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beardedman

A palpable amount of entitlement coming from the author. I like it (sarcasm).

> can you account for all your international travels over the past 10 years

Well, absolutely.

> It has now become a long and challenging obstacle race

It has, or is it maybe quite normal?

> But it’s not only the UK — the United States has also made it difficult for founders to immigrate and settle in Silicon Valley. Like the new post-Brexit regime in the UK, it’s expensive, comes with a lot of hassle and restrictions and involves sponsoring and numerous recommendations — usually by VCs who have decided to back the company. How is the British situation any different?

Welcome to the everyday life of 3rd world nationals & yet another great example of people in the "1st world" are so completely disconnected. How dare they be asked to prove they *can enter a country (again, sarcasm).

Sincerely, an amused 3rd worlder living in the 1st world.

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> can you account for all your international travels over the past 10 years

I think this really depends on your lifestyle. For the EU generation of people this can be really challenging. When I was asked to provide (just 5 years) this information, I had to attach an extra two sheets of paper to the form, as the space they provided (about a 1/3 of a page IIRC) was absurdly small. And I'm sure that only had air travel (since I found most of my travel dates by search my email for airline bookings) and certainly missed travel with family members who did bookings as well as many, many car trips.

Also no one tells you that 10 years later you're going to need the dates you crossed each border and that you should be keeping this information around.

People in the EU are used to free movement. In my opinion it's one of the greatest political accomplishments of recent history.

Before Schengen, travelling across the border always carried the risk of meeting a grumpy border control agent and being subjected to abusive searches or interrogations. People not letting you past the border because they didn't find the right stamp in your passport and stuff like that.

After Schengen, all that went away and travelling within Europe has become so much nicer.

Of course people complain if you take that away again.

I think people honestly reflected if that convenience is worth opening themselves up to legislative decision making.

Just because someone has written about these difficulties, it doesn't mean that they're unaware of other people's difficulties. In fact I think it quite likely that they're a proponent of less border controls for people from developing countries.

To be fair, making something like "can you account for all your international travels over the past 10 years?" sound like it's something exceptional to ask isn't really helping. Also speaking as someone from SA in Germany, accounting for the last say, 20yrs of travel, is also fine because it's very normal. However, I'm all for conversations highlighting the ridiculous nature of international relocation, having done so myself.

>>How dare they be asked to prove they *can enter a country (again, sarcasm).

To me, I really struggle with this one. To me, being an EU citizen is literally above being a citizen of my home country, so yes, I do feel at home anywhere within the EU, honestly and genuienly. So when UK started asking me "why are you here" it feels offensive - what do you mean why am I here? Do I suddenly not belong? And that lack of (or someone questioning it) belonging is really unpleasant feeling.

>>yet another great example of people in the "1st world" are so completely disconnected

I don't think being upset that someone is asking you why you live in your own home is being "disconnected". It's like having the proverbial rug pulled from under you. One day you have certain rights and priviledges, the next day you don't.

But like others have said - just because people complain about these problems, doesn't mean we're not aware of the issues others are having. Immigration from outside of the EU has always been difficult and full of hoops and we do acknowledge that.

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