Ex pats? Who cares?

Well, that was interesting. An evening spent in the plush conference room at the British Embassy in Warsaw, where a team led by the Deputy Ambassador and including staff from the Embassy and relevant Polish authorities presented what we ex-pats need to do in the event of a No Deal Brexit.

There were I guess getting on for 100 of us in the audience, and the conversation was at times quite lively. We were a mixed bag too. As well as the professionals working here for both UK and Polish companies, there were a several people, like myself, who for a variety of reasons (and not all of them related to romance) had made their lives and retired in Poland, and Polish people with spouses or partners who were British.

There were many different stories, but the overwhelming take away was the sense of confusion and frustration we all shared. No-one I spoke to thought that Brexit was a good idea – reading between the lines (and judging by some instances of rolled eyes and forced smiles) I got the impression that the Deputy Ambassador himself was not in favour: “We are simply here to execute our Government’s instructions” was his best soundbite, in answer to someone about what the “benefits of Brexit actually are” (the question was not answered).

Most people were aggrieved at being disenfranchised for the Referendum in 2016, because they had been in Poland for more than 7 years, and were less than happy about the lack of information and support they had been given at the time. I told them that I had been given a postal vote after contacting my old constituency in England, despite having been in Poland myself for (at that time) 15 years and urged them to do the same now, so that at least our feelings could be expressed at the ballot box in the next General Election or People’s Vote on any Brexit deal (whichever comes first). It may be, of course, that my postal vote had been awarded as a result of a clerical error – and equally other people being excluded could have been clerical errors. There seems to be a distinct lack of clarity around this point – as with many things Brexit.

Other stories were interesting. A lady was representing her mother, 99 years old and too frail to travel, who had been living in Poland for more than 50 years and granted permanent residency more than 45 years ago. She had received a letter from the NHS in England advising her that in the event of No Deal, her health care, both in England and reciprocally in Poland, was no longer valid, and that she needed to purchase expensive private health care. The lady was seeking confirmation that was indeed the true and what her mother should do. No-one was able to give her a definitive answer.

A young Polish lady was there on behalf of herself and her English partner, who had been for work purposes relocated to Jersey. The couple wanted to split their time between homes in both countries, but her partner had been told that with a No Deal he would only be able to spend 30 days a year in Poland and the lady only allowed the same amount of time in Britain. Again, no-one was able to confirm the truth or otherwise in this, as “details are still being worked out”.

There was also a young British lady, accompanied by her daughter (no more than 4 years old I would guess) who lived and worked permanently in Poland. The child’s father was for personal reasons still in the UK. This meant he was not able to spend as much time with his daughter as either party wanted (largely on understandable cost grounds) and this would now become even worse because of these possible time limits. Again, there was no solution offered.

Finally, a guy about my age was asking practical questions about which line he should join when arriving at Heathrow, returning to Warsaw or visiting another EU country. No-one was sure, but the general impression was that arrival at Heathrow on a UK passport would mean the UK line, arrival at Warsaw would be the Third Country line, but elsewhere in Europe (specifically a non-Schengen EU member state) no-one was completely sure but assumed the Third Country line.

The takeway: despite over 3 ½ years working on this, Britain still has many decisions to make. And there is not much more than a week to do so and notify the world.

By contrast, Poland is well prepared. A new Law has been introduced that enshrines the rights and requirements for British people living in Poland in both a Deal and No Deal scenario. Essentially, the Law defines what documents are needed in both cases, and the application forms are ready for use, and decisions taken as to the supporting documents required. Applications can also be fast tracked. In cases where somebody has an existing residency permit, paper based, this can be exchanged for a credit-card type permit containing biometric data that can be used as a travel document (within Schengen) at no cost. Contrast this with the scheme Britain has introduced for resident EU citizens that is being slated as too complex and too costly and has already given rise to many complaints from people who, despite living in Britain for many years already, have been refused a new permit, apparently arbitrarily.

Few people in the room expressed much confidence in the present Johnson Government to deliver a deal without an extension beyond the end of the month, despite all the bluster coming from people like the Prime Minister and his closest ministers like Raab, Gove, Javid and Rees-Mogg. Even fewer people had a good word to say about the British Government.

I assume similar evenings are being held across the EU, and I would be very surprised if they were any different in tone – and I suspect the Government is well aware of this and doing everything it can to hold ex-pats at arms length and disenfranchise them to ensure that their objections and concerns do not influence any subsequent votes. I have said all along that the majority of ex-pats are against Brexit and had we been able to vote in 2016, the result would have been very different. Nothing I saw and heard last night has changed that opinion. Simply put, the Government, despite all its statements to the contrary, really does not care a jot about the ex-pat community.