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Comment by dazc | Hacker News Reader

"European staff suddenly have no idea how long they will be able to work in Britain."

Well, after 5 years they can stay indefinitely.

https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-a-uk-residence-card/permanent-r...

You can apply for a permanent residence card after you’ve lived in the UK for 5 years. This will prove your right to live in the UK permanently.

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That only works if you register for a residency card using the EU path once you came in. Most EU nationals do not officially exercise their right with the home office since they do not have to do so, it doesn't gives you any additional benefits and dealing with the UK Home Office is pretty much the worse process you can imagine.

Can't you prove your length of stay with work/rent contracts? Do you know of this requirement from first-hand or where did you hear about this?

Thanks

What the home office wants you to do is to apply for a registration certificate (RC) as a QP https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm... Then after 5 years you can apply for PR https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm...

Whether you can skip the first part is another story, you might be able to do so if you can provide proof of continuous qualification of the QP requirements over a period of 5 years which might not be so easy to do.

You're right under current rules.

Frankly, nobody knows what will happen or how far deportation will go, if even anywhere at all - but that in and of itself is the issue - pre-referendum, it seemed a fair assumption that EU migrants could live and work in the UK indefinitely - but now - don't know. Can't plan in an uncertain environment, and if you can't plan, you can't run your business.

We for instance use aws heavily - hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. We invoice our customers in sterling. That lost margin has to come from somewhere, which either means charging our customers more, or cutting costs. We'll probably have to do a bit of both, but this feels like stemming the bleeding while we figure out what to do next.

About ⅓ of our workforce are EU nationals - and few bother to apply for leave to remain, as it isn't necessary under current rules - so again, they no longer know whether they can remain here, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if they're considering moving on - why stay in an uncertain environment? They've already demonstrated a willingness to be mobile.

Of all the countries, the UK is one of the most pragmatic when dealing with the economy. I don't know how the whole thing is going to pan out but the risk of mass deportation of EU nationals I think is close to zero.

You can only look at Teresa May's record, and that has been despicable. We've had vans driving around telling people to "Go home" (I am not making this up). That was an exceptional case, but the general official attitude towards immigration is hostile. Try getting leave to remain for your non-EU spouse. Unless you earn more than £18K/year and have several thousands of pounds to go through the visa process it may not be possible at all. There are many people who are stuck in foreign countries away from their husbands, wives and children.

I think it's not as close to zero as you think it is, but still, it's non-zero, and that's the entire point. Why stick around if there's any chance?

Those rules might change, one of the Conservative candidates announced that she'll kick out all EU immigrants that enter the UK after she becomes the prime minister.

Edit: source: https://twitter.com/samcoatestimes/status/751682424405430272

I don't think she said that exactly, especially as she was on the side of remaining in the EU.

All rules can change but this is how it as at the moment.

That's scaremongering; not going to happen.

The damage is done though.

That can't possibly be true - link?

Which one? Do you have a quote?

Leadsom. It's an odd quote because it seems she mixed up when she becomes and when we leave the EU. It sounds like she's referring to article 50.

https://mobile.twitter.com/SamCoatesTimes/status/75168242440...

Strange indeed. But then many aspects of her campaign are.

To put it bluntly, Im confident the UK doesnt want ti self destruct. The immigration issue that spurred this delema was syrian, middle east abd north african immigrants. Saying "those rules may change" seems to be more fear mongering to the point of hoping for a worst possible outcome.

Plus the polish. AFAIK they don't like them there too.

> The immigration issue that spurred this delema was syrian, middle east abd north african immigrants.

Not entirely, the common argument is also about cheap workers from Eastern Europe. Ironically, recent accession of countries like Poland, Romania and Bulgaria was specifically and emphatically supported by the UK.

You should probably cite stuff like this... Otherwise it's just leftist fear mongering.

This is perhaps what he was referring to: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/04/future-of-eu... . If so, it looks like she said it would be used as a bargaining chip (which is pretty bad unto itself), not that she was dead set on kicking them out.

Theresa May didn't announce that she will kick all foreigners, but she is not guaranteeing they will stay in the UK until negotiating with the EU. So basically, holding them hostage and feeding into uncertainty and fear.

Hardly. She can't guarantee that because what if the EU wants to deport Brits who are living in the EU? Then it would have to be matched like for like.

The EU has shown it wants to hurt the UK as much as possible because its strategy for preventing further exits is, in a word, fear. You can't make any up front guarantees when negotiating with people like that, no matter how much you'd like to.

6 years. I may be wrong but the certificate of permanent residence (EEA nationals do not apply for the card, they apply for the certificate) just certifies that you have been in the UK (permanent resident, i.e. not on and off) for 5 years but is not a visa in itself. It is a requirement to apply for a citizenship (hence the +1 year).

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