Across Europe, Britons have been wrong-footed by the sudden lurch closer to EU exit. The Guardian spoke to Brits in five European countries about action they are taking to ensure Euroscepticism doesn’t ruin their lives.



Sweden

Aiden Macfarlane is living the Swedish dream. His detached house on the holiday island of Gotland cost less than £100,000 and has a garden the size of a football pitch. Just a short cycle ride away is the medieval walled town of Visby, where he runs guided tours during the summer, and the business is starting to make good money.



He and his Swedish partner have many friends and live a healthy outdoor life. Every year he looks forward to the island’s annual cricket match between Britain and the rest of the world.

“I love the space and the freedom here, and people have different things to talk about than house prices,” says Macfarlane, 58, from Manchester. “The quality of my life cannot be compared to England – I’ve forgotten what stress is.”

But now the dream is crumbling and stress is staging a comeback for Macfarlane in the form of Britain’s impending referendum on leaving the EU.

He is worried about the consequences for his right to run a business in Sweden, and is urgently trying to become a Swedish citizen. But his tour company is just a year old, and even though he has lived here for three years it is only his time paying tax that counts towards the necessary residence period to qualify for citizenship.

“I don’t want to get stuck in a no man’s land,” Macfarlane says. “What happens to my business? I have worked very hard to build it up. What happens to my right to live here?”

Aiden Macfarlane.

No one seems to know. He was told by local civil servants that nobody had any clarity because Sweden would have to take decisions after the vote. “It’s a crazy situation,” Macfarlane says.

The other option is to get married, but he doesn’t like the idea of being forced to do so. “We have spoken about it and we don’t see any reason to: we are happy as we are,” he says.

So he feels bumped into getting married, and bumped into changing his nationality. “Why should I have to take Swedish citizenship? It’s not because I really want to become Swedish. It’s because I feel I need to just to protect my business and relationship – it’s like becoming a fake Swede.”

Do we really want to go back to being little islanders with closed borders in an increasingly globalised world?

Macfarlane is a relative newcomer, but Leslie Moody, 67, has been here since he was 30. Originally from Birmingham, he has settled in Västerås on the banks of Lake Mälaren, west of Stockholm. He has “gone native”, he says, and shares Swedes’ general bewilderment at British truculence towards Europe.

“I’m not so much upset as puzzled – what do people think will happen to Britain if it leaves the EU? There will be quite a few thrown out of work,” Moody says, listing big manufacturers such as Nissan, Tata and Bombardier, which could easily shift their operations to the continent, while banking would move to Paris, Frankfurt or Düsseldorf.

He says an article in the Guardian at the time of the original vote on EU membership in 1975 seems just as relevant today – it argued Britain would be reduced to a quaint sort of Disneyland for holidaying Europeans if it did not remain a member. Staying outside the EU has worked for Norway, but it is a 10th of the size of Britain and floating on a sea of oil, he points out.

Now retired after a working life in industry, Moody has hung on to his British passport. But in August he is planning to apply for dual citizenship, to protect his pension rights and access to Sweden’s excellent healthcare – when he had a cancer scare he was whisked into hospital within days.

Most importantly, a Swedish passport would guarantee he could see his children and grandchild, who all live in Sweden. Moody fears the EU will be vindictive against Britain, should it opt to leave: “Do the British people really understand how pissed off people are in Europe about all the criticism we focus on the EU? Swedish people think it’s quite ridiculous. One of our more unfortunate traits is pure bloody-mindedness without thinking of the consequences.

“Do we really want to go back to being little islanders with closed borders in an increasingly globalised world?”

Spain

In Spain, the looming possibility of Britain voting to leave the EU has left many with more questions than answers.

“We’re all a bit unsure,” says Martin Wilson, from Warrington and now living in the Costa del Sol town of Nerja with his family. “The thought of going back to the UK is just not possible. I mean financially it would be difficult,” he says, pointing to the rise in housing costs in the UK. He and his family moved to Spain in 2004, learning the language and immersing themselves in the culture.



Martin Wilson: ‘We embraced Europe and went for it, only to be told, no, we don’t want it any more.’

“They just think we’re a bunch of old beer-bellied Brits, doing it up in the sun. And we’re not, we’re real people trying to start a new life here.”

Wilson has spent time exploring Spanish nationality, but is not sure if it would apply to his family, except for his youngest son, who was born in Spain. He had also contacted the British embassy in Madrid and 10 Downing Street.

“They told me nothing. They said we will discuss the policy with you as it progresses.”

He is frustrated with what he sees as Britain’s change of heart on Europe, one that could jeopardise everything he and his partner have worked for over the past decade.



“We embraced Europe and went for it, only to be told, no, we don’t want it any more,” says the 44-year-old. “Am I going to be in a position where I’m going to have to uproot my family and get out of here? I don’t know.”

For David Sketchley, the Conservative government’s promise to move forward with the referendum is exasperating. “I’m a bit fed up, to be honest.”



