Brexxit, and your loved ones abroad.

The situation british expats face with the ‘brexxit’ vote coming up is a very gray and worrying affair

Britains all over europe are raising questions for what will happen to them if we vote out of the european union  the referendum.

It is estimated that 2 million Britons live in other EU countries … Take elderly people who have lived for 10 years in Spain. After five years, they acquired a right of permanent residence as citizens of the union and that includes access to the Spanish healthcare system. If we to leave, what do we do about the rights of those people? What transitional rights do we give somebody who has been working for four years in the UK and has children at school and so forth? Let us not forget that for every example in the UK there is an example of a UK citizen elsewhere. We would want to tidy that up.  Many expats are of course are worried about these effects.

Withdrawal could also cause more problems such as exporting and importing local goods, (food) or at least make the process much more difficult. It would mean difficult and lengthy negotiations. It’s not possible to predict exactly how long it would take, but comparable international trade deals have taken on average between four and nine years.

The rights of 2 million UK citizens living abroad would need to be determined, as would the rights of a similar number of EU citizens living in the UK. we are talking about rights to residence, to healthcare and to schooling. Of course all of this would not be a issue if the UK stayed in the EU, but the UK has some potential benefits for the expats if we do leave, things such as a lesser time needed for citizenship, better tax brackets and access to healthcare.

All this however is just speculation, we simply don't have access to the information on what other EU countries will change to british expats living in their region if we leave. Expats on the ground are in the best position to vote whether we stay in the EU in this regard, which is why the government is allowing British expats to vote as well.