Where will they all go and live ???

It is possible to apply for citizenship in whichever country they are living, grandetante but something tells me they will be made to jump through all sorts of hoops to get it. Similarly if these countries introduce a type of carte de séjour I can see those who will be a burden to society being rejected outright.

I’m not sure why people who choose to live abroad, expect the UK to still look after them and their health. They’ve moved away to have a better life, and that’s fair enough. But it’s like having your cake and eating it. ?

I think the people who voted to leave ignorantly believed it would stop all immigration. It would appear that some still hold this view! Beggars belief!

They could apply for citizenship in whichever country they are living in, although that may not help them all that much, as they will not be entitled to a full pension there.

In Denmark, your OAP is calculated upon how many years you have resided in this country after your 18th birthday - this applies equally to Danish citizens and others. However, if you become a Danish citizen all doctors and hospital bills, plus a third of dentist's bills will be paid by the state health care.

It must be very worrying for anyone in the situation, but they have had all the time since the referendum to think about what they can or should do. I feel heartily sorry for anyone who retired to another country, especially those with health issues that the British climate aggravates.

growstuff it’s surprising just how many manage the journey despite how ill they are.

Well I don't think we have to worry. After the Judgement went against good old Boris I am more than sure that Brexit won't happen. Good news for those living abroad, for all us with people who struggle for medication and care. We will gain nothing by leaving.

Exactly, ellianne. The OP seems to have been forgotten. This was supposed to be about the tens of thousands of people who will have little choice but to return to the UK.

Exactly, crazygranny. Apparently, the government does now have a plan. The EHIC will be valid for six months and then the plan is that people will have to fend for themselves.

If they're fit enough to travel GrandmaJan. It's possible they could be landed with a hefty bill for emergency care in their country of residence.

My mother and stepfather moved to Spain where my stepfather later contracted lung cancer. He was too ill to move back to the UK - property prices would have been prohibitive even if he had been able to. In Spain he received protracted treatment without cost from a country with financial difficulties much greater than our own. The bills for treatment otherwise would have bankrupted them both. We seem to forget that other EU countries have continually given healthcare to over a million of our citizens who moved to live abroad at the time of their lives when their cost to any health service is at its highest. That was one of the benefits that the leave campaign somehow overlooked and for which, along with everything else, they have no plan.

You will be able to access NHS care if you are resident in the UK. Hopefully, what is available to you satisfies your needs.

I see quite a few ex pats in my surgery. They may live in France, Spain or wherever but as soon as they need long term treatment or surgery for instance they just fly home and stay with friends or relatives. The same will happen after we leave the EU.

There are no reciprocal agreements for asylum seekers and illegal immigrants so that is a completely different case to Jura's original post.

I have just returned to the UK from living in Spain and then France for 20 years …….with an EHIC and French Mutuelle insurance which is virtually compulsory. The French health service has been excellent for us but now that is also having problems financially …...I would not have returned, but my husband died earlier this year so I sold our house and moved back, I was fortunate I could so so. I would also add that on the (very rare) occasion I have been told ;You should go back where you come from'...and when my husband was too ill to care for him at home and our doctor recommened long term hospital care, I was told by a DOCTOR at the hospital ...'take him back to England and pay for his care' if that isn't racist, I don't know what is ! I found a care home in France for which (as in the UK) I paid nearly 4,000 euros a month. I have a lot of health issues that require long term medication and so I am concerned that I may not be able to obtain the medications I require ….so if all of those like me cannot get them it is one way for the UK government to get rid of all of us expensive and superfluous OAP.s ...simples !

Expats in Spain and France won't suddenly find no one is going to pay for their healthcare abroad because what would happen the other way round to those Europeans living in the UK? It's tit for tat and surely a reciprocal agreement will be put in place. The EHIC will presumably disappear.

An asylum seeker is a person who is seeking asylum because they are fleeing abuse we cannot even begin to imagine.

They are housed in places you wouldn't allow your pet to stay in. They are given a tiny amount of money in order to survive.

They escape trauma , abuse, their family killed in front of them ( I won't go on) and they are then accused of living the high life in the UK.

There was a recent case of 4 young asylum seekers committing suicide as they found that preferable to what was available.

Where is the basic humanity.

A teenage Eritrean refugee was the fourth from his friendship group to take his own life after arriving in the UK, an inquest hearing has revealed.

"Mulubrhane Medhane Kfleyosus, 19, was found dead on 18 February 2019 in Milton Keynes. It is the fourth death in the space of 16 months among one friendship group of unaccompanied young male Eritrean asylum seekers and refugees"

I don't think we have the infastructure here to allow free travel from all countries let alone returning expats. I see new houses being built everywhere but not new hospitals, schools, doctors surgeries, care services etc to cope with the demand. With thousands of people homeless living in tents, vans and sleeping on the streets we can't even keep up with social housing provision. Sad state this country is in at the moment.

If people choose to go and live abroad they are emigrating so should apply for citizenship of their desired place to live and bide by the rules of that country not expect handouts from the country they have left

In my mind if you abandon your homeland to go and live the high life in another country for 20-30 years, and not contribute anything during that time towards your homeland's economy then do you have a right to complain about it when when the gravy train stops!

So how many of them are there? A number would be useful.

The biggest group of people who access NHS care illegally are British ex-pats who have been out of the country and use a UK address. Eligibility for NHS care relates to residence not nationality.

As for the media being full of stories, do you really need an answer to that?

We had a post last week about a couple who live in France but the husband came home to use the NHS when he needed to.

Trisher, if that's true why is the media full of stories of NHS tourists coming to the uk for free treatment, and getting it?

not given to slight exaggeration then pennyrise probable 99 % are sent back or put in detention to send back

Slight exaggeration there. "In 2018, 44% were returned from the UK to another country (compared with 47% in the previous year)".

Source: YouGovUK

Who are the people who claim there's no racism in the UK?

No we don't Ngaio. If people are really here illegally, they don't have access to anything. Not all migrants are in the UK illegally. I think you need to look up the difference between an asylum seeker and an illegal immigrant.