A resident of the southern Spanish province of Cádiz since 1992, he is particularly frustrated by the possibility that he may not even be able to vote because the government’s referendum bill excludes expats who have been abroad for more than 15 years.

Sketchley points to Conservative politician Norman Tebbit’s remarks in 1981 about his unemployed father getting on his bike to look for work. “I came over here to work because I couldn’t find any work in the UK,” says Sketchley, 60, who now works as a tour manager. “I did what he said, and I feel I’m being punished.”

I don’t want Spanish nationality, I want British nationality. I’m British. Why are they putting us through all this?

If Britain voted to leave the EU, his options would be limited to marrying his Spanish girlfriend or asking for residency, he says. “I’ve been here for more than 10 years, so I do have a right to nationality, but I’ve heard it takes approximately three years to get that done. What do I do in the meantime? Do I have to get a work permit in the meantime?”

He bristles at the idea of becoming a Spanish national: “I don’t want Spanish nationality, I want British nationality. I’m British. Why are they putting us through all this?”

If Britain were to leave the EU even the simplest task – from signing up for a mobile phone plan to installing cable TV – would become complicated in Spain, says Nick Ilkiw, 26. He says he would also lose his job, which requires him to be able to travel freely across the EU.

Resident in Spain, Deborah Booth and her husband are worried about the cost of healthcare if Britain left the EU.

Although Spanish nationality – which requires 10 years in the country – is far off, he is considering applying for permanent residency, allowed after five years. “The Spanish bureaucracy is at times not the easiest to get through,” he says, citing stories he has heard of two-year waits for the residence permit to come through.

From her home in rural Galicia, Deborah Booth wonders what the British government would do if a Brexit forced millions of expats to return to the UK from the EU. “They would probably be semi-homeless, needing healthcare and top-up benefits, and be a large strain on the NHS.”

For Booth, 65, and her 70-year-old husband, the main concern is access to healthcare. “It would be an absolute impossibility for us to ever pay for private health insurance,” she says. As the couple’s chief source of income is an NHS pension and state pensions, she is fearful a British exit from the EU would leave them high and dry in Spain.

The couple have lived in Spain permanently for the past five years, she says, and have no intentions of returning to the UK: “We could look at Spanish citizenship, but that’s quite tough to obtain.” She says she is delaying looking into the process until it is absolutely necessary. “I don’t see the point of putting ourselves through endless, unbelievable paperwork.”

Italy

Paul Heyburn and Rebecca Hough have not lived in Britain for 20 years. But they say they are British to the core – a fact that makes them rather dread having to become Italian citizens, which they believe they would have to do to safeguard the life they have built for themselves in Italy should the UK leave the EU.

“It kind of feels like a fraud. We are not Italian, we don’t feel Italian, but we would do it for purely practical reasons,” says Rebecca, who is co-owner of a bilingual nursery school in le Marche, the hilly region in central Italy. The couple moved to the bel paese 12 years ago from the US because they wanted to enjoy a slower lifestyle after living in the “rat race” of London, and then Silicon Valley and Washington state.

But Britain’s possible departure from the EU has significant implications for the couple, who seem to discover new wrinkles in their future plans the more they consider Brexit scenarios.

For example, over the course of an interview with the Guardian, they realise their desire for their 18-year-old son to apply for Italian citizenship, too, may be complicated by the fact that he will have to establish his residency in the UK, where he plans to attend university, at the same time as he applies for Italian citizenship.

The couple are among about 26,000 British nationals who are registered in Italy, according to Ital y’s national institute of statistics. The British embassy in Rome believes the true number of British residents in Italy is double that.

There is a massive question mark: if the UK leaves the EU, then what? It could get nasty

Although the couple have not yet determined whether to begin their application for Italian citizenship now or after the referendum, they agree that the step will be necessary. Their entire lives – their business, licences, bank accounts, contracts – are all predicated on their right to residency as EU citizens.

Under Italian rules, the couple were able to apply for Italian citizenship online from 16 June. The process generally takes six to12 months and would cost at least €200 (£145) each. Although they are fairly confident their applications would be approved – EU citizens must have lived in the country for only four years to be eligible – both acknowledge that, especially in hyper-bureaucratic Italy, any number of unforeseen issues could come up.

“That’s the problem with Italy. You can’t guarantee they won’t say: ‘Yeah, this is the case but in your case …’” says Rebecca. The couple have read up on EU statutes that say a country wishing to leave the union must wait two years. But they also worry about taking too long to seek Italian citizenship because of the danger that citizens become pawns in a battle between the UK and EU countries.

“There is a massive question mark: if the UK leaves the EU, then what? It could get nasty. It could be that people take silly tit-for-tat actions,” says Paul. “I can’t see the Italians saying: ‘Get out’. But they could say: ‘You have a year to get out.’ To remove the question mark, we have to get an Italian passport.”

France



Helen Bollaert, 50, a finance professor in Lille, says the prospect of an in/out EU referendum in Britain is upsetting. She has lived in France for 28 years and her son was born in the country.



