LONDON: Whether they live at home or abroad, here are some of the consequences facing British nationals once Britain leaves the European Union following the shock referendum result.
- Visas
The impending Brexit could have a major impact on freedom of movement for Britons.
The defeated Remain campaign has suggested that British nationals may no longer enjoy visa-free travel throughout the EU.
Currently, Britain’s passport allows nationals visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to 175 out of 219 countries, according to the Henley and Partners Visa Restrictions Index 2016.
- Holidays
The Mediterranean package holidays and sunshine breaks so beloved of Brits would become a lot more expensive as the pound slides against the euro.
Currently agreements allow any airline from an EU country to operate with unlimited frequency or capacity in European airspace, something that could be restricted for British carriers after Brexit.
In addition, EU citizens can claim compensation when flights are cancelled or heavily delayed.
Mobile phone roaming fees across the EU, loathed by holiday makers and business travellers, fell sharply in April and will be scrapped by Brussels outright next June.
- Jobs
Several international companies could shift their bases out of Britain to remain in EU territory, involving job losses or transfers abroad.
The City of London financial hub would be no exception.
JPMorgan Chase chairman Jamie Dimon, which employs around 16,000 people at six sites in Britain, warned the US bank could lay off 1,000 to 4,000 workers. US investment bank Morgan Stanley said it could transfer 1,000 out of 6,000 jobs from Britain to the EU, while Goldman Sachs said it would shift at least 1,600 jobs.
Around 4.9 million British nationals live outside the UK, with about 1.35 million in Europe.
Spain is home to the largest concentration of British expats in the European Union. Officially there are about 310,000 but many in Spain but many do not bother to register, with estimates suggesting between 800,000 to a million live in the country.
Another 250,000 live in Ireland, 185,000 in France and 100,000 in Germany, according to UN figures.
The British government in its Brexit assessment said: “Many UK citizens would want any negotiations to secure their continued right to work, reside and own property in other EU states, and to access public services such as medical treatment in those states.
“UK citizens resident abroad, among them those who have retired to Spain, would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed.”
- Pensioners
With the pound at 30-year lows, retirees living out their days in the sun in Europe face the value of their pensions plunging.
Some could seek French or Spanish citizenship as a way of securing their prospects.
“Some people... would really have to tighten their belts,” Terrie Simpson, an estate agent in Eymet in the Dordogne region of France which is very popular with British expats, said ahead of the referendum.
“Retired people here will suffer. For some pensioners their pension could drop by a third but they won’t have the means to go back to England.”
- Healthcare
Britons living in the EU could face changes in their status regarding healthcare coverage.
In France, expats currently benefit from the French system under a convention between London and Paris. Britain’s National Health Service currently covers the cost of treatment in France.
- Brussels bureaucrats
Britain’s members of the European Parliament would be out of a job and on the Eurostar back home from Brussels. The small army of around 1,000 British civil servants in the EU institutions face an uncertain future. Some have already prepared to seek Belgian nationality in order to improve their job security.
- The UK’s only land border
Brexit raises the prospects of controls being erected on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which could have a huge impact on trade and movement on the island.
The UK and Ireland have shared a Common Travel Area since Irish independence in the 1920s.
- British nationals in Gibraltar
Gibraltar’s chief minister is worried that Spain could once again shut the sole border crossing on which so much of the tiny British peninsula’s economy depends.
Gibraltarians may have to take flights or ferries via third countries in order to get into Spain. --AFP