As an EU Citizen

I have made Scotland my home since 1997, when my husband and I and our two children came to work and live here.

Since the 2016 referendum I have been living in Limbo.  I have nightmares, sleepless nights and periods of anxiety about my future.  The anti-migrant rhetoric affects me deeply- receiving a letter from the Scottish Government in the week after the referendum that I was welcome here left me in tears.

In the beginning of this year I decided to apply for settled status in the hope that would help.  The app worked fine but then I got the first email back: The Home Office didn't have enough evidence that I had been in the country for five years.  Five years? I have been here for over 20 years, have had three jobs, did two degrees, set up a business and they can't find me in their records?  I sent various bits of evidence.  No joy - standard email back that there was not enough evidence.  I sent my business accounts.  Not enough evidence. By then - a few weeks in - I was tearing my hair out.  The light bulb moment was when I contacted to Perth and Kinross Council - I have been a community councillor for quite a few years.  Within hours they sent me back a letter: 'to whom it may concern' stating I had been a community councillor for over five years.  20 minutes later the Home Office gave me settled status. Which is good for me but what about others who are possibly less well connected or astute? The hostile environment is alive and well.

Friends often ask me why don't I take British citizenship, since the Netherlands now allows dual nationality in these cases.  My standard reply is that when Scotland is independent, it will be an honour to have dual Dutch - Scottish nationality.  I'll wait for that, thank you!

As an EU citizen 2

Last week the EU Withdrawal Act went through parliament without much of a stushie.  Most of the proposals of the Tory government were voted through; amendments from the opposition to protect vulnerable child migrants and EU citizens were voted down with ease.

After the 2016 referendum on Brexit EU citizens were promised that nothing would change. ‘There will be no change for EU citizens already lawfully resident in the UK,’ Boris Johnson wrote at the time, ‘These EU citizens will automatically be granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK and will be treated no less favourably than they are at present’. That was a clear promise.  It was broken very quickly – instead of a registration system for all EU citizens the government put in place an application system which is flawed, as my experience with it (and the experiences of many others) proves.  The deadline for application is in June 2021.  This may seem that there is plenty of time for EU citizens to apply, but as with Windrush there could be any number of people who don’t realise they have to apply such as older people who have lived here all their lives, children who were born in Britain but have a parent born abroad.  Many are offered ‘pre-settled status’ despite the fact they have been living and working in the UK for more than 5 years.  These people will have to re-apply but there is no guarantee they will be accepted.  And which employer will take on people with pre-settled status?

Boris Johnson makes promises at the drop of a hat, turns around and breaks his promises just as easily.  That is why many EU citizens with or without settled status feel deeply uneasy - as does the European Union.  And with reason.  There is to be an Independent Monitoring Authority for Citizens’ Rights Agreement but so far there is no information on how that will work or who will be on it.  In section 39 of the Withdrawal Agreement there is a passage stating that this body can be abolished at any time and tacked on to a ministerial department.  So much for an independent system!

Much of the anxiety of EU citizens come from the fact that the rights we have now are not enshrined in law.  The right to appeal, the right to a judicial review are enshrined in secondary legislation and ministerial assurances and these can very easily be changed.  The promises Boris Johnson has made to EU citizens are not worth the paper they are printed on.

Despite have been granted settled status I worry that this right-wing government will make it more difficult for EU citizens to find work, to access healthcare, benefits and housing – all these things are already happening.  When I applied to stay in my home of 21 years the Home Office said that they could not find enough evidence that I had been living in Scotland for more than 5 years. I have settled status but no physical proof – what happens when I stand at the border after a holiday and they can’t find evidence of my settled status?

What happens in 11 months’ time if or when the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal?  It is a real possibility and then we are at the mercy of the Tory government. The stuff of nightmares.

Independence is the only answer.