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Post-Brexit immigration: mission accomplished?

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Re: Post-Brexit immigration: mission accomplished?

#2
The challenge with most startup/entrepreneur visas is that different countries have very different rules and people don't show for these visas and compare them. Most people are forced to go through this because they are required by one way or another to head to a country. That in turn means that there is no desire to make the process any better.

Relatedly Brexit is a really odd thing. I feel like absolutely nobody is happy and it will never be over. They are not even compromising on truck driver immigration now so I doubt anyone would touch investor visas.

Re: Post-Brexit immigration: mission accomplished?

#3
Small data point: My immigration process in the Netherlands was quite straightforward. It was easy, direct, and surprisingly accommodating as bureaucracies go.

Feel free to send me a message for more details if you're interested, I'm happy to refer folks to our law firm etc.

Re: Post-Brexit immigration: mission accomplished?

#4
Sad but true.

I think the most fundamental change of Brexit is the overwhelming "you're not welcome" message. Visas, papers, bureaucrats, people can deal with. But the idea that you're at best tolerated so long as you pay your taxes is really off-putting (even for me, now UK citizen and long-time resident).

Also, all these schemes forget that moving for a job is so much more than that - it is moving a life. Can you move your life with your partner and kids - are they welcome? Can your parents come and visit? Is it obvious you can access healthcare, schools, social safety net on fair terms? Will you have to justify your whole existence to a reluctant bureaucrat every 12 months?

Pre-Brexit, there was always a bit of tension to foreigners in the UK, but then there always is, and London was by far better than most places. But the guarantees of EU membership were so strong that you didn't even think about any of these issues.

My impression is that another upside Silicon Valley has over the UK is that the US is genuinely a country of immigrants. Whatever hoops you have to jump through to get in or stay, I don't get the impression people are looked down on because they are foreign, once actually on the ground. Which is not so much the case in Brexitania.

Re: Post-Brexit immigration: mission accomplished?

#5
Brexit was an absolute tragedy for my family.

Immediately after the referendum was lost, my children and wife started to experience a level of racially motivated abuse that we had not seen before.

This reached a level where my wife felt she could no longer remain in the country and arranged for us to relocate as a family to mainland Europe.

The move was not kind for me, and soon after I arrived I had a breakdown and our marriage fell apart. I'm now back in the UK, but the place seems strangely unfamiliar and hostile to me; and whilst I am still able to work, all the joy, happiness and hope seems to have drained from this land.

Re: Post-Brexit immigration: mission accomplished?

#7

Immigration was not the main reason of voting Brexit. UKIP is not 51% of the UK electorate. I am surprised to see that, years after that vote, there are still gross misinformation circulating around it.

If it wasn't, then why did the Brexit referendum unleash such a torrent of racist abuse?

Re: Post-Brexit immigration: mission accomplished?

#8

Brexit was an absolute tragedy for my family. Immediately after the referendum was lost, my children and wife started to experience a level of racially motivated abuse that we had not seen before. This reached a level where my wife felt she could no longer remain in the country and arranged for us to relocate as a family to mainland Europe. The move was not kind for me, and soon after I arrived I had a breakdown and…

I'm so sorry to hear this, you have my sympathy. It didn't happen to me, but I can see how it could.

I hope you find a good way forward, good luck.

Re: Post-Brexit immigration: mission accomplished?

#10
Currently a Londoner and having to go through fewer hoops to move to the continent, albeit more than before.

There are multiple routes to UK Visas and I have recently discussed with an acquaintance about bringing a business from elsewhere to the UK.

The problem, as cited in the article, is that the decision maker may simply Google for similar services and products and refuse. (Source: immigration lawyer I know - https://tom-bradford.com/innovator-and-start-up-using-an-exi...)

So it's easier for me to move myself and entire family abroad (TONS of hassle, Brexit or not, what with housing, schools, movers) to go to where the business is than for the business to move here (previously no hassle).

A mess. We're an ISLAND for goodness' sakes. How do you think people got here?

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