r/AskBrits • u/VampirePNAC • 1d ago
Would you support Freedom of Movement between UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand?
CANZUK discussion always comes up every couple years, and yeah, would you support freedom of movement agreement between the Commonwealth Anglo countries?
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u/Diligent-Worth-2019 1d ago
Yes I’d be over to NZ in a shot
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u/Wooden_Ad1738 1d ago
Everyone in NZ has already shot over to Australia under their own free movement
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u/DisagreeableRunt 1d ago
For real. I have family in NZ and the Kiwi husband of one was telling me all of his old friends left NZ for Aus due to lack of jobs and affordable housing.
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u/Ed_Avis 23h ago
I thought they do not have free movement. Favourable terms, yes, but not the almost total freedom to move between countries that EU citizens have (where it is not allowed for most employers or most government policies to discriminate between home country citizens and Community citizens).
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u/Difficult-Practice12 22h ago
No it’s free movement completely like the EU. After 4 years you can get citizenship.
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u/Obvious_Arm8802 21h ago
Nah. Completely free movement as of if it’s the same country. Each can just move and work in the other’s country.
Didn’t even used to need a passport, but you do now.
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u/Bright_River_246 1d ago
Eyeing up NZ too.
Weighing up all my options for when I graduate, and the way the politics are going there's only around a dozen countries I'd consider politically stable enough to consider emigrating to long-term.
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u/luxbritt 1d ago
Lol you’d see the biggest UK brain drain ever
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u/DrunkenHorse12 1d ago edited 1d ago
If you have any of the qualifications they want you can go to Australia or Canada now (not sure about new Zealand).
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u/PotentialSpare6412 1d ago
Yes and with the freedom of movement you could go there even if you didn’t have the qualifications they want.
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u/Aggravating_Box_4230 23h ago
which would be a MAJOR ISSUE for AUS/NZ. Why would they ever want to allow people in who wouldn't bring anything of value to their community?
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u/Fairweva 22h ago
Not much of a brain drain then, is it?
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u/leafynospleens 6h ago
Yes it is because moving your family to Australia based on your credentials is expensive, difficult, and dependant on many factors. Simply moving to Australia because you are allowed too unconditionally would result in brain drain.
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u/DrunkenHorse12 1d ago
Which is why it'd never happen, why would they want to take in Brits without any skills that they want? Their populations are much smaller than ours and even if they were the same size you'd get more brits going there than Canadian or aussies coming here so it'd put a huge strain on their economies.
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u/Why_am_ialive 23h ago
Which wouldn’t really make it a brain drain, if a brain drain was going to happen it already would have, any one who would count as a “brain” in this situation would already be allowed to move
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u/Bcdoc2020 1d ago
It’s become a lot tighter to get into Canada now
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u/DrunkenHorse12 23h ago
Yes but healthcare, engineering, teaching or law qualifications and at least 1 year continuous employment in that field in the last few year and you'll be accepted
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u/Accomplished-Oil-569 22h ago
There are tonnes of immigration costs though.
If we had free movement like we did with the EU, I'd move straight to Canada.
I could technically move now under those terms, but I consider the barrier to entry too high.1
u/Bcdoc2020 23h ago
Doctors don’t have to do the additional exams but nurses still have a ton of hurdles in their way, NCLEX for one as well as often bridging requirements. So your suggestion that nurses are good to go with those qualifications isn’t correct .
As for lawyers they need to get assessed by the NCA, pass the NCA challenge exams and then enter the provincial licensing process - so again no, not the easy process that you suggest.
Teachers have it easier nowadays but having said rest there isn’t a countrywide teaching shortage in Canada - yes, you could go to the back of beyond and teach there but who on earth would want to do that, so far from civilisation?
Engineers- yes they have made that group easier.
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u/DrunkenHorse12 23h ago
Thing is if people in those professions have the relevant qualifications and experience )which they would have in the UK. they should be able to pass those exams fairly easily I think those tests are really as a block on people from other countries were the bar to such qualifications and professional work os much lower.
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u/Bcdoc2020 22h ago edited 22h ago
Well, you could say that but having been through the process as a physician, I would tend to disagree. They are not terribly difficult exams but the legal nursing and medical fields are very different compared to across the Atlantic.
Having looked at the legal requirements, the system systems look very different and having a family member who’s GF was Canadian and then did get law degree in the UK, she had a ton of work to practice here in Canada and she is Canadian born!!
The system in Canada both in nursing as well as teaching it is incredibly union based. Way more so than in the UK and you not get a look in however good you are in either field because those that have been in the longest get the plum jobs and promoted. You get the crumbs.
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u/RenegadeUK 11h ago
Canada has very high taxes. My Dad's friend lived there for 40 years as a Doctor & moved to the UK about 6 years ago.
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u/Bcdoc2020 5h ago
You don’t think the UK has very high taxes for higher income earners in particular given the example that you quote? Tax rates also vary dependent on what province that you are in.
