Brit expats in Germany meet to discuss their ongoing plight

A group of long-stay UK expat professionals living and working in Germany met recently to discuss their serious concerns over both Brexit negotiating teams’ lack of understanding of their situation.

Statistics show some 100,000 British expats are at present living and working in Germany, all of whom are totally confused as to the progress of negotiations and its effect on their status in their adopted country. During the meeting, one attendee who’s practiced law in Germany for over two decades reminded attendees that EU citizens remaining in the UK post-Brexit will retain their EU citizenship, giving them huge advantages over UK expats in Europe. The juxtaposition of the two sides, he added, represents the true situation unfairly, as UK citizens in EU member states will automatically be stripped of all their rights whilst EU expats in Britain will continue almost as normal.

The present state of negotiations means UK citizens’ rights to live, work, own a business, receive healthcare, retire or provide services will immediately cease post-Brexit, leaving them with no option but to relocate to the UK. EU citizens in the UK will still have their qualifications recognised and will still receive their EU based occupational pensions when they retire. The UK is easily able to resolve the EU expats’ status, but all 27 EU member states will need to agree on relief for UK citizens in EU member states.

Retiree Bernadette Falconer, a Munich resident along with her husband for 40 years, told the meeting the comparison between the situations of EU versus UK expats was at worst undemocratic and at best unfair. Others were concerned as to whether their professional rights would be affected and whether they would still be allowed to change jobs. Many expressed their frustration and anger over the British government’s refusal to amend the controversial 15-year rule disallowing British citizens from voting after they’d lived overseas for 15 years. The Brexit referendum result, they said, might have been very different had British politicians kept their word.