Brexit has robbed young Britons of the chance to live abroad!
Before the infamous Brexit result in 2016 the idea of young people being restricted from being able to work in the EU was unthinkable. However, this is now a harsh reality for those that live in the UK.
The period in which nothing changed known as the transition period ended on the 31st of December 2020. This meant that as of 2021 UK nationals were no longer able to live and work in the EU like they could before.
Tour operators, Hotels, bars, and restaurants in popular holiday destinations have struggled this year to find the staff to keep things running as normal.
The rules state that a UK national is unable to work for more than three months per calendar year leaving many businesses short staffed in a year they were hoping to recover their losses from the pandemic.
Sarah Bryant, owner of Shooting Star Entertainment said: “This has been the first year since Brexit was finalised that we are getting to see how it will affect things.
“I run a business that hires out tribute acts to bars and hotels across Spain. Before Brexit I was able to put out an advert and I would then have plenty of applicants for me to choose from, often British applicants. However, I am now limited to using UK nationals for three months at a time which means a lack of continuity for my acts if I can’t find someone who can work the full season.
“From what I am seeing there is much less interest from those who can live and work in the EU. For example, this year my ABBA angels act has had five different people sing alongside myself. I also had to make the tough decision to end the season early for my tribute act of The Jersey Boys because it wasn’t worth trying to find someone new with only one month left. Considering it often takes me much longer than this to source someone.
“In order to fix this, the likes of Spain need to consider allowing UK nationals to have some form of visa that grants working for a period of six months which would cover the main tourist times. While I understand it is the rules, I think for Spain's tourism industry not to suffer it needs to look at trying to be more flexible.”
In fact, for countries such as Spain the only way for young people to get a working visa they can afford is by applying for a role which is on the shortage occupation list. With the only tourism related roles being a tourism specialist or a chef, this is not a viable route for anyone wanting to simply do bar or waiter work, be a holiday rep or even just perform in tribute acts.
Right now, the door seems closed to those from the UK who are wanting to work in Europe's tourism industry. However, perhaps over time things will improve for the better. For both the UK’s young people and the respective countries tourist industries sake.