Expats Making Life Changing Decisions Due To Anger And Frustration

Whether they’re frustrated, angry or simply scared sick for their futures, ordinary Brits and Europeans are making life-changing plans before the UK/EU divorce is finalised.

Whilst politicians on both sides are struggling to formulate at least a plan ahead, everyday Brit workers and EU expats are planning to relocate their lives and businesses in an attempt to avoid the worst Brexit scenario. As divisions between the various factions in the British Government widen, new non-governmental players join the game with massive donations and a new anti-Brexit political party is born, those needing a stable life are giving up and getting out.

Ironically, those attempting to leave and face building up their lives again in an unfamiliar country are exactly those who have benefitted Britain by way of their business acumen, qualifications or even simply their enthusiasm amd hard work. It takes guts to start again overseas and, should the UK crash out of the EU without an agreement, guts will be what’s needed to avoid a total collapse. People with courage plan ahead after considering various scenarios, exactly what the UK’s Brexit negotiating team seem to be unable to do.

Media giant AFP spoke with a selection of Britons and EU nationals in the UK as well as UK expats living in Europe, all of whom are trying to get their heads around their options before it’s too late. One 63-year old oyster farmer in Northern Ireland is facing moving his entire business downstream by just two kilometres into the Republic of Ireland, He can’t wait for a final decision as this year’s crop will be ready for harvesting after March 2019 and, if he stays, customs tariffs will wreck his exports to France. He says he can’t work with uncertainty, but won’t give up.

Business intelligence consultant Andrew Kelly has already moved to Munich as he’s unwilling to live and work in ‘a country that's 'tearing itself apart’. Barnaby Howard, a Warsaw-based editor, is now applying for Polish citizenship after giving up on his plans to move back home. My country of birth, he said, isn’t what I thought it was. It’s the same story for EU expats in the UK, with Italian composer and Royal College of Music professor Dimitri Scarlato saying Brexit destroyed his perception of Britain and made him feel totally European again.