Moving to EU with a pre-settled status

Fedcas65

Hello,

the reason of this post of simply about my departure, but I'll also ask some detail about banking and investment products which are directly correlated.

So, I'm planning to move in EU with a pre-settled status obtained before Brexit, which I still didn't complete, so I don't have a settled status, just in case it wasn't obvious.
Below you find some of my concerns:

1. I won't have an UK address because I rent here, the current place will be rented by someone else, which is a problem for address verification, unless I find some alternative to declare an address in UK, but with sensitive informations is gonna be always a problem.
I don't own any apartment/house, so I can't officially declare nothing as my permanent address, in theory I have one, but I haven't much to do with it, it's my parents house, which is technically my permanent address but it's not in UK or Germany. It would have been much easier if I had my permanent residency here in UK, but even with that, I wouldn't own an accommodation, which brings the same problem for the address...

I've seen that some bank allows you to keep the bank account, so I may need to change mine, this is not a big drama, what could be drama is the following:
1. Credit card cancellation (painful to get them back if one day I come back in UK)
2. Bank account cancellation (many movements for my credit score)

3. I'm really curious to know what happens to my credit score if I leave for up to 2y...

3. What will happen to my ISA accounts? Shall I remove it if I leave UK for more than 2y or right away?

4. Same question, but about standard investment accounts...

5. A bit offtopic, but if you know any service that can sell off my UK car from Germany, it's highly appreciated.

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I'm quite concerned to post these things to the respective entities, because as soon as they hear that, they start the process of cancelling my account (I have experience with it ), or resizing/limitating my services, whatever that is.

In general, if I got it right, I understood that I can leave UK for up to 2y before coming back here and restarting my "time of permanence" in UK for the pre-settled status.
I think it starts from where I left it off...
If I stay out for more than 2y, I didn't find what happens , but most probably I lose my pre-settled status and the possibility to come back in UK without a VISA sponsor.

Fedcas65

Moving the investments will be very expensive for me, it's probably the most crucial task...

SusieT

1. Credit cards will be cancelled, but the good news is that they will stay on your credit history (forget the score, only you see that and it is meaningless) for 6 years, so if in a few years you come back they will still be seen.
2. See above, it is meaningless, but the credit history good or bad will remain for 6 years.
3. Isa can stay, but you can only withdraw from it, no more can be paid in
4. No idea, probably the same IF the account allows non residents (many do not), and foreign addresses. 

If you need a uk address for post you could try a virtual one, that way you may be able yo keep the UK bank account open until you decide if you will return or not

Fedcas65

SusieT said:

1. Credit cards will be cancelled, but the good news is that they will stay on your credit history (forget the score, only you see that and it is meaningless) for 6 years, so if in a few years you come back they will still be seen.
2. See above, it is meaningless, but the credit history good or bad will remain for 6 years.
3. Isa can stay, but you can only withdraw from it, no more can be paid in
4. No idea, probably the same IF the account allows non residents (many do not), and foreign addresses. 

If you need a uk address for post you could try a virtual one, that way you may be able yo keep the UK bank account open until you decide if you will return or not

Thanks a lot, very helpful!!!

What do you know about virtual addresses? Are you referring to the ones in Cyprus?
But that's not UK :O 

In any case, it wouldn't be a safe operation, because the banks usually require you to live in that country, using these homemade solutions could only create problems later on I believe... Plus, from my app and website I'm completely logged, I could use a VPN to access those services though, but I can't stop activity in the background which could snap from the VPN time to time... (I can't keep the VPN turned ON all the time, it consumes a lot of battery and it may be too slow for certain things)

The biggest damage is the stock transfer, if I need to do it, I'll need to spend quite a lot of money ... I'll check with the providers once I'm out of the country...

sheramber

https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/what-settled-and-presettled-status-means

 you have pre-settled status, you can spend up to 2 years in a row outside the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man without losing your status. You will need to maintain your continuous residence if you want to qualify for settled status.

If you spend too much time outside the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man

You’ll lose your settled or pre-settled status. You’ll usually need to apply for a visa to live and work in the UK.

anotheruser

Sounds like you're trying to have your cake and eat it a bit.
If you're leaving the UK, then don't look back and move fully - it'll be simpler in the future as you won't have to worry about this or that in the UK.
If you're not sure if you want to return in the future, perhaps now isn't the time to be thinking of moving in the first place.

Daliah

about your second Q3: as stated, ISA can stay, but you can only withdraw from it, no more can be paid in and interest/capital gain in it is subject to your country of residence. It is unlikely that they will treat it as tax free income.

Fedcas65

sheramber said:

 you have pre-settled status, you can spend up to 2 years in a row outside the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man without losing your status. You will need to maintain your continuous residence if you want to qualify for settled status.

