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Free movement proposed between Canada, U.K, Australia, New Zealand

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Syncytia

Member
Don't even get me started on this. I'm doing my US tax return now. I haven't worked in the US in 5 years....

I didn't even go to the US in 2014. :(

I would never give up my US citizenship though!!

I really want to move abroad and had never even considered I would still be taxed by the US government. I don't expect to make over 100k very soon though so it'll be fine.

What are your feelings overall about being an expat?
 

Darren870

Member
I really want to move abroad and had never even considered I would still be taxed by the US government. I don't expect to make over 100k very soon though so it'll be fine.

What are your feelings overall about being an expat?

I would never ever give up my experiences because of a silly tax return. I'll probably continue being an expat for the foreseeable future as well. Its not really a big deal and if you ever have an opportunity then you should of course do it.

By biggest gripe with it is that it's always changing and it's hard to keep up on it. I pay a specialized accountant to take care of it. So it is what it is. When you get older though you start to realize you have other tax and money related issues to worry about. Retirement accounts is the big one for me. I've got retirement accounts in the US, UK and AUS. No real way of contributing to the US or UK ones or even closing them or moving them around.

There is also issues if you are working in a country not on the tax treaty list. I know someone working here in China has similar frustrations as me.

Eh, not a big deal in the end. I love being an expat and wouldn't change anything. It's refreshing, scary and an adventure all in one.
 

FUME5

Member
Yes please.

Baby steps towards my dream of a utopically borderless dystopia.

Look who got unjuniored!

Nice, but you're still not getting a free pass across any other countries borders, this plan will never happen, border security and control has become too important a political point.
 
Sounds like the sort of thing Ukip would back.

"Scrap free movement from Europe to the UK, allow free movement between the Anglosphere"
 

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Would this not open up a chain of EU -> UK -> AU/CA/NZ that would make some political parties very unhappy?

The UK would probably have to leave the EU.

That said, if you were to offer the UK a choice between EU membership and a similar relationship with Canada, Australia and New Zealand, I'm pretty sure that you'd get an easy majority for the latter.
 

Jake.

Member
i have a british and australian passport so i just need canada to complete the trifecta (aus/NZ passports are almost interchangeable).
 
This would be political suicide in the current British political climate. UKIP would have a field day

Eh? I'm pretty sure this is the kind of thing UKIP would propose. In fact, I vaguely remember them doing so already. I also think it would be very popular (but I don't have any numbers for that).
 

Metroxed

Member
The UK would have to leave the EU first, as the EU is unlikely to accept a member state to have freedom of movement with non-EU and non-EFTA countries. The EU does not allow member states to negotiate their own trade deals.

I think we all would be better off if that happened. The British obviously feel a closer connection with the Commonwealth (specially Aus, Nz and Can) because of common culture and language than with the rest of Europe. And the EU certainly would work much more smoothly without all the inconveniences caused by the UK complaining at everything.

The UK should withdrew from the EU, create this Commonwealth freedom of movement thing and then this new entity and the EU should negotiate trade agreements between each other (similar to what Switzerland and other EFTA countries have with the EU now).
 

Darren870

Member
What's with all the EU talk. Just because there are open boarders doesn't mean you're a citizen of that country. An Aussie moving to the UK wouldn't have any EU movement rights as they still hold an Aussie passport.
 

RedShift

Member
Would this not open up a chain of EU -> UK -> AU/CA/NZ that would make some political parties very unhappy?

I don't see why it would. Other EU citizens can't just get a UK passport, and we're not in Szhengen so we still have to show passports to get to mainland Europe. I think getting to Ireland is a slightly different case though maybe.
 
I'm all for free movemet between commonwealth countries. Nationalism brings out a lot of ugly immigration debates that never really existed before. I mean, yes, racism was far worse back when imperialism was rife, but immigration itself was such a non-issue when you could pretty much go from one side of the world nd the other and still be part of one continues region.
 
I'm all for this idea like I'm all for the EU.

There are probably security and economic considerations to make before everyone would dive in, though. I don't understand the details of all that, but if hold ups are just legislative then it would be nice to just power through.

It seems like this is just a fringe idea at the moment but it would be cool if it gained some traction in the years to come.
 

SmokyDave

Member
Man, I'd totally be up for that. Never met an Australian or Canadian that I didn't like, and all three countries are on my list of 'places I'd probably quite like to move to if I ever left England'.

Let's get it on Commonwealth chaps and chapesses.
 

Bleepey

Member
I was talking about this the other day, it only names sense I mean we share the same fricking head of state. I am kinda curious to see if Fiji now regrets removing the Union Flag from its flag.
 
Its a good idea although I don't see it happening anytime soon. I live in Canada too but the mentality here is Canadians first especially when it comes to jobs and so on.. I can't see them giving away work permits to people just because they're citizens of UK/NZ/AUS.
 

Bleepey

Member
Its a good idea although I don't see it happening anytime soon. I live in Canada too but the mentality here is Canadians first especially when it comes to jobs and so on.. I can't see them giving away work permits to people just because they're citizens of UK/NZ/AUS.

The Canadian teaching market is shit whilst the UK's is good, I can see a lot of Canadian teachers giddy at the fact it's even easier to come here.
 

StayDead

Member
I've always been a huge fan of the idea of removing borders completely. Bring on the free movement future! They're right. The only thing that truely differentiates us is an imaginary border on the ground we claimed hundereds of years ago. We're all one species, why don't we start acting like it?
 

Marc

Member
Would be nice but can't happen as long as the UK is part of the EU, they run our laws, trade and movement policies.

EU would have to negotiate as a whole, at which point Aus and NZ stop wanting it to happen for obvious reasons.

Would much rather sacked the EU off and form a free trade and movement agreement with most commonwealth countries, much more aligned. Less likely to abuse the fuck out of it as well, apart from Aussie bartenders of course. There should still be limits and preferential treatment to skilled workers though, we're mostly islands and population control is essential unless you want ghetto shitholes as the UK is heading. Although a chav community ghetto in Sydney does sound funny.



I've always been a huge fan of the idea of removing borders completely. Bring on the free movement future! They're right. The only thing that truely differentiates us is an imaginary border on the ground we claimed hundereds of years ago. We're all one species, why don't we start acting like it?

Because that is absolutely fucking insane, and people who think that (far too many) really need to think harder on the subject. How do you account for water supplies, food, energy, housing, transport, doctors, nurses, schools, teachers... it goes on and on. They don't magically increase with a bunch of people moving over. Even if you are an incredibly rich society and can throw money at the problem, it takes years to respond to such demand and long term growth planning. You can't just build a nuclear power station when a few million people turn up.
 
The Canadian teaching market is shit whilst the UK's is good, I can see a lot of Canadian teachers giddy at the fact it's even easier to come here.

For some skill sets and markets (like teaching as you mentioned) I'm sure this would be welcomed news but when we take the bigger picture I still maintain my skeptic stance.

I've talked with engineers from Kenya (another common wealth country) who can't get a job here because their experience/credentials didn't stem from Canadian institutions and therefore don't "count" and mind you there is a deficit in this skill set in Canada.
 
As a Canadian who has moved to NZ on a working holiday visa and had a Kiwi here on the same visa, that would be really damned great.
 

Zynx

Member
This would be pretty cool if it happened. I wonder how much traction the group can get for the idea, though, or will it fade from the news quickly?
 
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