By Ben Jennings Have passport, will stay The prospect of a ‘Brexit’ has many Brits living in Europe exploring ways to get another EU passport.

British withdrawal from the EU is far from a sure thing, but the mere prospect of a “Brexit” has led some Britons living and working in Belgium to hedge their bets — by applying for dual citizenship in other European countries that would preserve their jobs and homes here on the continent in case John Bull turns his back.

“When you suddenly think, ‘Oh wait a second, I work for the EU and my country might leave the EU,’ then the question inevitably is there,” said Martijn Quinn, deputy head of unit in the Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice. "And I think if you do have the option, why not?”

Quinn was raised in Scotland by his Dutch mother, and first looked into taking Dutch citizenship 20 years ago. At the time, Dutch law did not yet allow him to do so. “I got the message that it wasn’t legally possible for me to have Dutch nationality. But with the Brexit coming up, I thought, well, why don’t I check again. And it turns out that the law had changed.”

So six months ago, Quinn became a dual citizen of the UK and Netherlands. He is among a group of Britons working in and around EU headquarters who are pondering their options in the face of a promised 2017 British referendum on EU membership. If the UK did leave the union, these workers — many of whom have not lived in the UK for years — could stand to lose their job security, career prospects, and perhaps even their right to live outside their home country.

While the “golden generation” of British nationals who entered the EU in the 1970s – when hopes for a common Europe ran high — are now approaching retirement after successful careers in the institutions, their successors — mid-career officials who have invested the past ten to 20 years in the EU — are facing an existential crisis.

“It’s a strange place to be in when your home country is going through this deep paroxysm of doubt about its relationship with Europe, when you’ve made the decision that this is what you want to be doing with your life,” said one high-ranking Commission official from the UK. “That makes you feel a little bit homeless, in a way.”

Martin Bailey, 43, a British national who has worked for the Commission for almost ten years, echoed that thought. “You’ve invested your career in the institutions, and now the rug will be pulled from under your feet,” he said. “It must be a bit dark. At my age, I think that if we pulled out, I would need to reinvent myself.” Bailey looked into taking Belgian citizenship several months ago, but has not pursued the option. He is the chair of Pro Europa, a Brussels-based organization of British expats that advocates for British EU membership. “People are considering what they’ll do next. You must have a second string to your bow.”

Brexit may be a distant political possibility, but British expats here, especially those with children who’ve grown up outside the UK, are increasingly worrying about the practical implications of what it might mean for them. Already, the prospect has cast a chill over the hiring of new British officials, who now number 1,187, representing less than 4 percent of commission officials. In 2000, the number of Brits in the Commission peaked at around 1,500. (The Commission does not track the number of dual citizens in its ranks).

“Normally, there’s no point having two nationalities, because with an EU passport, it’s an EU passport,” said one longtime British official at the Commission who applied for Dutch citizenship last year, as the issue rose to the fore in British politics. Her husband is Dutch, and they have a two-year old son. She asked not to be identified, citing professional concerns.

At a certain point, this official said, “it started to look interesting to have a different EU passport,” adding, “There’s no clarity inside the institutions. We all assume that we wouldn’t be kicked out, because we’re employed. But everyone basically thinks that your career goes down the drain” if your home country is not a member, she said. “It was an insurance policy, really.” She has no plans to move back to the UK, where the cost of living is prohibitive for many people earning mid-level Commission salaries here.

British officials will have to wait for the outcome of a referendum to have a better idea of what a Brexit might mean for them. Until then, there will be little clarity on what will happen to this cohort of British Eurocrats should the UK decide to leave the EU. The one thing that’s certain is that whatever ultimately happens would take a long time to take full effect, but the hiring chill could rapidly escalate to an outright freeze on new hires and promotions. Brits who stick around could become Berlaymont legends — like the four Norwegian holdouts who still work in the Commission long after their country elected not to join in 1994.

“In a worst-case scenario, I’m going to have marry my partner of the last 20 years, because she’s got an Irish passport,” said David Earnshaw, CEO of Burson-Marsteller’s Brussels office, and one-time Labour Party candidate for the European Parliament. “In a slightly less worst-case-scenario, I have to become Belgian, which I actually wouldn’t mind doing. I’d quite like to be Belgian.”

Dennis Abbott, who left the Commission for Burson-Marsteller in February, after ten years of working as a spokesperson, began the process of applying for Belgian citizenship three months ago. A UK citizen (and former editor of European Voice), Abbott has two teenage daughters, ages 16 and 17, who grew up in Brussels and who will soon be heading to university.

“There are lots of things that worry me about if the Brexit actually happened, which are very, very practical things,” Abbott said. “Not so much for myself but more for my teenage daughters. Everyone talks about the big things, like trade, and there are all these numbers being thrown around, which no normal person can get their head around. But if I look at the situation as an individual with children that age, I sort of thought, well what will happen, for example, if they go to university in another European country?”

If, after a Brexit, his daughters elect to go to a European university outside the UK, Abbott is concerned that they may have to pay a much higher sum for their educations, or may not qualify to participate in the Erasmus study abroad program, which allows students in EU countries to study in any other member nation.

“There is no guarantee that people who are UK citizens will still be able to take advantage of the Erasmus scheme. Maybe they’ll come up with a way where the UK manages to pay for its students to be part of it, but my kids might get caught up in that period of uncertainty. These things take time to talk about,” Abbott said.

Talk of taking second passports may have started to swirl around Schuman circles, but hasn’t yet interrupted the order of business in Berlaymont, several officials said. “There have been moments throughout my 25 years here when it feels uncomfortable for me or my interlocutors that I hold a UK passport — but in an international government, those problems arise,” said Robert Madelin, director general for Communications Networks, Content and Technology.

“We foresee demographic crunches coming for Swedish, Danish, maybe German and French passports.” He added, “It’s not like British officials fear living under annexation, where you have to leave if you don’t take the right passport.”

While having dual nationality may insulate the British expats from the impact of a Brexit, that isn’t the only reason some are pursuing second passports. There’s also the fact that after living outside the UK for more than 15 years, UK citizens are no longer eligible to cast their vote in national elections. A second EU nationality would allow them to exercise their vote elsewhere.

“If there is a British soul, it is pragmatic,” says Madelin. And it is practical matters that are driving Brits to explore other citizenship options, and to make the case against a Brexit. They know that the welfare of the relatively small number of UK nationals serving in the EU — and of their children — will probably not be the highest priority for their government’s agenda if withdrawal comes to pass. “Once you make the arguments personal, about how safe will your job be, how safe will your mortgage be — questions which affect everybody,” said Abbott, “then the case is perhaps more persuasive than when you’re talking about trans-Atlantic trade agreements.”