Post-Brexit travel across Europe

One of the major Brexit concerns for British ex-pats and British travellers in Europe is the potential lack of health care should a no-deal situation become reality. The government predictions for the numbers of ex-pats who are likely to return to the UK in such circumstance vary between 50,000 and 250,000, a significant variation. The vast majority of the returners are expected to be retired pensioners and the primary reason is that their health care will stop. 

The latest government advice for people travelling to the UK, European Union, European Economic Area or Switzerland after 29 March 2019 is that all travellers who intend to rely on their European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) may find that the card may not be valid and such travellers should take out separate travel insurance to cover any healthcare needs, most particularly travellers with pre-existing long term health issues. The advice goes on to suggest that ex-pats living and working in Europe would be well advised to consider registering with the EU or EEA country in which they live for access to local healthcare. Some residents will need to have been long-term residents or to have paid social security contributions to receive discounted or free healthcare. Should anyone be in the process of registering in the country in which they live it is suggested that they obtain separate health insurance until such time as their application is accepted. For individuals who rely on an S1 certificate as this too may be invalid after 29 March 2019 and the advice is to establish the position rather than hope all will be well. All the above applies to foreign students studying in the UK as well.

Clearly, if vast numbers of British ex-pats upped-sticks and went home this would be the worst case scenario for all parties. The UK and the NHS in particular, would struggle under the weight of large numbers of elderly people descending on the over-stretched medical services in the UK taking up hospital beds and care home places. The countries that they leave behind would struggle with losing income and their real estate markets will slump with a surfeit of properties on the market at “sell quickly” prices. 

The European Commission requested member states to provide the time for British ex-pats to apply for long-term residency by granting them temporary residence permits. The Commission stopped short of compelling the EU members to do so; however, provision has been made for temporary residence and grace periods to enable the ex-pats to organise their future arrangements. However, Germany has factored into its residency applications a “stay put” caveat whilst the application is being processed to prevent a mass evacuation by the British ex-pats. Efforts are being made across Europe, at varying speeds, to try and enable those Britons who have made their homes outside the UK to remain without too much disruption. 

It would make sense for the individuals who are never likely to want to return to the UK to take dual citizenship if possible. The vast majority of EU countries permit dual citizenship using residency, amongst other factors, as a valid reason. The lawyers in Giambrone’s immigration department can assist with Italian, Spanish and German citizenship applications.

For more information about dual citizenship please click here.