- The uk driving license may not be valid in Europe.
- If your passport has less than 6 months left on it you might not be allowed into europe.
- You might have to pay ridiculous roaming charges on your mobile phone once again.
- You might need a visa for every visit you make to Europe.
- Life might get really difficult for British people living in Europe, problems with pensions and all sorts of stuff.
And then you hear stories like this one about a Russian married to a German who wants to visit his daughter, who has official residency on the UK, because she has recently had a baby. So he sent off all the paperwork he had been told was necessary to get permission to enter the UK, including his marriage certificate. And then he was told that as he had not included photos of bis wedding 30+ hears ago they did not believe he was really married to an EU citizen and had made it all up.
Entry to the UK denied!
Now, if that is not a hostile environment then I am a Dutchman! And does it not explain some hostility from the EU in return?
And even if, as Sadiq Khan and others are calling for, we have a fresh referendum and vote to stay in Europe, maybe the damage has been done.
And perhaps we have broken the whole thing irrevocably.
Of course the EU has things wrong with it but it allowed rather magical family combinations where a Russian could be married to a German, have a daughter living in the Uk and a grandchild who could well turn out to be a British citizen.
And I just feel rather sad that a degree of freedom has probably disappeared from our lives and that my grandchildren are going to have more restricted horizons than the ones I grew up with.
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