- Title: Worried EU nationals struggle with UK residency rules ahead of Brexit
- Date: 20th March 2017
- Summary: STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, ENGLAND, UK (RECENT - MARCH 6, 2017) (REUTERS) DIETER WOLKE, GERMAN PROFESSOR WHO HAS BEEN IN THE UK FOR 28 YEARS, WALKING ALONG THE RIVER WITH HIS BRITISH GIRLFRIEND KATE NEWTON VARIOUS OF WOLKE AND NEWTON SEATED ON A BENCH LOOKING AT RIVER WOLKE AND NEWTON GET UP OFF BENCH AND WALK AWAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIETER WOLKE, GERMAN PROFESSOR WHO HAS BEEN IN THE UK FOR 28 YEARS, SAYING: "Before Brexit I just felt like anyone else, I think my English is good, I can communicate with people. I do my work, I am appreciated at work and suddenly I felt like I am treated like someone who is unwanted." WOLKE SEATED AT TABLE IN HIS HOME LOOKING THROUGH THE 85-PAGE FORM FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCY VARIOUS WOLKE MAKING NOTES WOLKE SEATED AT TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIETER WOLKE, GERMAN PROFESSOR WHO HAS BEEN IN THE UK FOR 28 YEARS, SAYING: "Suddenly you are being told 'Well, actually you are now a second class citizen, you are not the same status as us. You know, you might be doing the same job, but you have to go through all of these different hoops to stay here. The same is true for your kids, this is true for your family and actually, why don't you send in the passport for six months and if you lose your job because of that...It's just the rule of the Home Office'." VARIOUS OF WOLKE LOOKING THROUGH CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE HOME OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIETER WOLKE, GERMAN PROFESSOR WHO HAS BEEN IN THE UK FOR 28 YEARS, SAYING: "If this goes on I would consider to go, for example let's say Germany, or another country in Europe where they would make me a good offer because I feel I'm actually wanted." WOLKE SITTING DOWN AT KITCHEN TABLE NEXT TO NEWTON AND LOOKING AT NEWSPAPER TOGETHER WOLKE DRINKS MUG OF TEA VARIOUS OF WOLKE AND NEWTON TALKING NEWSPAPER WITH HEADLINE READING (English) "MAY TOLD 'ACT NOW' TO PROTECT EU NATIONALS LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (RECENT - MARCH 16, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THE SCHREUDER FAMILY SEATED AT TABLE CHATTING (FATHER: JAN-DINANT SCHREUDER FROM HOLLAND, WIFE MONICA OBIOLS FROM SPAIN, SON BIEL SCHREDUER AND DAUGHTER ADELA SCHREUDER WHO WERE BORN IN THE UK) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MONICA OBIOLS FROM SPAIN, WHO HAS LIVED IN THE UK SINCE 1989, SAYING: "The form is a complete nightmare, it was very complicated and I eventually got it but unfortunately I didn't give enough information about the children and so their indefinite leave to remain has been rejected." VARIOUS OF FAMILY SEATED AT TABLE CHATTING TO EACH OTHER (SOUNDBITE) (English) JAN-DINANT SCHREUDER, 49-YEAR-OLD WHO WAS BORN IN HOLLAND AND HOLDS A DUTCH PASSPORT, LIVED IN THE UK SINCE HE WAS THREE YEARS OLD, SAYING: "Well, there have been mixed messages. It seems that the government are quite hostile to Europe and therefore we sort of feel that kind of hostility comes back to us being EU nationals." WATER BEING POURED INTO TEA MUGS SCHREUDER LOOKING AT MUGS AS HE POURS WATER VARIOUS OF SCHREUDER AND OBIOLS TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) MONICA OBIOLS FROM SPAIN, WHO HAS LIVED IN THE UK SINCE 1989, SAYING: "I didn't feel that I didn't belong before, I really felt this is where I live, this is home. And now I am being made to feel like an outsider so it has completely changed my perception of this country." LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (RECENT - MARCH 15, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BARBARA DROZDOWICZ, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE EASTERN EUROPEAN RESOURCE CENTRE, WHICH ADVISES ON LEGAL AND IMMIGRATION MATTERS FOR EASTERN EUROPEANS IN THE UK CLOSE OF BOOKLET DROZDOWICZ WORKING AT DESK (SOUNDBITE) (English) BARBARA DROZDOWICZ, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE EASTERN EUROPEAN RESOURCE CENTRE, SAYING: "The whole onus of the evidence is completely and entirely on you. And basically it means you have to keep these documents. How on earth can you possibly expect yourself to have mobile bills from ten years ago. I mean who would have thought that you would ever need these documents." VARIOUS OF 22-YEAR OLD STELLA TSANTEKIDOU (PRON: SAN-TAY-KEY-DO) WALKING BY LIMEHOUSE BASIN IN EAST LONDON NEAR HER HOME (SOUNDBITE) (English) STELLA TSANTEKIDOU, GREEK NATIONAL WHO HAS BEEN LIVING IN THE UK SINCE SEPTEMBER 2012, SAYING: "So why not go ahead give us peace of mind and say that you are not going to be deported. We value you, we appreciate what you are adding to British society. We want you with us, you are safe." MORE OF TSANTEKIDOU WALKING BY LIMEHOUSE BASIN VARIOUS OF TSANTEKIDOU, LOOKING AT CANARY WHARF SKYSCRAPERS IN THE DISTANCE