If you spend too much time outside the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man

You’ll lose your settled or pre-settled status. You’ll usually need to apply for a visa to live and work in the UK.

With too much time, you mean more than 2y at this point, right?

anotheruser said:

Sounds like you're trying to have your cake and eat it a bit.
If you're leaving the UK, then don't look back and move fully - it'll be simpler in the future as you won't have to worry about this or that in the UK.
If you're not sure if you want to return in the future, perhaps now isn't the time to be thinking of moving in the first place.

It's more complicated, I don't speak the local language, so I want to keep my option open to come back in UK...
One thing is sure, if I successfully remain there more than 1y, looking back is unreal.

Daliah said:

about your second Q3: as stated, ISA can stay, but you can only withdraw from it, no more can be paid in and interest/capital gain in it is subject to your country of residence. It is unlikely that they will treat it as tax free income.

That's correct, even if the authorities can't figure it out so easily if the money come from my UK account...

One thing here, if I've spent more time in UK in this financial here, I can still make more contributions to the ISA, right?

At the end, I would have paid taxes here anyway, the EU country could ask me only the taxes that I need to pay once I'm there.
Due to my decent salary, I probably need to file a tax assessment there, that could get complicated in terms of taxes paid in UK, but not for revenue coming from the ISA, especially if I've spent more time in UK in this financial year?
What do you think?

There is also another interesting case, suppose that I leave UK on the 1st of May 2023, but before then, I made 20k contribution in the ISA, do I have the right to do it? It means that I've spent only 1 month in that financial year in UK, having always access to the ISA account obviously, until my departure.

SusieT

Fedcas65 said:

SusieT said:

1. Credit cards will be cancelled, but the good news is that they will stay on your credit history (forget the score, only you see that and it is meaningless) for 6 years, so if in a few years you come back they will still be seen.
2. See above, it is meaningless, but the credit history good or bad will remain for 6 years.
3. Isa can stay, but you can only withdraw from it, no more can be paid in
4. No idea, probably the same IF the account allows non residents (many do not), and foreign addresses. 

If you need a uk address for post you could try a virtual one, that way you may be able yo keep the UK bank account open until you decide if you will return or not

Thanks a lot, very helpful!!!

What do you know about virtual addresses? Are you referring to the ones in Cyprus?
But that's not UK :O 

In any case, it wouldn't be a safe operation, because the banks usually require you to live in that country, using these homemade solutions could only create problems later on I believe... Plus, from my app and website I'm completely logged, I could use a VPN to access those services though, but I can't stop activity in the background which could snap from the VPN time to time... (I can't keep the VPN turned ON all the time, it consumes a lot of battery and it may be too slow for certain things)

The biggest damage is the stock transfer, if I need to do it, I'll need to spend quite a lot of money ... I'll check with the providers once I'm out of the country...

Google virtual address UK it comes up with a lot of companies who give street addresses for people travelling or other reasons, I am not sure why you thought I was referring to Cyprus though! You may or may not need vpn, I have accessed my account without one when I have been abroad, but have no idea about your bank.

Fedcas65

SusieT said:

Fedcas65 said:

SusieT said:

1. Credit cards will be cancelled, but the good news is that they will stay on your credit history (forget the score, only you see that and it is meaningless) for 6 years, so if in a few years you come back they will still be seen.
2. See above, it is meaningless, but the credit history good or bad will remain for 6 years.
3. Isa can stay, but you can only withdraw from it, no more can be paid in
4. No idea, probably the same IF the account allows non residents (many do not), and foreign addresses. 

If you need a uk address for post you could try a virtual one, that way you may be able yo keep the UK bank account open until you decide if you will return or not

Thanks a lot, very helpful!!!

What do you know about virtual addresses? Are you referring to the ones in Cyprus?
But that's not UK :O 

In any case, it wouldn't be a safe operation, because the banks usually require you to live in that country, using these homemade solutions could only create problems later on I believe... Plus, from my app and website I'm completely logged, I could use a VPN to access those services though, but I can't stop activity in the background which could snap from the VPN time to time... (I can't keep the VPN turned ON all the time, it consumes a lot of battery and it may be too slow for certain things)

The biggest damage is the stock transfer, if I need to do it, I'll need to spend quite a lot of money ... I'll check with the providers once I'm out of the country...

Google virtual address UK it comes up with a lot of companies who give street addresses for people travelling or other reasons, I am not sure why you thought I was referring to Cyprus though! You may or may not need vpn, I have accessed my account without one when I have been abroad, but have no idea about your bank.

Accessing the bank products form abroad when traveling is fine, but if you remain there for longer, it would trigger internal processes, for example, address verification.

Thanks for that, I'll check this virtual address option, but if I have to verify my address, I need someone to open up my letters, I'm not sure how can I achieve that...

Fedcas65

I just found ukpostbox, it seems exactly what I need, they also do post forwarding, which is amazing!