I am an EU citizen in the UK, having exercised the right of free movement that each EU citizen has, since June 1997. I have lived half my life here, and continue to contribute significantly to UK academia, architecture and the building industry. I have decided to share my experiences and heart-ache caused by the UK government's decision to leave the EU. It is not an easy or simple journey, unlike what almost everyone (media, politicians, those who voted "leave" but also those who voted remain) seem to think it is. Part of my story - just one of millions - is below.
19.02.2017. Evidencing the right to remain...
I spent much of my weekend going through my financial files trying to collate the Home Office required evidence for us EU citizens that we have a right to remain, i.e. to apply for permanent residency (PR). You'd think this would be simple and straightforward. People say to me "but Sofie, you have been here so long, no-one is going to ask you to leave post-brexit"! Well, I am not so sure. Because while I can prove I have been in the UK for nearly 20 years and the amount I contributed each year in NI and tax payments, there is a difference between the proof I have and the proof that the Home Office explicitly requests and accepts. And that is where many of us EU citizens fall foul. There was no need for us to apply for PR while the UK is in the EU. To do so, we now need documents that we did not know we'd be needing to keep to prove our residency - basically, we needed a crystal ball.
I have been in the UK for nearly 20 years and I have a National Insurance (NI) number and HMRC record going back nearly 2 decades to show exactly what I earned each year, where I lived and what taxes and NI I paid. In most EU countries this is enough evidence needed to show that one has acquired the right to permanent residency in another UK state. Not so in the UK.
Remarkably, the Home Office does not seem to talk to the NI and HMRC offices. It not only demands that we submit all original documents, but additional information, such as original payslips and P60s and separate proof of address. Since 2007/08 I started earning freelance alongside my architecture and teaching PAYE posts, so I have lots of receipts and proof of address and earnings nicely filed for HMRC - records that by law we are asked to retain for 5 years. I have 9 years of records and I can use any continuous 5 years that I meet the residency requirements.
But this is where things get complicated: in the past 5 years, I also was a PhD student on a generous tax-free scholarship which got paid into my account quarterly (which I can evidence with bank statements) and I also earned some freelance money yearly but generally under the personal tax allowance threshold. I have no P60 or payslips as they were not issued as part of the scholarship; the scholarship confirmation is simply an email so I have asked UCL if they can issue me with something more official. However this is not all: it is unclear if my 4-year scholarship (just over £17,000 tax-free a year) will be regarded as sufficient income to meet the Home Office's "self-sufficiency" requirement to not need the "Comprehensive Health Insurance" (CHI), which I did not have as I did not need it (given I already was in the UK for 15 years prior). But it means that I cannot use the last 5 years for my PR application, so I need to go further back in time - as far back as 10 years and use this period as my residency application. And that is where many EU citizens fall foul: anyone who took time out to study, to look after their kids or parents, has to go back to a much earlier period of their residency and then our PR will stand or fall by how many original documents we kept and/or can trace back. And let's make no mistake - under EU law we have been here legally and have been taking up our residency rights legally, it is just that the UK Home Office is not accepting its own HMRC/NI evidence as sufficient proof of this. Crazy, right?
So, in my case l am now trying to locate the P60 and bankslips from exactly 10 years ago because I submitted exactly these very same documents to our bank for a mortgage application. So, while my HMRC and NI records evidence in detail my entire 20 years in the UK, and prove I have been taking up my residency rights, the Home Office does not accept this as evidence... You couldn't make it up...
I spent much of my weekend going through my financial files trying to collate the Home Office required evidence for us EU citizens that we have a right to remain, i.e. to apply for permanent residency (PR). You'd think this would be simple and straightforward. People say to me "but Sofie, you have been here so long, no-one is going to ask you to leave post-brexit"! Well, I am not so sure. Because while I can prove I have been in the UK for nearly 20 years and the amount I contributed each year in NI and tax payments, there is a difference between the proof I have and the proof that the Home Office explicitly requests and accepts. And that is where many of us EU citizens fall foul. There was no need for us to apply for PR while the UK is in the EU. To do so, we now need documents that we did not know we'd be needing to keep to prove our residency - basically, we needed a crystal ball.