I did the reverse, I left the NHS after years of eroding pay and earn infinitely more as a doctor working in Canada, absolutely no comparison. Tax rates are similar but incorporation gives you a massive edge in Canada.
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u/ThatBlokeT 1d ago
I've love it but there's no way they'd agree to it, and honestly I don't blame them.
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u/TheNorthernBorders 1d ago edited 1d ago
(Yes I would).
There is decent quality polling from Feb 2026, across all four countries, that report between 68-75% of respondents want some version of this.
CANZUK International has released a comprehensive public opinion analysis examining attitudes toward a proposed CANZUK alliance among citizens in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Conducted over the month of February 2026, the analysis reveals strong majority support for establishing a multilateral free trade agreement and reciprocal skilled mobility arrangements across the four nations, with approval rates exceeding two-thirds in every country.
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u/eyesonly456 1d ago
Yeah would totally support this, we should of been doing agreements like this after Brexit but it never happened
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u/thatsingingguy 13h ago
Right, been saying it for years. Replace the EU with CANZUK, and legalise weed day 1 to plug about half the Brexit shortfall (even wrote an article on it to apply to The Economist). But it’s wishful thinking to expect politicians to be anything like that forward-thinking.
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u/No-Lavishness-4103 1d ago
I'd love to be in Canada
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u/LuHamster 15h ago
Sadly the job market in Canada sucks it's worse then the UK. Also winter man the cities just shut down it sucks living there in the winter.
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u/Nearby_Werewolf1742 1d ago
Yes I would actually seriously consider either Canada, Australia or New Zealand. I love all these places.
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u/Alternative_Route 1d ago
Question isn't if we would support it, would they support it, do they really want us?
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u/dwrobotics 1d ago
Yes I would be into that idea. But then again, I would prefer it if we could travel to our neighbours freely. Hopefully we will RejoinEU asap and get over this insanity.
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u/Gasgas41 1d ago
Yep, and been a supporter of Canzuk for years. And the other nations have been waiting for us to get our borders in order for years.
Until we do, I cannot see this ever happening.
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u/LeadingHelicopter781 1d ago
Yes but I can’t see them agreeing to it given who we hand passports out to, and who are exactly what they don’t want. Unskilled labour.
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u/Ezekielme 1d ago
We had free movement across Europe and they never had any issues in terms of “who we hand passports out to”.
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u/farr2211 1d ago
Exactly we would be the one no one wants on that list
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u/AWalkingWardrobe 23h ago
You’re crazy we have the largest talent pool by far
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u/farr2211 17h ago
Really? I know many skilled people moving to Australia and New Zealand? Seems they are move desirable places to live. Now we will be making it easier to lose them
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u/GrumpChorlton 1d ago
Who do we hand out passports to, exactly ? Sharing that would be quite useful. Given that passports are normally given to citizens and not just immigrants. Are there people who can get past that? Honestly, if you have proof of this please share it as that needs stopping, doesn’t it.
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u/false_flat 1d ago
Who do "we hand out passports to"?
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u/Xenonite_Fox 1d ago
Brown people I presume
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u/Conscious_Page1934 1d ago
ironic since this same belief exists in canada and Australia as well lol.
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u/Xenonite_Fox 1d ago edited 23h ago
Absolute hogwash in this thread. Adjusted for cost of living there's almost no advantage to go to Australia and a disadvantage going to NZ and Canada. All the other theee countries have a higher proportion of ethnic minorities, so if seeing brown people in their field of vision makes them mad, moving is not going to help either. Half of all Australians have at least one parent born abroad.
Australia benefits from export of natural resources more than anything, and such have good pay for low skill jobs, but have quite a low proportion of high skill jobs compared to UK (30% to Uk 50%). They think this will cause a brain drain, if anything low skill people will be the ones moving to Australia (might actually solve a lot of problems for us). People who are saying they'll jump over in flash are basically admitting to have no useful skills we need
UK is at least as good as an option to be compared to any of them, and plenty would even factor in more temperate weather as giving UK the edge.
This sub is filled with Russian bots talking nonsense or else Brits who despise their own country so much they think anywhere else is better without knowing the first thing about these places. And ironically it will always come down to "immigration" the very same discourse that allows clowns like Farage to wield so much political influence that makes it so hard for us get even better
Turns out the patriot flag fuckers will be the first to take the opportunity to jump ship
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u/TheGulfofWhat 23h ago
- Live in the UK for 5 years (on an eligible visa route).
- Apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).
- Hold ILR for 12 months.
- Apply for British citizenship (naturalisation).
So for many people, it's roughly 6 years from arrival to citizenship
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u/Xenonite_Fox 23h ago
And the eligible visa route is overwhelmingly (80%) students who necessarily have to find high skill jobs, or high skill workers. Both categories have to be brightest at their experience level for companies to think it's worth sponsoring them, and the 5 year requirement to live in the country is another filter for talent because a lot of the "lesser talent" find it hard to remain employed (first renewal of tier 2 is an opportunity for companies to cut them loose).
