General Chat

I take it that's a definite "remain" vote from you then Rollo.

Unfortunately Bob is incorrect.

Under Franco it was next to impossible for foreigners to buy property in Spain and when conditions were slowly relaxed during the 1960s the govt made sure that their was nothing like a level playing field and that remains the case. Indeed Spain has recently been forced to withdraw a stonking great tax on foreign owned property which would be reimposed whizz bang quick if brexit happened.

Much the same applies in France which has also been forced to withdraw a recent property tax hike for foreigners. France also had to be forced to withdraw an ordinance which denied British French residents > 60 access to the French Health Service.

Cyprus, Greece have similar tendencies. Hungary and the Balts flatly forbid foreign property ownership without a foreign share. Brussels is pushing them to shift.

All this guff that life would go on much the same old way after brexit is total hokum. Just read between the lines what Mark Carney had to say today. Why don't the "leave" lot just move to Douglas or St Helier ?

British people will still be able to buy properties in Europe. We always have done and always will, the same as we buy them in most other pleasant countries around the world. There are more Europeans living and working in UK than there are Brits doing the same over there. Do you really think they are all going to be rounded up and returned to their home countries? Being anti-Europe doesn't mean being anti-European. Most of us won't even notice the difference if we come out.

Rollo, perhaps you would keep me right here as far as costs are concerned?

I watched the programme of 'port-life' from various seaports such as Portsmouth, Liverpool etc. In the Tyneside programme one of the workers worked out that in that ONE shipload leaving from Tyneside the cargo contained £29 millions of Nissan cars being exported, the majority to Europe. I could not help thinking that of the, say, £25 millions-worth of cars being exported to Europe, if we were not in the EU the duty payable would be £2.5 million (10%). (For one shipload, remember.)

How long would Nissan stay in the UK happily paying millions of pounds-worth of duty every year before it moved production to Europe? The same would go for the German car company and others currently manufacturing various products in the UK.

If people think about passport and visa costs incurred by coming out of Europe, the owners of huge manufacturing plants would not hesitate to move production to avoid paying duty amounting to millions of pounds every year.

It does not bear thinking about the thousands of people in the UK who would be left without jobs and without any reasonable prospect of employment if the UK lost more manufacturing, with its satellite industries, as it did with shipbuilding, steel, clothing to other parts of the world.

Beside that prospect, the cost of passports as well as visas to all European countries pales into insignificance. Sadly, the cost of passports and visas may not become an issue for those left without jobs or prospects but that would leave even holiday companies and destination accommodation facing loss of employment too. The total cost of unemployment support would run into the millions.

If brexit occurs then he'll need a full passport. Even now travelling on an ID card is a concession which can be withdrawn at any time.

Rollo.
At the moment, my Spanish OH travels to Britain on his Spanish ID card.
I´m the one who needs the passport to get back in.

The dark blue format continued for years and years after the UK joined the EU. The change to the common format passport in puke mauve came in only 1988 and thus dark blue passports would have been in use well into the 1990s.

If ( if ) "brexit" occurrs then people would go on using their passport until renewal date when they'd get something exectaly the same size but without the EU bit and probably dark blue.

It would of course no longer the confer the right to travel in Europe as and when you fancied, buy property, do business, bring your French OH back to Blighty and so on and on. No matter Boris says we could have a fantastic time with the Chinese instead. This is such a marvellous idea that tens of thousands of UK passport holders with the right to an Irish passport are in the process of obtaining one just to be on the safe side.

The BREXIT song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cSiKns1zHI

Wisechild

We can only live in hope

Not quite the same, but we didn't have to change them when we joined the EU. We could keep our nice dark blue ones until they needed renewing.

Perhaps if it becomes necessary, the government will be generous & change them free of charge.
Some hopes. ;-)

Well that's what I am hoping as we have just renewed ours ;-)

Maybe they will be changed when peoples current passports need re newing.

Just wondering.
If Britain leaves the EU, will all passport holders need to change their passports?
The current ones are quite clearly marked for membership of the European Community.