I have been in the UK for nearly 20 years and I have a National Insurance (NI) number and HMRC record going back nearly 2 decades to show exactly what I earned each year, where I lived and what taxes and NI I paid. In most EU countries this is enough evidence needed to show that one has acquired the right to permanent residency in another UK state. Not so in the UK.
Remarkably, the Home Office does not seem to talk to the NI and HMRC offices. It not only demands that we submit all original documents, but additional information, such as original payslips and P60s and separate proof of address. Since 2007/08 I started earning freelance alongside my architecture and teaching PAYE posts, so I have lots of receipts and proof of address and earnings nicely filed for HMRC - records that by law we are asked to retain for 5 years. I have 9 years of records and I can use any continuous 5 years that I meet the residency requirements.
But this is where things get complicated: in the past 5 years, I also was a PhD student on a generous tax-free scholarship which got paid into my account quarterly (which I can evidence with bank statements) and I also earned some freelance money yearly but generally under the personal tax allowance threshold. I have no P60 or payslips as they were not issued as part of the scholarship; the scholarship confirmation is simply an email so I have asked UCL if they can issue me with something more official. However this is not all: it is unclear if my 4-year scholarship (just over £17,000 tax-free a year) will be regarded as sufficient income to meet the Home Office's "self-sufficiency" requirement to not need the "Comprehensive Health Insurance" (CHI), which I did not have as I did not need it (given I already was in the UK for 15 years prior). But it means that I cannot use the last 5 years for my PR application, so I need to go further back in time - as far back as 10 years and use this period as my residency application. And that is where many EU citizens fall foul: anyone who took time out to study, to look after their kids or parents, has to go back to a much earlier period of their residency and then our PR will stand or fall by how many original documents we kept and/or can trace back. And let's make no mistake - under EU law we have been here legally and have been taking up our residency rights legally, it is just that the UK Home Office is not accepting its own HMRC/NI evidence as sufficient proof of this. Crazy, right?
So, in my case l am now trying to locate the P60 and bankslips from exactly 10 years ago because I submitted exactly these very same documents to our bank for a mortgage application. So, while my HMRC and NI records evidence in detail my entire 20 years in the UK, and prove I have been taking up my residency rights, the Home Office does not accept this as evidence... You couldn't make it up...
20.01.2017. Background
In 1997, I joined my UK boyfriend in the UK (a Scotsman whom I met while he was on Erasmus exchange at my university in Belgium). Our relationship did not last, but by late 2000 I had made a life in the UK, and was both a part-time architecture student and part-time designer/assistant in practice in London. On my Linked in profile you can see what I have been up to since. I since married an Italian scientist 9 years ago; we met in London and speak English at home. I do not speak Italian, nor does he speak Dutch, so the notion of "go back to where you come from" puts us in front of a difficult dilemma. Back to where, exactly? The UK is our adopted home and welcomed us here all these years ago. We hear about how entangled the UK is in terms of EU economy and trade, but what about us people? Brexit shows how entangled all of the UK is with the EU and millions of people (and their friends, partners, teachers, nurses) and how painful the unentangling process will be - economically - but at a deep human-level.
Fast forward to 23rd June 2016
EU citizens like me are told by colleagues, neighbours, politicians that "of course they want people like us to stay", and it makes me feel uncomfortable. If - God forbid - I fall ill tomorrow, will I then be one of the "scroungers" and "profiteers" who should be booted out, despite only ever paying into the British system since I was 21 years old? We are told by people "of course we want Europeans already here to stay", but the UK government has not confirmed this, and instead wants to use us as bargaining chips. Many signs show us the opposite of us being able to stay: instead of making it easier for EU citizens to evidence their right to permanent residency, more bureaucratic hurdles are put in the way (see further below). At the moment 30% of EU citizens have their right to permanent residency declined, and it is unclear why (in my next post I will set out what is required to get residency status confirmed and I am actually surprised it is not a higher proportion, as the onerous "evidence" required is harder to provide the longer one has stayed in the UK).