Helen Bollaert: ‘Was there ever a European ideal in the UK, or was it just a sense of what we could get out of Europe?’

“I am not seeking French nationality just to stay in the country, I wouldn’t want to give that impression,” she says. “I feel strongly about this. For me the real problem is the UK’s attitude. Was there ever a European ideal in the UK, or was it just a sense of what we could get out of Europe?

“I live near Ypres, a part of the world that was flattened during the first world war, in the war to end all wars, and the EU has a particular importance for people. They don’t understand this in the UK because they’ve never been occupied.”

Viktor from Barnsley, who does not want to give his surname, says the referendum will put even more distance between him and his native country.



“It makes me feel completely alienated from the mentality of people in the UK,” he admits. “I never felt the need to take French nationality before. We have the same rights to live and work in Europe as in our country, so it didn’t seem necessary.



“I will always be British, no matter what my passport says, but I feel French in terms of old-fashioned ideas like solidarity, community and society; 1960s kind of ideals.

“I don’t think people in Britain understand the consequences of pulling out of Europe. People think if it happens it will all be OK and, ‘Oh well, we’ll forge a new future for our country,’ and I really strongly believe it won’t be OK.



“I’ve been out of the UK for 19 years now and people I know and respect, people who are friends, cousins … people are saying things I would not have heard them say 20 years ago. The language now is openly quite xenophobic. And the thing is, it’s not just Daily Mail readers.”

Germany

Life in Germany has treated Scott and Elizabeth Whitehead well. The couple set up as English language tutors to local business people in a village north of Munich. Twenty years later they are still there.

But an unsettling mood has been slowly seeping into their lives, since David Cameron’s announcement that his government was planning an in/out EU referendum.

“I think it was February last year,” says Scott, from Hornchurch in Essex. “My feelings were of utter disbelief.”

Scott and Elizabeth Whitehead.

He and his wife, who is from Edmonton, north-east London, will have no voice in the referendum, having lived abroad for more than 15 years, even though a Brexit could affect them profoundly. And they have many questions no one seems able to answer, including what their status would be in the event of Britain leaving the EU.

“Would we be able to retain our British citizenship? If we’re forced into a situation where we’re no longer able to operate in Germany because we need work and residency permits, will we be able to make a claim for compensation? It’s a ridiculous situation to be in,” Scott says. “Everything is so conjectural and it’s far from clear that the outcome will be positive.”

He has addressed his concerns to Cameron in two letters. The second was answered by a Downing Street press secretary, “who wrote she was grateful to me for raising my concerns, but was unable to give any answers to the questions I posed,. It gave me the clear impression that they either considered the issue of the 2.2 million British citizens working in the EU to be insignificant, or they had not given it any sort of thought.

“I’m not talking about those Brits abroad who are retired and enjoying the sunshine, but those doing useful work.”

The couple’s next step will be to seek legal advice and to find out about obtaining German citizenship. “But we’re reluctant to do that if it means having to relinquish our British citizenship. And if we took on German citizenship, would we be in the absurd situation of having to get a residency permit if and when we wish to return to Britain?”

Under current rules, citizens of EU countries may also hold German citizenship. “But if Britain were to opt out, why should Germany stick to that rule?”

The Whiteheads own their home in Germany. “But will we face additional taxation on it if we’re non EU citizens?” Scott asks. He is also angry about the way in which Britain has treated the EU. “You get out of an organisation as much as you want to put in,” he says. “But Britain has never really wanted to contribute to it in the way it might have.”

An application for citizenship, which can be made by anyone who has lived and worked in Germany for eight years, costs around €250, with a modest extra fee to complete a multiple-choice citizenship test with 33 questions, and a language test. Applications are usually processed within six to 12 months.

The British election result was what triggered Katie Ritson to collect her German citizenship application form from her local foreigners’ registration office a few weeks ago. On account of her German MA she’ll be exempt from the language test.

Katie Ritson and sons

“Various British friends of mine across Germany had been doing it already – a friend posted about it from Hamburg, another from Berlin,” says the 35-year-old, who works as managing editor for Munich University’s Rachel Carson Institute, which carries out humanities research into the environment. “And when Cameron won the election, that was the kick I needed.”

Ritson, from southern England, started working in Germany as an office temp in 2003. She subsequently met her husband, and they have two sons, aged seven and five, with a baby on the way in August. “Currently, as EU citizens, we all have freedom of movement within the EU, we can access healthcare easily in all EU countries, and have the right to work or study in any other member state,” she says. “While my husband and sons would continue to enjoy these advantages, my own status would change if Britain leaves.” Despite having a German husband, she says because she is an EU citizen “it never seemed that pressing to think of German citizenship”.

The biggest headache of not being German has been the separate Schengen/non-Schengen passport queues at airports for her and her husband. (“A pain when you have two young children,” she points out.) “But now it definitely seems like it would be a sensible investment and I’d like to have the long-term security of a German passport,” she says.