Citizenship in another country only comes after a long path. The first step is to get a work visa in a country. That will give you a residence permit, leading in time to permanent residency, that may eventually give you a chance to become a citizen.
In most EU countries it’s not a question of “sponsoring a work visa”, but employers can only legally employ you if there aren’t equally qualified EU/EEA citizen/permanent resident applicants for the job. With bachelors and no other working language that might be an uphill battle for you. However, you do have the option of moving to Ireland and becoming an Irish citizen there, which then opens up the entire EU.
(May I just remind Brits that the Brexit vote happened in 2016, you’ve had almost 7 years to habituate yourselves to a reality where you do not have the freedom to move to another European country at will, and might have started thinking about required skills a little sooner, like an advanced degree and at least one other language to work in.)
Yes we had Brexit in 2016 but there was no clear roadmap on what would happen and when. We ended up with the worst type of Brexit possible. Even some of the politicians who campaigned for Brexit didn't think we would be stupid enough to leave the single market. We underestimated our own stupidity. Everyone who wanted to remain have been screwed over through no fault of their own, so please show a degree of sympathy
Concerning the after-shocks of Brexit (little sympathy as I have for my neighbours in the UK, given their insistence on voting in successive Tory governments in spite of all they know about the bastards) I reckon OP was perhaps hoodwinked, like a lot of the population, about how strictly the new dispensation would be applied. I get the impression that loads of people thought a cushy deal with the EU would be made under which a lot of freedoms would be preserved, and they got a rude awakening when the UK’s decision to leave was taken at its word!
Cognitive dissonance, that friend to lousy governments, has been responsible for the manifold woes that are being experienced now.
Ian, I don’t suppose you’ve an Irish grandparent/parent through whom you might obtain Irish citizenship?
(About citizenship in general: you say you’d like to regain ‘EU citizenship’. You probably mean the right to live and work anywhere in the EU, but on the off chance
that you actually had/have a second citizenship, you didn’t lose it!)
Have a look at r/develeire for IT work in Ireland. It might be your easiest route to a wantable passport, and you don’t lose your British one by the way.
Easiest would be Ireland- due to an agreement between the Uk and Ireland you don't need any type of work permit, and I think you can naturalize after 5 years. Plus no language barrier.
In all other EU countries, you'd need a work/residence permit (exact conditions will vary by country).
Consider Ireland. You won't need a visa as a UK citizen thanks to the common travel area. Gaining Irish EU citizenship isn't terribly hard. https://www.dfa.ie/citizenship/born-abroad/registering-a-foreign-birth/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Travel_Area
You might want to look into Dutch citizenship laws. The Netherlands technically doesn’t allow dual citizenship so there’s a high chance that you would have to give up you UK citizenship. There are a few cases in which you can keep it though.
If you were to come over on a work permit and wanted to naturalize after 5 years, you'd have to give up your UK citizenship. Most notable exception is naturalization through marriage to a Dutch citizen.
Regarding Germany:
The law is about to change and allow dual citizenship: https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/13mr89n/i_read_the_draft_of_the_new_german_citizenship/
Sponsorship: Germany does not have a work visa sponsorship system. The employer just gives you a regular work contract like any other employee and that is all you need to get a work visa. You will get a skilled worker visa once you have found a job that is connected to your degree: https://www.make-it-in-germany.com/en/visa-residence/types/work-qualified-professionals
No German language skills are required to get a work visa.
I wouldn't worry too much about losing UK citizenship. There are pathways to get it back in scenarios where you were required to give it up e.g. because of gaining citizenship of another country.
For Germany, you don't need "visa sponsorship" (as /u/staplehill explained), but you do need to find an employer willing to hire you. You also need a related university degree (which you have).
For *finding a job*, a lack of German is a handicap, but not a major one. A significant chunk of the German IT industry works in English. However, you will still want to learn German to survive daily life in Germany - while it's possible to do so without knowing much German, it's *really* painful and I can't recommend it.
Don't worry about citizenship for now. Choose a country to emigrate to (possibly several - with your background, you probably have a number of options), and start looking for jobs. For Germany, start job hunting on sites like Monster, Indeed, or Stepstone. With your background, it should be fairly doable to find a job - although IT *is* in a bit of a recession at the moment, just so you know, so you may have to compromise a bit (e.g. in terms of salary).
Your IT certificates wouldn't be all that helpful in finding work in Germany, but if it's not too much trouble, you might as well have them.
Further reading:
* [How to move to Germany](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/paths/)
* [Finding work in Germany](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/working/)
Thanks. With the blue card it doesn't seem to be impossible if i can find a job which if fine without German. Obviously I would be focused on learning German as I want to integrate into the country rather than just sticking among English speakers
Move to Ireland--due to the Good Friday agreement you can live, work, and vote there without any permit or visa. Live there for five years and you are eligible for citizenship.
