She (and others in her position) are worried that this passing may well end up with her visa not getting renewed or cancelled as they are UK viasas rather than Scottish ones.
Could be interesting times for ex-pats living in Scotland!
The intention is also to make immigration to Scotland easier and more forgiving, and expand the number of visas granted, not tighten up the rules.
http://scotreferendum.com/questions/i-am-living-in-scotland-...
http://scotreferendum.com/questions/what-will-an-independent...
I'm concerned about what will happen to my British citizenship in the event of independence. It seems like Scotland would introduce its own citizenship and passport with independence, but it is unclear what would happen to existing British passport holders of Scottish descent.
If the answer is dual citizenship, I wonder how this will affect the availability of public services over time. For example, as a holder of both passports, would I be free to pick and choose which country I draw a pension from, get healthcare from, and pay tax to?
For me, there are too many unanswered questions. Currency is the tip of the iceberg.
Ex-pat Scots, whose nationality will be affected by the result, were specifically denied the vote, while English people and other nationalities, including Germans and other Europeans living in Scotland, have been allowed to vote. Complete insanity.
Er, no one has proposed that England become independent of the UK -- if Scotland leaves, you could have a Scottish passport or end up with a British passport. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland -- comprised of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland -- without Scotland will still be the United Kingdom of (most of) Great Britain and Northern Ireland -- comprised of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
On your initial question, it'll just be a straight up question of what's more important - a passport that reflects your heritage but that might have more visa requirements for a few years, or retain your existing one. If it came to it, I'd take the rUK one for now, it's not a big issue - it's like all the people I know who're from other countries and also have a UK passport.
> I'm concerned about what will happen to my British
> citizenship in the event of independence. It seems like
> Scotland would introduce its own citizenship and
> passport with independence, but it is unclear what would
> happen to existing British passport holders of Scottish
> descent.
But in any case, there would be no reason for Scotland to make the existing UK and European standards stricter, especially for people who were already legally in the country before independence.