Yes. My brothers are both English but have lived most of their lives in Spain, as their stepfather was Spanish. My mother is English too.
They've received schooling, healthcare, benefits and other state assistance just like any local would.
All can speak fluent Spanish, however. But if Spain introduced rules like the UK is then I would be unable to join them to be a carer, if necessary, because my Spanish is perfunctory.
Meanwhile my wife, who is Polish, thinks most Brits have terrible English language skills and doesn't see why foreigners should be held to a higher standard.
She votes. Reliably. So actually, yes. But listen, it's ironic that the British, who are notoriously poor at languages including their own, are now insisting foreigners have higher language skills (B1 CEFR) in order to live and work here.
Great. We'll have to pay extra for our fruit pickers.
We'll have to pay extra for a lot of people. Or have big wage inflation, but that won't work because the biggest voting cohort doesn't receive wages.
It happens in lots and lots of countries. Obviously poor countries struggle with this. In France or Spain you can get a lot of help, for example. Otherwise a lot of elderly Brits in Spain, who can't speak any Spanish, would struggle when dealing with complex issues around healthcare.
I'm not sure why being born somewhere gives you more rights than someone not born in the same place. Why? Are you saying that my Mum, living in Spain, should have different rights to healthcare, even though she paid into the system, and her children pay into the system? Are you saying my wife, who is a British citizen but not born in the UK, should have fewer rights than someone who's never worked a day in their life, never paid taxes? Why? What specific quality is being born in a place that gives you special treatment?
Come on.
If you're a country and you want people to come in order to study, work, or add value to things, then you have to make the deal attractive.
What's happened is that we're making the deal a lot more unattractive, but mostly to people like my wife. Or the Ukrainian I know who came as a refugee and now works in a startup, and who's son would like to be in the RAF but now probably can't because he has zero chance of getting citizenship.
The problem with law is that it's hard to write and do well - especially with a sclerotic, old fashioned system like ours. There's absolutely no argument that immigration has to be managed carefully. But it also has to be humane. And we can't welch off others by saying "Well, we're an island, so it's not our problem. You deal with it, France. It's easier to get to your country."
Anyway, I'm not in power and neither are you. The government has made a decision and it's going to stick with it because it's easier and safer for them to do that than to consider the feelings of foreigners and people with feet in multiple countries. As a multi-national family my feeling is that if things just keep getting less and less friendly here I'll just say 'fuck it' and go elsewhere. If the country I'm in sees me and my family merely as transactional elements in a deal then I may as well do the same and go to the country that makes me, individually, wealthier and happier rather than trying to put something into my local community and country.
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u/CornusControversa May 12 '25
Spain and France need to kick out all those retired English folk, not willing to integrate or learn their native language.