries. If there is free trade between EU and US then perhaps (and this is where my hopeful leap of faith comes into account) there will also be free travel between the partner countries.
I have a US wife (I am a UKC) and we want to come to UK to live, but the present immigration rules are prohibitive (to say the least- read any number of threads on this forum concerning this if you are not sure what I'm talking about). I'm positing that just maybe, this news might be a positive light for those trying to do what we want to do.
That's all.

holly_1948

I think so.

If this happens, and it is a big if, then it could very well be along the lines of NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement) because what else would be politically feasible??

So it could be that TN Visas or similar become available to Europeans, and something similar on a reciprocal basis. This would mutually open countries to workers in a limited classification of "Professionals" as defined in Appendix 1603.D.1 of NAFTA. See
http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/en/vi...147#Ap1603.D.1

I can't see implementation in much less than two years, probably longer. With quotas.

It would be of most help in situations in which the principal putative breadwinner is to be the foreigner.

rebeccajo

Hmmm.

Free trade isn't the same thing as free movement.

Interesting though.

UkWinds5353

As good an idea relaxed travel rules might be in theory for going back and forth across the pond, don't count on it happening in the next decade.That little thing called 9/11 has changed how politicians view easy access for travel into America.Every tourist from various regions of the world are considered a potential threat. That is especially true for people coming in from europe. Keep in mind that many of the killers from 9/11 were here on legal visas and due to their actions, travel probably will never be the same because of the sense of security Americans lost on that day. If this agreement is signed into law it will be similar to NAFTA. Easy travel was not a result of that trade deal. There was a time right before 9/11 when Canadians and Yanks could cross each other's boarder with only a drivers license but now a passport is required.Those days are long gone.