- Embargoed: 3rd April 2017 13:50
- Keywords: EU nationals living in the UK Brexit permanent residency European Union Germans Spanish Dutch Greek Article 50
- Location: STRATFORD-UPON-AVON AND LONDON, ENGLAND, UK
- City: STRATFORD-UPON-AVON AND LONDON, ENGLAND, UK
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00268SP7WN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Ever since last year's vote for Brexit, the question of what will happen to the roughly three million EU nationals living in Britain has become a highly contentious and emotional issue.
Having lived, worked and educated his children in Britain over the last 28 years, German professor Dieter Wolke thought remaining in his adopted homeland in the wake of last year's vote to leave the European Union would be straightforward.
But like tens of thousands of EU nationals living in Britain, he has found obtaining permanent residency to be a laborious, expensive, and complicated process, which has culminated in his application so far being rejected.
Wolke was shocked that after so many decades in the UK, he could be forced to leave.
"Before Brexit I just felt like anyone else, I think my English is good, I can communicate with people. I do my work, I am appreciated at work and suddenly I felt like I am treated like someone who is unwanted," he said.
He is now considering moving back to Germany rather than continue to do battle with the Home Office (interior ministry) over his residency application.
"Suddenly you are being told 'Well, actually you are now a second class citizen, you are not the same status as us'," he added.
The government has repeatedly ruled out guaranteeing the rights of EU nationals, arguing similar guarantees are needed for Britons living in the EU.
The lack of political clarity has sparked a surge of applications for permanent residency - an 85-page form requiring a mass of supporting documents.
"The form is a complete nightmare, it was very complicated," said Monica Obiols from Spain who has lived in the UK since 1989 with her Dutch partner Jan-Dinant Schreuder. The couple have teenage children who were born in the UK but have Spanish passports.
While the parents were granted indefinite leave to remain, the children's application was rejected on the grounds of insufficient information provided. They will have to go through the process again.
"I didn't feel that I didn't belong before, I really felt this is where I live, this is home. And now I am being made to feel like an outsider so it has completely changed my perception of this country," said Obiols.
People are asked for an endless number of documents spanning back sometimes many years to the Home Office to prove they had been living and working in Britain lawfully, an impossible task for many, said Barbara Drozdowicz, chief executive of the East European Resource Centre in London.
"How on earth can you possibly expect yourself to have mobile bills from ten years ago. I mean who would have thought that you would ever need these documents," she said.
Applications for permanent residency have soared six times higher since the referendum. More than 28 percent of those submitted in the last three months of 2016 were rejected or declared invalid.
Twenty two-year-old Stella Tsantekidou (pron: San-Tay-Key-Do) has been studying and working in the UK for five years and doesn't know whether she will able to carry on working in Britain after Brexit.
She is upset that the government's position is akin to treating people as bargaining chips - putting millions of lives in limbo.
"So why not go ahead give us peace of mind and say that you are not going to be deported. We value you, we appreciate what you are adding to British society. We want you with us, you are safe," she said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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