Just Curious

[grumpy geezer]

A while back there was a lot of discussion on the HUBB on the pros and cons of UK leaving the EU. Now to begin with, I have no dog in the fight, since I live in Louisiana USA and can't travel outside the country because of medical insurance issue. I was just wondering if issues on entering/leaving the UK-EU, passport issues, currency issues, long term residency issues have been addressed/resolved and how this might affect the MC travel community. I go to BBC on a regular basis, but am interested how or even if these issues have been addressed. I understand if this post is blocked, it won't ruin my day, I just hope it doesn't ruin anyone else's.

[Tomkat]

A lot depends on how the UK leaves the EU (and *if*, as this is still not certain). Parliament seems to be strongly against "no deal" though that remains the legal fallback if no deal is agreed before the new leaving date of Halloween 2019. In such a case it seems likely UK drivers would need IDP and Green Cards to drive in the EU. The UK would probably continue a visa regime similar to what the EU has for the time being, it's unlikely to change in the short term simply because there isn't enough time or resources to plan anything else. The name on the visa would be UK instead of EU though. Any subsequent divergence is hard to predict but would be laid out on government websites nearer the time.

The most likely scenario is leaving with some sort of deal, and recent opinion polling suggests that the closer it leaves the country to the EU the more people in the UK would find it an acceptable compromise. Some hardline Europhobes may disagree, but I'm just reporting what the polls say the country thinks. Then it depends what the terms of the deal are, and in all probability it will be structured so as to provide maximum ease of movement between UK and EU.

However it goes I suspect people entering the UK from outside the EU won't be greatly affected. More likely, if there is no deal is that the UK/EU borders will be the source of massive queues as every vehicle and traveller is inspected.

[backofbeyond]

Originally Posted by Tomkat

More likely, if there is no deal is that the UK/EU borders will be the source of massive queues as every vehicle and traveller is inspected.

A couple of years ago when the migrant crisis was at its most hysterical every vehicle queuing up to get into Calais ferry port and that looked like it could hide a migrant under the holiday dirty washing was getting a couple of armed French soldiers inspecting them. Pick a popular time for your trip and you'd miss a few ferries at least while you were waiting. And even when you got through that there were the sniffer dogs on the quayside ...

Exactly how the two bike sheds that pass for customs posts in Dover are going to cope with inspecting all the new 'foreigners' is going to be entertaining to watch - as long as you're not waiting in the queue.

Some stuff is going on behind the scenes in other EU countries to try and smooth over the bumps. My son lives / works in Sweden and under the EU rules his Brit passport/ nationality has been fine. Some time back though he was told that post Brexit it may not be. He was advised to apply for Swedish citizenship but the decision delay was around 28 months. Recently however, with the prospect of no deal Brexit waxing and waning the Swedish gov have fast tracked the Brits. His application went through in 14 days and the passport followed on 7 days later. Dublin isn't quite so speedy though. His Irish application is now 12 months in and still in limbo.

[Jay_Benson]

I applied for my Irish citizenship in late June 2018 and it came through last week. There is a large backlog for some reason..... Hopefully your son will get it through soon. I noticed a change on the Irish Foreign birth’sregister that allows siblings to apply at the same time rather than one at a time as had been the case.

I have been thinking about getting the citizenship sorted out for some time but the the trigger was Brexit - I want to have the choice to live in the EU - I just wish had done it 25 years ago before I got married and had kids as the kids would be able to get it too.

The biggest benefit may be that I can ride through Iran without needing a guide.

[Jay_Benson]

As regards the long term residency there is nothing decided as yet and people may or may not have the right to live on the continent. Unfortunately the politician’s in the UK seem to think that they can use the lives of EU citizens in the UK as a lever to extract concessions from the EU forgetting that there are about 2 million British citizens in the EU.

There are some funny parts to the whole debacle though - recently there were reports of a couple that supported Brexit who were so fed up with the whole not leaving the EU quickly that they have decided to leave the country and move to Spain (part of the EU). When you have the intellect to come out with such it really makes me wonder how we managed to get ourselves into this position.

[backofbeyond]

Originally Posted by Jay_Benson

I applied for my Irish citizenship in late June 2018 and it came through last week. There is a large backlog for some reason..... Hopefully your son will get it through soon. I noticed a change on the Irish Foreign birth’sregister that allows siblings to apply at the same time rather than one at a time as had been the case.

I have been thinking about getting the citizenship sorted out for some time but the the trigger was Brexit - I want to have the choice to live in the EU - I just wish had done it 25 years ago before I got married and had kids as the kids would be able to get it too.

The biggest benefit may be that I can ride through Iran without needing a guide.

I went through the Irish application process before Brexit blew up and it only took a few months. The original intent was to keep the Irish family connection going rather than the UK / EU passport shuffling that its since become. As things stand three of the four of us are now travelling on different country's passports and by the time all the applications etc have gone through we'll have eight passports between us. All this to try and ensure we can continue to work / live in 'Europe' as we have been for a number of years. And all of this without any mention of what I think of the merits / demerits of actually Brexiting.

Iran has been on my visit list for some time - especially so since I've had the Irish passport, but the problem recently has not been with Iran but with the US. We do visit the US frequently, have friends there and I even keep a bike there but - as I understand it anyway - visiting Iran would kick me out of the US waiver system and into the world of visa interviews and explanations. As the US connection is more important I keep postponing heading east in the hope that things might ease.

[Jay_Benson]

Originally Posted by backofbeyond

I went through the Irish application process before Brexit blew up and it only took a few months. The original intent was to keep the Irish family connection going rather than the UK / EU passport shuffling that its since become. As things stand three of the four of us are now travelling on different country's passports and by the time all the applications etc have gone through we'll have eight passports between us. All this to try and ensure we can continue to work / live in 'Europe' as we have been for a number of years. And all of this without any mention of what I think of the merits / demerits of actually Brexiting.

Iran has been on my visit list for some time - especially so since I've had the Irish passport, but the problem recently has not been with Iran but with the US. We do visit the US frequently, have friends there and I even keep a bike there but - as I understand it anyway - visiting Iran would kick me out of the US waiver system and into the world of visa interviews and explanations. As the US connection is more important I keep postponing heading east in the hope that things might ease.

I have a far greater desire to visit Iran than the USA. How will they know if you have been to Iran on your Irish passport if you go to the USA on your British passport? If they do find out then the result will be to be removed for 5 years fron the waiver system. You can still go there but the time taken to come to a decision can be rather long so foreward planning will be the order of the day.

[backofbeyond]

Originally Posted by Jay_Benson

How will they know if you have been to Iran on your Irish passport if you go to the USA on your British passport?

That's what I thought initially but there is (was, at least) a question on the ESTA form asking if you had a passport from a country other than the one you were applying with. If yes, have you travelled to any of our banned list of countries on that? Saying 'no' was a possibility but getting caught out would lead to more trouble than it was worth. Definitely one circumstance where asking forgiveness rather than permission wouldn't work.

[Jay_Benson]

If you wondered what the Spice Girls had been up to for the last three years it appears that they were the UK negotiating team. This about sums up the UK Government position: