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MENTAL HEALTH

‘I am not alone’ – How Brexit’s Facebook groups can be life-saving therapy for anxious Britons

The dozens of Facebook groups where Brits in Europe, as well as EU nationals in the UK, meet and discuss Brexit have become counseling hubs for citizens increasingly suffering from anxiety, panic attacks and depression because of uncertainty linked to Brexit.

Published: 25 January 2019 12:26 CET
Updated: 1 February 2019 12:19 CET

'I am not alone' – How Brexit's Facebook groups can be life-saving therapy for anxious Britons

Photo: [email protected]/Depositphotos

They are forums for exchanging views, dissecting Brexit and sharing useful information for expat citizens.

But they are also key counseling hubs in the absence of more formal structures to tackle the impact Brexit is having on the mental health of EU nationals in the UK and UK nationals in the EU.

With just over sixty days to go to Brexit, many Facebook groups that bring together expat nationals – Remain in France Together, Brexpats Hear Our Voice, Bremain in Spain or In Limbo – are filled with anxiety and uncertainty.

“Around the Christmas holidays a lot of people were posting about panic attacks, depression and anxiety,” Elena Remigi told The Local.

Remigi manages the online group In Limbo: Our Brexit Testimonies, which she founded in March 2017 as a “safe place” for EU citizens facing the UK's post-Brexit “hostile environment.” She has also published a book featuring those accounts.

“People are really afraid of being the next Windrush generation,” says Remigi. “Brexit is affecting their mental health,” she adds, emphasizing that the most vulnerable among the EU nationals in the UK often suffer the most: the disabled, those on benefits, or the hard to reach.

Remigi's In Limbo book documents 150 testimonies of EU nationals living in the UK.

The sequel, In Limbo Too, – written in partnership with Debra Williams from citizens' rights group Brexpats Hear Our Voice – turned its focus to British nationals in Europe, with an equal number of testimonies.

Both books focused on vulnerable demographics: the elderly, the disabled, those with limited documents or for whom Brexit is off the radar and therefore harder to adapt to.

Remigi says it has happened on several occasions that participants in the 'In Limbo' Facebook group have made suicidal posts, citing Brexit as a cause.

In such cases Remigi and her colleagues advise the concerned to call the Samaritans suicide prevention hotline, to seek help from their doctor or to reach out to conventional counseling services.

“When we see people distressed we have a duty to refer them to counseling,” Remigi told The Local.

Brexit is going to change the lives of many of the UK's approximately 3.6 million EU citizens, as well as the lives of the 1.2 million or so British citizens living in the EU.

Besides concerns about how their future work and residency status could change, each of the so-called '5 million' (the estimated sum of British nationals in the EU and EU nationals in the UK) has their own Brexit fears.

These include the issues of pensions, the rights of their children, access to medicine and healthcare, the right to work and access education, meeting new income assessment criteria for residency, proving retrospective documentation and much more.

Hostile environment

The Emotional Support Service for Europeans (ESSE) at London's Existential Academy treats EU nationals for depression and problems linked to Brexit. Volunteer therapists at ESSE, a project started in 2017, have treated more than 60 EU nationals in the UK since it opened.

In many cases, a patient is an EU citizen with a British spouse. “The EU spouse may feel that they suddenly don't belong and feel tensions if there are children involved,” Jo Molle, a volunteer therapist at ESSE, told The Local.

Molle says she has also “worked with people who have experienced a lot of discrimination.” The British therapist of Italian origin cites a case of an EU national who felt she had to leave her rural home for a British city because she no longer felt welcome in the village after the Brexit vote.

The ESSE project at the Existential Academy is really a drop in the ocean in tackling Brexit-related mental health issues – there are only so many patients the centre can work with.

“The waiting list is very long,” Molle told The Local, adding that with increasing demand for therapy from EU nationals outside London, sessions are often conducted over the phone.

Molle says online groups are also a key therapy tool in the Brexit landscape, especially for people who are cut off from traditional therapy forums.

“People who are isolated and have no way of getting the support they need find them really useful,” says Molle.

Brexpats Hear Our Voice is one such group for Brits in the EU.

“Our group, like many other similar ones, is a closed group. Therefore, members consider it a safe space where they can share their worries and give each support,” Clarissa Killwick, an admin moderator with advocacy, research and support group Brexpats Hear Our Voice, told The Local.

“Outside that comfortable space I have seen disbelief, and worse, that Brexit can actually affect someone's mental health. The fact that it seems impossible for those not directly affected to understand, means that groups are a real lifeline to those feeling very isolated,” adds Killwick, a British teacher based in northern Italy.

“I feel less alone”

Many group members confirmed to The Local that the support they find has helped them navigate a difficult stage in their lives.

“The like-minded group has helped me enormously, beyond mere words. It has enabled me to process the stages of grief that I feel as a marginalized Brit in Europe, to know that whatever emotion I am feeling or experiencing, that I am not alone,” Fiona Scott-Wilson, a Brit based in Italy and a member of the Brexpats Hear Our Voice group, told The Local.

“I feel less alone being part of this group, knowing we are all going through tough times of uncertainty,” adds Kerrana McAvoy Clément, a Brit based in Brussels.

The Facebook groups exist as campaigning tools for British in Europe, but they also serve as digital safe havens for Brits uncertain about their futures and the ground beneath them.

“The whole Brexit process has been incredibly abusive and traumatic,” Denise Abel, formerly a psychotherapist for 30 years in the east of London, told The Local from her home in central Italy.

Referring to the time that has passed since the Brexit referendum result, she added: “Keeping people in limbo for over 900 days is abuse”.

Mythbuster: Can you really 'cheat' the Schengen 90-day rule?

If you’re the citizen of a non-EU country and you want to spend long periods in the EU/Schengen zone, you will need a visa.

But citizens of certain countries – including the US, Canada, Australia and the UK – benefit from the ’90-day rule’, which allows you to travel visa free within the Schengen zone for 90 days out of every 180.

Anyone wanting to spend longer than this will need a visa or residency card.

So a simple enough rule, and for most travellers 90 days out of every 180 is perfectly adequate for holidays, family visits etc.

However some groups – especially second-home owners – might want to spend longer than this.

For Brits, entering the world of the 90-day rule is a recent development, since before Brexit Brits were EU citizens and therefore benefited from EU freedom of movement.

The harsh reality of the post-Brexit world has prompted a steady stream of articles in UK media (examples pictured below) promising ’90-day loopholes’ or ‘how to beat the 90-day rule’ (scroll to the end of this article for what the below ‘loopholes’ really entail).

But do these so-called loopholes really exist?

Despite the claims in the headlines, there are really only three options for non-EU citizens wanting to spend time in the EU – limit their stays to 90 days in every 180 (which still adds up to six months over the course of a year); get a short-stay visitor visa (if the country offers them like France does); or move to an EU country full-time and become a resident.

All of the advertised tricks, dodges and loopholes are really just variations on these three options.

Limit stays to 90 days

Advantages – the big advantage of this method is no paperwork. You can travel visa free and there is no requirement to register with authorities in the country you are visiting (although second home owners will of course have to pay property taxes and other local taxes in the area where their property is located).

In this scenario you retain residency in your home country and are simply a visitor in the EU – a status identical to that of a tourist.

Disadvantages – the time limit is too short for many people and there is also the problem that stays are limited to 90 days in every 180. Although over the course of a year this adds up to six months, you cannot take your six months all in one go – so for example spending the winter in Spain and the summer in the UK is no longer possible. Likewise travelling to your French holiday home for four months over the summer is no longer an option.

It’s up to you to keep track of your 90 days, which you can use as either one long trip or multiple short trips. The 90-day limit is calculated on a rolling calendar and keeping track of the days and making sure you have not exceeded your limit can be stressful.

As a visitor, you have no rights to enter the country if the borders close (as, for example, happened during the pandemic).

Short-stay visa – if country offers them

If you want to remain a resident in your home country but don’t want to be constrained by the 90-day rule, you might be able to get a short-stay visitor visa if they are an option. Visas are issued on a national level, there is no such thing as an EU-wide visa, so you will need to apply for a visa in the country where you want to stay.

Different EU countries have different visas, but most (including France although not Italy) offer a short-stay visitor visa (usually six months) that gives you the status of a visitor, but allows you to stay for longer than 90 days.

Advantages – no more counting the days, for the period when your visa is valid you can stay for as long as you like in the country of your choice. By maintaining your residency in your home country, you don’t have to register with authorities in the EU country and won’t be liable for residency-based taxes.

Disadvantages – visa paperwork can be complicated and the process is time-consuming and sometimes expensive (most countries require an in-person visit to the consulate as part of the process). You also need to plan in advance as visas take several weeks or months to be issued.

A visitor visa usually requires proof of financial means, so this is not available to people on very low incomes.

You are still classed as a visitor, so have no rights to enter the country if the borders close (as, for example, happened during the pandemic).

If you are spending a significant amount of time each year out of your home country, this might also affect your tax status, depending on the rules of your home country around ‘tax residency’ (which is not the same as residency for immigration purposes).

Move to an EU country

If you were accustomed to splitting your time roughly equally between your second home and your home country, you might want to consider becoming a resident in the EU.

Advantages – as a resident, you are no longer constrained by the 90-day rule in the country in which you live. The rule does, however, apply to other EU countries. So if for example you are a Brit resident in France, there are no limits on the amount of time you can spend in France. However the 90-day rule does still apply for trips to Italy, Spain, Germany and all other EU/Schengen zone countries. In practice, border checks while travelling within the Schengen zone are pretty light touch, but technically the rule still applies.

You can of course pay unlimited visits to your home country, provided you maintain your citizenship.

Disadvantages – moving countries involves a lot of paperwork. The process varies slightly depending on the country and your personal situation but in general you will first need to get a visa (which must be applied for from your home country, before you move) and then on arrival will usually need to undergo extra admin to validate the visa and register with local authorities. You might also be required to undergo a medical examination and take classes in the national language.

Depending on the type of visa you apply for, you may also need to provide proof of financial means, which disadvantages people on low incomes.

You will also need to register for healthcare under the system of the country you live in, and may be required to either pay taxes or at least complete an annual tax declaration in the country you live in.

Admin is not a one-off event either, most countries require you to regularly renew your visa or residency card. Being officially resident abroad will likely also affect your tax status and access to healthcare in your home country, while your pension entitlements may also be affected.

Can’t we just ignore the 90-day rule?

As a responsible publication, The Local obviously doesn’t advise breaking any laws, but aside from the moral issue, the practicalities of the 90-day rule make it a difficult one to get around.

If you’re not working or claiming benefits most EU countries are unlikely to even notice that you have over-stayed, and the prospect of police knocking on your door is pretty remote.

However, the problem arises when you need to travel, as border guards will likely spot that you arrived in the EU more than 90 days previously and have no visa. Penalties for over-stayers include fines, deportation and ‘over-stay’ stamps in your passport that will make future travel more difficult.

Planned changes to EU border controls (due to come into effect in 2024) will tighten up these checks.

So in short you could over-stay your 90-days but only if you were prepared to never leave the Schengen zone. And if you’re now living here full time there will come a day when you need to access healthcare or other social benefits and that will be difficult if you do not have an official status as a resident.

All EU countries have undocumented migrants living in them, often working illegally on a cash-in-hand basis, but their existence is precarious, they are ripe for exploitation and often live in poverty. We wouldn’t recommend it.

PS: Those ‘loopholes’ promised in the articles above? The couple in the Telegraph got a visa and moved to France full time, where they are now residents. They told the paper: “The visa process took 9 to 10 months – we had thought it might take three. Yet we think our new life is wonderful and more than worth all the effort.”

The travel influencer mentioned in The Sun simply limits her stays in the Schengen zone to 90 days out of the every 180, but instead of returning to the UK for the rest of the time, she goes to Bulgaria (which is not part of the Schengen zone).

Truly, there are no loopholes . . .

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