At the rate things seem to be going with the Brexit negotiations the UK may well crash out of the EU next year without a deal. Well, at least J.D. Wetherspoon* thinks that’s a good thing according to their beer mats and magazine, but we’re not so sure. Whatever the huge economic and political implications, we’re more concerned about out customers, who in large part are EU nationals living and working in the UK. These hard-working folk tend to need certified translations of their IDs, proof of work experience, qualifications, criminal record checks etc. And they come back to us again and again for our high-quality service and guaranteed lowest prices. But, what will happen to them if we leave the EU without a deal in March? With no kind of deal, EU nationals residing and working in Britain, and UK citizens living in EU countries, would be in a kind of legal limbo with no status or real right to live and work there. They would basically become illegal immigrants in the places that may have been their home for decades. They have homes, families and jobs there. It seems like a ridiculous situation. How would we have come to this?
Even in such an extreme case it looks unlikely that people would actually be kicked out of either this country or the EU nations, but they would certainly be in a confused and precarious position. We have a strong hunch that a lot of paperwork would be involved for those trying to regularise their status in their new-found “foreign country”. While we have our fingers crossed that this mess will all be resolved on time and we can leave the EU with some kind of plan for what the hell we’re doing, but in the case that we don’t we’ll be on hand to help clear up the mess with our certified translation services. As ever, our main priority is our customers. We’re not a company, just a humble organisation of professional freelancers with a conscience. This is part of the reason that we’re able to beat all other quotes from the profit-making translation companies, making us everyone’s favourite translation group. :) Anyhow, enough of blowing our own trumpet. Let’s hope we get a Brexit deal that will allow people to go on living their lives in peace and not have the extra stress of being made to feel unwelcome in their own homes. We hope and believe all will be fine in the end. Thanks for reading! *As freelancers we work from weird and wonderful locations – hotdesking from a from glass fronted sky-scraper in Mexico, in bed in our pants, on a Caribbean beach, squatting on a Romanian street or hanging from a Belizean balcony trying to catch a wifi signal, but a Wetherspoons in South East London is my current glamourous location. Anyhow, this topic probably deserves a separate blog post. Back to it!