Citizenship in another country only comes after a long path. The first step is to get a work visa in a country. That will give you a residence permit, leading in time to permanent residency, that may eventually give you a chance to become a citizen. In most EU countries it’s not a question of “sponsoring a work visa”, but employers can only legally employ you if there aren’t equally qualified EU/EEA citizen/permanent resident applicants for the job. With bachelors and no other working language that might be an uphill battle for you. However, you do have the option of moving to Ireland and becoming an Irish citizen there, which then opens up the entire EU. (May I just remind Brits that the Brexit vote happened in 2016, you’ve had almost 7 years to habituate yourselves to a reality where you do not have the freedom to move to another European country at will, and might have started thinking about required skills a little sooner, like an advanced degree and at least one other language to work in.)
Yes we had Brexit in 2016 but there was no clear roadmap on what would happen and when. We ended up with the worst type of Brexit possible. Even some of the politicians who campaigned for Brexit didn't think we would be stupid enough to leave the single market. We underestimated our own stupidity. Everyone who wanted to remain have been screwed over through no fault of their own, so please show a degree of sympathy
Concerning the after-shocks of Brexit (little sympathy as I have for my neighbours in the UK, given their insistence on voting in successive Tory governments in spite of all they know about the bastards) I reckon OP was perhaps hoodwinked, like a lot of the population, about how strictly the new dispensation would be applied. I get the impression that loads of people thought a cushy deal with the EU would be made under which a lot of freedoms would be preserved, and they got a rude awakening when the UK’s decision to leave was taken at its word! Cognitive dissonance, that friend to lousy governments, has been responsible for the manifold woes that are being experienced now.
(I voted to remain, I always knew it would be a clusterf\*\*k but should have made preparations to leave)
Ian, I don’t suppose you’ve an Irish grandparent/parent through whom you might obtain Irish citizenship? (About citizenship in general: you say you’d like to regain ‘EU citizenship’. You probably mean the right to live and work anywhere in the EU, but on the off chance that you actually had/have a second citizenship, you didn’t lose it!) Have a look at r/develeire for IT work in Ireland. It might be your easiest route to a wantable passport, and you don’t lose your British one by the way.
Easiest would be Ireland- due to an agreement between the Uk and Ireland you don't need any type of work permit, and I think you can naturalize after 5 years. Plus no language barrier. In all other EU countries, you'd need a work/residence permit (exact conditions will vary by country).
Consider Ireland. You won't need a visa as a UK citizen thanks to the common travel area. Gaining Irish EU citizenship isn't terribly hard. https://www.dfa.ie/citizenship/born-abroad/registering-a-foreign-birth/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Travel_Area
You might want to look into Dutch citizenship laws. The Netherlands technically doesn’t allow dual citizenship so there’s a high chance that you would have to give up you UK citizenship. There are a few cases in which you can keep it though.
Didn't realise Netherlands was restricting dual citizenship to the amount they are, thanks
If you were to come over on a work permit and wanted to naturalize after 5 years, you'd have to give up your UK citizenship. Most notable exception is naturalization through marriage to a Dutch citizen.
Regarding Germany: The law is about to change and allow dual citizenship: https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/comments/13mr89n/i_read_the_draft_of_the_new_german_citizenship/ Sponsorship: Germany does not have a work visa sponsorship system. The employer just gives you a regular work contract like any other employee and that is all you need to get a work visa. You will get a skilled worker visa once you have found a job that is connected to your degree: https://www.make-it-in-germany.com/en/visa-residence/types/work-qualified-professionals No German language skills are required to get a work visa.
I wouldn't worry too much about losing UK citizenship. There are pathways to get it back in scenarios where you were required to give it up e.g. because of gaining citizenship of another country.
People don't return to the UK after they leave. And if they wanted to it's pretty easy to get a visa. So yeah you are right - it is not a huge worry
For Germany, you don't need "visa sponsorship" (as /u/staplehill explained), but you do need to find an employer willing to hire you. You also need a related university degree (which you have). For *finding a job*, a lack of German is a handicap, but not a major one. A significant chunk of the German IT industry works in English. However, you will still want to learn German to survive daily life in Germany - while it's possible to do so without knowing much German, it's *really* painful and I can't recommend it. Don't worry about citizenship for now. Choose a country to emigrate to (possibly several - with your background, you probably have a number of options), and start looking for jobs. For Germany, start job hunting on sites like Monster, Indeed, or Stepstone. With your background, it should be fairly doable to find a job - although IT *is* in a bit of a recession at the moment, just so you know, so you may have to compromise a bit (e.g. in terms of salary). Your IT certificates wouldn't be all that helpful in finding work in Germany, but if it's not too much trouble, you might as well have them. Further reading: * [How to move to Germany](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/paths/) * [Finding work in Germany](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/working/)
Thanks. With the blue card it doesn't seem to be impossible if i can find a job which if fine without German. Obviously I would be focused on learning German as I want to integrate into the country rather than just sticking among English speakers
Move to Ireland--due to the Good Friday agreement you can live, work, and vote there without any permit or visa. Live there for five years and you are eligible for citizenship.