Others tell me to not worry, that "surely someone with your qualifications will be able to get a work permit". It is because of this way of thinking that I have not seen much empathy among several non-EU citizens: their reasoning is that "you'll just be like us and now you can see what we have/had to go through to obtain the right to remain to live and work here!". But this misses the point; they came here with the knowledge of what was required; EU citizens were welcomed in the UK and had equal rights and they came and were invited on that basis - the two are not the same. (Whether non-EU citizens should be treated unequally is a different matter). EU citizens' potential loss of right to remain would be more comparable if for example the UK government decided in hindsight that all those from non-EU countries who have indefinite leave to remain, lose that right and must pack up and go.
EU citizens (and UK citizens in Europe) stand to have their rights to keep living and working in the UK/the EU reduced and taken away. And let me tell you, losing rights you acquired after years (in my case two decades) here is very different from deciding to move in the full knowledge that there are several strings attached (work permit/minimum earnings/re-apply for permit etc). I contribute so much to the UK exactly because I could invest in my future long-term, or so it was until June 2016. How many of us were mistaken. Equally as EU citizens we have obligations: for instance I spent a week on jury duty at Wood Green Crown court as a jury member, just as any UK citizen would have been called upon.
But if I had needed a work permit in 1997 or if I had known this was going to be a "20 year stint", not my "forever home", as the UK might leave the EU, I might have made very different decisions in my life. For instance:
a.) I might have chosen to stay where I was born, or might have taken opportunities in another country to contribute to after a few years;
b.) if I had obtained a work permit, I might not have stayed and might be back in the country where I was born and built a career and paid my taxes there, bought a house there, invested in different language skills etc.
c.) I might now be in possession of a UK or other passport as this would have been the logical next step to security.
d.) If I had known my residency would be up for discussion in the UK after 20 years of contributions to UK society, would I have bought my home here? (what is the point doing so if you get deported and cannot live in it?). Would I have done my doctorate in the UK? Would I have specialised in UK environmental design? Would I have written a book that is so UK-context driven? Yes, sure many skills are transferable and apply in a non-UK context, but I am now an EU citizen with UK academic and professional qualifications which may no longer be seen as "equivalent" throughout other EU countries, including in the country I come from and might "have to go back to".
As EU citizens in the UK, we might lose ALL our rights to live and work in the UK freely, unless the UK government lets us stay and guarantees those rights. Even if we are allowed to remain, we will suddenly no longer be part of the EU (and all the advantages that this brings), including the ECHR (European Court of Human Right) and all the protective legislation that the EU put in place on employment, environment etc.
Some people ask why I never got a British passport. The main reason is that I never needed to as the UK was part of the EU. I vote for MEPs, mayoral and local elections, I pay taxes, national insurance and our not-for profit pays corporation tax; I undertook jury duty and helped built social housing and retrofitted hospitals and nurseries in the Uk and educated hundreds of British students (and others) to become the next generation of environmental architects. Not being British never stopped me being a fully integrated member in wider society. Indeed I cannot vote general election, which - as long as in the EU - was the only real gain for becoming a UK citizen. Until 2010, Belgians could not gain dual nationality and in any case I could not afford to be without my passport for weeks or months for work reasons and it never made sense to spend weeks collecting information when I had no need to prove that I had taken up my EU treaty rights.
Of course, if only I had known about 23.06.16 in advance.... But you only can have 20/20 hindsight...
My next blog will document the process of trying to confirm my right to permanent residency.
In 1997, I joined my UK boyfriend in the UK (a Scotsman whom I met while he was on Erasmus exchange at my university in Belgium). Our relationship did not last, but by late 2000 I had made a life in the UK, and was both a part-time architecture student and part-time designer/assistant in practice in London. On my Linked in profile you can see what I have been up to since. I since married an Italian scientist 9 years ago; we met in London and speak English at home. I do not speak Italian, nor does he speak Dutch, so the notion of "go back to where you come from" puts us in front of a difficult dilemma. Back to where, exactly? The UK is our adopted home and welcomed us here all these years ago. We hear about how entangled the UK is in terms of EU economy and trade, but what about us people? Brexit shows how entangled all of the UK is with the EU and millions of people (and their friends, partners, teachers, nurses) and how painful the unentangling process will be - economically - but at a deep human-level.
