If UK votes to leave EU
What will be the affect if UK votes to leave EU?
If the Referendum result is to leave the EU, there will likely be a ‘settlement’ period of at least 2 years. During this time, Britain and the EU will look at reciprocal arrangements, such as we now enjoy. If however Britain denies certain privileges to EU citizens wishing to live in the UK, then those privileges will almost certainly be withdrawn from the ex-pats.
Priveleges affected could be:
The loss of ex-pats’ right to freedom of movement within the EU.
We may be required to have a visa/work-visa to visit/work in mainland Europe.
The European Health Insurance Card would probably no longer be valid – for UK visitors as well!. Health provision under E120 (or S1) rules, could be withdrawn.
Our British state pensions could be frozen, as they are already in many other non-EU countries, such as Australia Canada, South Africa, etc. The law allows freezing of ex-pat pensions, unless reciprocal arrangements are in place. for financial reasons some could be forced to move back to the UK which already has limited housing stock and problems with the NHS. An alternative could be to take local citizenship. Are your language skills good enough for that?
We would probably lose entitlement to UK benefits such as Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, PIPs, etc.
Winter fuel allowance has already been withdrawn in namely Portugal, France, Spain.
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