for Expats in the EU who voted remain, to be relly upset and angry at neighbours and 'friends' who have voted to leave?

Good and informed post Urmstongran !
Labaik - really hard to work out who said what when you neither use the italic facility for quotes or the bold convention for usernames.

Thanks Maw for saying that. Praise indeed, coming from you in my opinion!
?

Apologies for being so ignorantly stupid MawB…..

Don't worry Labaik.
That's why I don't like this kind of thread. It just stirs up hostile feelings. Even in me - usually so placid.
And no positive results.

Laibak

If you look just below the box where you type your post you will see a heading Emphasis and a list of symbols to use eg ** ^^ etc which you can use if you wish

Hope this helps.

If you up sticks and move to another country, why would you expect the country you leave to look after you?

Exactly, Sparkling.

At the risk of offending expats I also believe everything we do has consequences and comes at a cost
If I choose to live in another lovely part of the country , it will cost me money for the property but also cost in terms of leaving friends behind. it might also cost in terms of inferior transport facilities and the dependence on a car.
For instance, I would love to live nearer the DDs in London, but the cost (as well as bring prohibitive) would include being further away from the other DGcs in Birmingham.
In the same way if I were to choose to go and live in another country the “cost” may include reduced access to my children and grandchildren, the vicissitudes of the exchange rate and lots of things like the language, local habits, health insurance, driving licence, administrative details etc.
I imagine you factor those into your decision making, bearing in mind that life can bowl the odd googlie.
So while I am sorry for anybody who chose to buy in a cheap part of a country and then can’t resell their property because nobody wants to live there - well why was it cheap in the first place? The same applies in the UK. If you see what I mean.
Nothing is for nothing.

MawB totally agree.

So while I am sorry for anybody who chose to buy in a cheap part of a country and then can’t resell their property because nobody wants to live there - well why was it cheap in the first place?

Nail on head Maw.

And as with any major lifestyle choice - there will always be ‘the unknown unknowns’. Great quote and SO true.

The quote was from Donald Rumsfeld who stated:

“Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.

But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.”

But what if you factor in all of those things and then someone comes along and completely changes everything in a way that was totally unexpected? Isn't that unfair. Especially if it's done by a country that you've pretty much devoted your life to that then just treats you like a pesky foreigner. What if the EU had decided to change all the rules for ex pats regarding driving licences/health insurance etc?[of course British people living abroad are ex pats, not immigrants]. expats immigrants would be justified in their anger, would they not?

As a child I can remember whining to my parents “It’s not fair” and getting the crisp reply, “Nobody ever promised it would be”
What about the Windrush generation?
Was the U.K. fair to them?
What about WASPI women? Was that fair?
Sh*t happens and sometimes you just have to get on with it.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

I cannot imagine what you think gives you the right to make this sort of personal attack Labaik
It is total garbage- my political allegiance is entirely my own affair and you know nothing at all about me. Frankly, I’d like to keep it that way.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Maw,

Good posts, all of them.

I apologise to those regarding health care and S1 forms, you are right.

If you become resident in one country in the EU, if you travel to other countries, you are entitled to emergency healthcare only and your resident country is billed. I believe this is for non pensioners.

Jura, you will just have to pay the high costs if you are fully resident in Switzerland. I trust you pay your taxes there, have a Swiss driving licence having given your UK one up and declared your UK rental income in Switzerland along with worldwide income?

If not, is why I suggested using your Uk address. Some people have a foot in both camps.

Labaik You hit the nail on the head in your post of 20.09 yesterday. I do get annoyed by people saying we chose to 'abandon' the UK and live elsewhere in Europe. When we moved to France movement around Europe was encouraged and nobody could have foreseen what would happen a few years later. I am not complaining about our changed circumstances, I accept the result of a democratic vote ( others disagree I know) . I do think the sniping at those of us who chose to move to other countries is uncalled for.

There is a good and reassuring article today in The Guardian regards pensions and reciprocal healthcare. It’s all in the WA. All is REALLY GOOD for U.K. residents living in the EU. Check it out. The only worry comes if we leave with No Deal.

I will try to post a link. It should settle jura’s mind and she can share the good news with those ex pats who are worried.

Urmstongran I posted all that back at the beginning of the thread and put a link to the British in Europe site which is more accurate than the newspapers. It is not affected by no deal. From midnight it becomes law, protected by the ECJ and the ECHR.
?

The link was on page 3 but here it is again if anyone else missed it.
britishineurope.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/BiE-WA-Explanation-Part-1.pdf

For some reason I can’t ‘grab’ the article to post a link. But here are some key quotes:

“Laura Shields, spokesperson for the lobby group British in Europe, said healthcare and pensions are “actually the two bright spots in the withdrawal agreement. There’s a lot else to worry about, but not those.”

Public uncertainty and concern have not been helped by the fact that some EU states have not updated their Brexit information online to take account of the withdrawal agreement, Shields said.

Under the withdrawal agreement, at the end of the transition period in December 2020, anyone with an existing British S1 reciprocal healthcare form will continue to have their healthcare costs met by the government, as long as they remain legally resident in their host country.

An S1 form will also entitle the holder to a UK European health insurance card for treatment when travelling within the EU. Pensioners living on the continent will also continue to be entitled, under UK law, to free treatment in the UK.

Any British nationals working in their host country and paying into its social security system will continue to be covered for healthcare. The withdrawal agreement also states that British state pensions – and all other benefits paid to non-residents – will be uprated annually during the recipient’s lifetime.“
?