> As odd as it sounds Brexit really affected business

With all due respect, this was never odd. It was immediately predicted from the day the UK voted for Brexit, along with many of the other very obvious side effects of leaving the EU, like free movement & ability to work, logistical challenges etc.

Unironically, people thought it would end free movement for other people and not them.

When Brits go to another Country, they are expats, bringing their wealth and culture with them. When people come to the UK they are immigrants or economic migrants refusing to get jobs, learn the language or integrate while taking all the jobs.

>It was immediately predicted from the day the UK voted for Brexit

It was predicted long before the vote. The government even posted leaflets in everyone's door explaining that.

Is that unexpected? You'd have the same issues immigrating to any country, right?

It seems like British people got very used to being able to move to the continent but how long was that state of affairs around for, I wonder.

> Suddenly no British man can be more than 3 months in another European country before being “banned”

That’s how visas work in most of the world.

I’m curious now, did you vote for it and not expect this? It doesn’t sound odd at all, it is exactly what everyone said would happen other than people promoting Brexit as some form of nationalism/pride movement.

> Suddenly no British man can be more than 3 months in another European country before being “banned”

People finding out that voting against free movement means movement will no longer be free remains my favorite Brexit trope.

As a Brit that was too young to vote in the referendum I feel like I’m stuck in a venus fly trap and the jaws are closing. I would have liked to live in Europe for a while, but welp, now that option’s gone. An image of a frog boiling in a pot also comes to mind.

Alot of people seemed surprised, that I was surprised.

I was surprised, because I dont follow politics.

I just sort of stumbled upon issues when travelling around Europe.

The point of my comment is not that I was surprised, but that Brexit "happened", from my pov. Im sure many others understood the repercussions like gifted clairvoyant giraffes before it occurred, but I alas did not.

In fairness there was a lot of uncertainty between 'hard brexit' which we got and 'soft brexit' which wouldn't have changed much. My biggest gripe about the whole thing from a democracy point of view is no one really knew what exactly we were voting for. I think it should have been two stage - do you want to leave and then here's the deal - do you still want to do that? I think we would have remained if people had seen the real terms and condition rather than "have our cake and eat it" make believe pushed by certain politicians.

Switzerland isn't in the EU either.

But it's in the Schengen Area, which is relevant here.

The UK was never part of the Schengen Area, so it's not relevant.

To be fair, it is relevant because UK is both in Europe, the EU but not in Schenghen. Its the whole point of the discussion. The points is complexities of immigration in Europe.

I am surprised that the housing markets in Spain and Portugal haven’t declined due to Brexit.

If anything I would have expected the market to explode in Portugal. The digital nomad visa they offer is one of the easiest for us to get and after living there for five years you regain the right to live in the EU. I’ve considered moving there but their immigration system is dysfunctional apparently.

I uh, surely you knew about visas before this?

I think people assumed there would be an ongoing deal on free travel. Personally I thought there might be. Still no there wasn't and I'm German now.

One of the main reasons for Brexit was to block migrants, turns out that works both ways, who would have thought

Yeah that's fair enough really, it is still surprising that there wasn't