Fast forward to 23rd June 2016
EU citizens like me are told by colleagues, neighbours, politicians that "of course they want people like us to stay", and it makes me feel uncomfortable. If - God forbid - I fall ill tomorrow, will I then be one of the "scroungers" and "profiteers" who should be booted out, despite only ever paying into the British system since I was 21 years old? We are told by people "of course we want Europeans already here to stay", but the UK government has not confirmed this, and instead wants to use us as bargaining chips. Many signs show us the opposite of us being able to stay: instead of making it easier for EU citizens to evidence their right to permanent residency, more bureaucratic hurdles are put in the way (see further below). At the moment 30% of EU citizens have their right to permanent residency declined, and it is unclear why (in my next post I will set out what is required to get residency status confirmed and I am actually surprised it is not a higher proportion, as the onerous "evidence" required is harder to provide the longer one has stayed in the UK).
Others tell me to not worry, that "surely someone with your qualifications will be able to get a work permit". It is because of this way of thinking that I have not seen much empathy among several non-EU citizens: their reasoning is that "you'll just be like us and now you can see what we have/had to go through to obtain the right to remain to live and work here!". But this misses the point; they came here with the knowledge of what was required; EU citizens were welcomed in the UK and had equal rights and they came and were invited on that basis - the two are not the same. (Whether non-EU citizens should be treated unequally is a different matter). EU citizens' potential loss of right to remain would be more comparable if for example the UK government decided in hindsight that all those from non-EU countries who have indefinite leave to remain, lose that right and must pack up and go.
EU citizens (and UK citizens in Europe) stand to have their rights to keep living and working in the UK/the EU reduced and taken away. And let me tell you, losing rights you acquired after years (in my case two decades) here is very different from deciding to move in the full knowledge that there are several strings attached (work permit/minimum earnings/re-apply for permit etc). I contribute so much to the UK exactly because I could invest in my future long-term, or so it was until June 2016. How many of us were mistaken. Equally as EU citizens we have obligations: for instance I spent a week on jury duty at Wood Green Crown court as a jury member, just as any UK citizen would have been called upon.
But if I had needed a work permit in 1997 or if I had known this was going to be a "20 year stint", not my "forever home", as the UK might leave the EU, I might have made very different decisions in my life. For instance:
a.) I might have chosen to stay where I was born, or might have taken opportunities in another country to contribute to after a few years;
b.) if I had obtained a work permit, I might not have stayed and might be back in the country where I was born and built a career and paid my taxes there, bought a house there, invested in different language skills etc.
c.) I might now be in possession of a UK or other passport as this would have been the logical next step to security.
d.) If I had known my residency would be up for discussion in the UK after 20 years of contributions to UK society, would I have bought my home here? (what is the point doing so if you get deported and cannot live in it?). Would I have done my doctorate in the UK? Would I have specialised in UK environmental design? Would I have written a book that is so UK-context driven? Yes, sure many skills are transferable and apply in a non-UK context, but I am now an EU citizen with UK academic and professional qualifications which may no longer be seen as "equivalent" throughout other EU countries, including in the country I come from and might "have to go back to".
As EU citizens in the UK, we might lose ALL our rights to live and work in the UK freely, unless the UK government lets us stay and guarantees those rights. Even if we are allowed to remain, we will suddenly no longer be part of the EU (and all the advantages that this brings), including the ECHR (European Court of Human Right) and all the protective legislation that the EU put in place on employment, environment etc.
Some people ask why I never got a British passport. The main reason is that I never needed to as the UK was part of the EU. I vote for MEPs, mayoral and local elections, I pay taxes, national insurance and our not-for profit pays corporation tax; I undertook jury duty and helped built social housing and retrofitted hospitals and nurseries in the Uk and educated hundreds of British students (and others) to become the next generation of environmental architects. Not being British never stopped me being a fully integrated member in wider society. Indeed I cannot vote general election, which - as long as in the EU - was the only real gain for becoming a UK citizen. Until 2010, Belgians could not gain dual nationality and in any case I could not afford to be without my passport for weeks or months for work reasons and it never made sense to spend weeks collecting information when I had no need to prove that I had taken up my EU treaty rights.
Of course, if only I had known about 23.06.16 in advance.... But you only can have 20/20 hindsight...
My next blog will document the process of trying to confirm my right to permanent residency.