Member-only story
Is it time to give up my nationality?
The second of ten hopes and aims
This year marks my 10-year anniversary of living in Croatia. It’s been quite the decade on a global scale and on a personal level. It was a planned move, albeit one year earlier than originally thought, where I wanted to see what I could achieve by being stationary, because the decade before that saw me living in eight different places for varying amounts of time.
Escaping Brexit
One huge event that happened to me during this period was Brexit. The uncertainty before and after it happened, the hidden parts no one knew about until it was too late — like the permission to buy a house or rent out property privately.
Fortunately, I had already moved abroad before everything was finally sealed. In fact, I was just about to get my permanent residency, which would secure my fate as a European — but only in the eyes of Croatia.
What this means going forward is still a bit confusing, as I am still treated as a British national when going to places outside my new homeland. Will I need a visa in the future to enter all the other European states? Will I need to show certain documents if I am going there to work on behalf of a Croatian company or nonprofit? For now, it will continue to be a “learn as you go along” situation.
