Six months ago my Spanish partner and I made a decision I never imagined we would willingly make: I would move back to the UK and she would come with me.
After what felt like an eternity confined to our small flat in Berlin throughout Covid, we, like so many, were craving a change. So, I quit my steady job in marketing – thus joining the Great Resignation – and my girlfriend started packing up her small business, ready to make the big move.
Having both taken full advantage of Freedom of Movement in the past, we (perhaps naively) thought that a British national coming home with his European partner would not be very difficult.
Sure, a post-Brexit Britain would make us jump through a few hoops and cough up a bit of cash, but how hard could it be? Well, as we soon found out, the answer is pretty bloody difficult!
I won’t bore you with the details (all of which were confirmed to us once we paid good money for an immigration lawyer). So, to cut a long story short, because my partner owns her own business, our only hope is to start our visa application next autumn – after hopefully fulfilling some exorbitant financial and living requirements. Ultimately, though, we’ve been shut out of my own country.
It is just worth noting that I was looking to move back in order to complete a master’s degree and pay in excess of £10,000 in tuition fees. My partner, meanwhile, was wanting to set up her successful business in England (and pay taxes). To top it all off, we were both willing to spend too much money renting a flat that was too small in London.
I have always held the stubborn belief that the negative consequences of Brexit would outweigh any positives. However, like many Remainers, I felt it was important to respect the democratic process and was resigned to the process of ‘Getting Brexit Done.’
Nevertheless, it is still right to point out the real effects Brexit is now having on ordinary people. Whether those difficulties be my partner potentially losing out on EU customers, who will have to pay extra custom duties once she is allowed to trade from the UK, or my hardships in getting back home with the person I love.
To be clear, I am not asking for sympathy. While we wait to apply for my partner’s visa, we’ve moved to Spain where we can spend our time enjoying their sunshine, delectable cuisine and far more pragmatic approach to working immigrants – they are happy to have any Brit earning €700+ a month, wherever that comes from.
Soggy fish and chips in rainy Brexit Britain will have to wait!
About four years prior to all this I had ended up working in marketing in Europe’s capital, Berlin – the ideal city for anyone who is reluctant to give up their student life. It was here where I also found love and shacked up with a lovely Spaniard.
Then, Covid hit. Like so many others, I spent an eternity confined to a small flat wondering “is this what I really want to do for the rest of my life?” So, I quit my steady job in marketing to pursue a career in Journalism. My girlfriend, also craving a change packed up.. we were moving to England!
(Feature: A Post Brexit Tale – Sam Rucker)
Dear Secretary:
We are writing to you about the expenses we incurred to receive a FREE Surinder Singh Visa.
What You Should Know
The Surinder Singh Settlement Visa is a FREE visa that could be applied for so that a spouse or family member may travel to the UK with their British Citizen family member either for settlement or travel.
This type of Visa was available to guarantee basic given liberties of freedom to family life, happiness and travel.
Why You Have Been Billed
• The Surinder Singh Settlement Visa is NOT FREE
• Due to outdated technology the departments under your control have deliberately created and sustained, what appears to be, a system that is anti-immigration and xenophobic.
• The staff under your control have created both a complicated, expensive and protracted process.
• Biometric data had already been collected for a previous UK travel visa
• It was unnecessary to collect biometric data a second time by travelling to a distant processing site
What You Should Do
• Utilize facial recognition technology to verify passport data and facial telemetry which several UK Commonwealth Countries already use including Hong Kong and Australia as part of the online travel visa application process.
• Issue provisional entry permits for the purpose of travel online with final issuance at the port of entry similar to what is already used worldwide by numerous countries.
• Utilize fingerprint and facial recognition technology at UK border crossings. Such technology has been used securely and effortlessly in both the USA and China for many years.
• Coordinate, trust and accept readily available and shared biometric data from countries such as Spain, where in fact the UK government and your office assists British citizens in securing residency for spouses and is already in possession of a residency card.
If You Disagree With The Attached Invoice
If you do not agree with the request for reimbursement of the costs associated with the FREE Surinder Singh Visa please let us know stating the facts in writing.
We ask that you write your decision within 20 days.
If you have any questions about our request, you may call us or write to us at +34642699234 or at the address provided.
In closing and as a footnote we make the following comments
1. A UK citizen shouldn’t have to be wealthy to obtain a travel visa for their spouse
2. A UK citizen resident and their resident spouse, in such a favored and trusted nation as Spain, shouldn’t have to travel so far and expensively to apply for a visa; in some cases, it could mean air travel from the Balearics or Canaries.
3. A UK citizen shouldn’t have to plan 3 months in advance to travel to visit family and friends with their spouse
4. An elderly UK pensioner on a limited state pension budget and whose spouse already receives NHS benefits shouldn’t have to break the bank simply to travel to enjoy life.
Our beloved and respected Prince Phillip suggested the UK government policies were overprotective and interfered unduly with freedom and personal choices. Was he right? Has the UK become a Nanny State?
Sincerely,
Dear Madame Home Secretary:
Please accept this correspondence as both a heartfelt congratulations and commendation on streamlining the visa process for Ukrainian refugees with an efficient online application process and email delivery of a visa permission, but also as a recommendation.
As a retired UK citizen and pensioner with a Chinese wife both permanently resident in Spain I am appalled by the cumbersome, archaic, outdated and perhaps xenophobic issuance of a simple travel visa for the UK.
At great expense, my wife must travel 5 hours one way to Madrid to present biometric data she has presented twice before for a UK visa and for our US marriage to be recognized by the UK consular office in Malaga. She will then be without her passport for an undetermined and indefinite period of time.
Please note millions of UK residents and citizens freely travel to Spain each year. The UK embassy in Madrid has an extremely positive relationship with the Spanish counterparts. The Nacional Police of Spain, who vetted my wife’s residency visa, consistently and continually assist and apprehend UK criminals on behalf of the UK. But the UK government and Border Patrol cannot issue permission online for her to visit the UK or recognize or trust a Spanish residency permit that the UK government assisted her in receiving.
Even if she was to travel to Australia, she would apply online and not have to relinquish her passport to receive a simple travel visa by email. Just like UK citizens she can travel freely anywhere in the EU with her Spanish residency card.
As a footnote, my wife has applied Surinder Singh route, she has contacted the home office twice by email about the cost and inconvenience of travelling to Madrid to present biometric data the UK government previously received. There was no reply as was promised.
In closing, in these times of facial recognition technology, secure emails and encrypted PDF’s I urge you to rethink the permission of family to travel to the UK. The whole cumbersome process, especially for those of us who live permanently in a country with such a pledged, trust, loyalty of relationship and cooperation between both the two Crowns and governments must be addressed.
Sincerely,
Paul
the british government is messed up.
I have asked Martin to give you my email or phone number
up until March 29 you didnt need a lawyer if you used the surinder singh settlement process
following are two letters I sent Pritt Patel