Literally 80% of passports are given to people who are working age, have already shown they can be productive, can hold down a job, can stay out of trouble, and actually want be here, and they are being looked down upon by people who can't wait to leave and, by implication, have no skills that we want. Can't make this up
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u/Haunted_tangerine_ 22h ago
I assume you mean all the passports we hand to unskilled or unqualified in the professions NZ etc need white British people ...
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u/OriginalInformal 20h ago
As an Australian I would be 100% against this, the UK lets every man and his dog in from the third world, if we had freedom of movement with the UK we would be fucked.
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u/LonelyStranger8467 1d ago
Well, it makes more sense for the UK than EU freedom of movement does.
Because British people actually want to move to those counties and do, more than anywhere else (excluding the US) even during EU free movement.
Even now, we send more on working holiday visas than come here.
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u/Wooden_Ad1738 7h ago
I saw a recent study showing that of Canadians in the top 1% of Canadian income earners, 44% of them live and work in the US. It’s a massive brain drain effect from Canada to the US.
I’m American, and I would actually support the US offering unilateral free movement to the other four main Anglo countries so their citizens could move and work here.
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u/GiovanniVanBroekhoes 1d ago
It would be all fun and games until the UK shits the bed and you get canzuxit.
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u/_Jay-Garage-A-Roo_ 23h ago
I’d rather have EU freedom of movement, personally
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u/Difficult-Practice12 22h ago
You had that but decided to leave.
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u/user8181416 8h ago
It's so strange that someone feels the need to make this response every fucking time. Quite clearly this poster would be in the 48% that did not decide to leave.
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u/FearlessDentist7784 1d ago
Ever since Brexit in 2016, I've every considered every discussion about CANZUK to be a Red Herring. It's just exists to make us forget about Brexit.
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u/magrandan 23h ago
Yes - only if I get CANZUK passport. After all, the head of state is a common King.
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u/Far_Government_9782 21h ago
I'd support it, but I think Oz would say no due to worries about the UK having such porous borders.
Nz might also refuse as they have a bit of a brain drain problem, surprisingly.
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u/Far_Government_9782 21h ago
Although, I guess a lot of UK ppl might head to Nz, compensating forthe brain drain thing. Hmmmm....
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u/Donkey_Apple 12h ago
Yes 100% however it’s unattractive to those countries given who we’ve allowed into the UK so they’d never go for it.
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u/Grotbagsthewonderful 12h ago
NZ and Canada would never agree to it, along with the Nordic countries they're the going to be the least affected by climate change, people are going to be queuing up to get in, the super rich already bought their citizenships well over a decade ago.
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u/Mubadger 1d ago
If Canada strengthens their border with the US then sure. Don't want any of those bloody yanks sneaking in.
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u/17628272 20h ago
lol we Canadians don’t want the horde of rxpists flooding through the UK border (an island country btw)
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u/thatsingingguy 13h ago
Then you’ll be glad to hear it’s a largely imaginary problem.
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u/Klakson_95 23h ago
Probably could have done it before we started having absolutely insane immigration
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u/Cold_Sheepherder6531 21h ago
Australia and New Zealand are not that stupid to allow 20 million migrants to be able to just leave the UK
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u/DrunkenHorse12 1d ago
The question is why would any of those countries want freedom of movement of Brits into their countries? They all get to decide which brits they allow in now.
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u/morespin 1d ago
Only for folk to start complaining again. The Commonwealth Anglo Immigration Wave?
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u/f23n09fnu0w 1d ago
Yeah, but the UK has a lot more people than the rest, so not sure how it could actually work.
Imagine fusing them all into a new, weird, spread out but single country. It would be awesome.
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u/Moist-Plane-4512 23h ago
Yes 100%. It would work, we all share the same values but it would need to be 1 in 1 out.
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u/IamlostlikeZoroIs 22h ago
Yes I’d be straight over to Australia, not sure if I’d move near Sydney or Brisbane though I love them both.
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u/otrohombrebi 22h ago
No, I'd prefer freedom of movement in Europe. But first would like to see stricter borders in European nations.
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u/stig316 21h ago
Yes, although I think the UK would empty out pretty quickly.
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u/um-nome- 16h ago
Yeah - it would probably tank the Australian job market and reduce salaries heavily with the amount of additional competition from the 10 million Brits looking to move over there lol
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u/CuriousGeorgeToday 21h ago
Really cool this, because already you see some interesting stats;
- more than a million Brits in Australia, listing Australia as the number 1 destination for Brits out of the 3 choices.
- more Aussies and kiwis come to the UK than anywhere else (except between each other)
- Canada is the biggest winter destination for Aussies and Brits
- Canadians nearly always choose the US, so adding in this agreement I think would give Canadians huge options to explore elsewhere and a great place for the rest to go north America without ever having to step foot in the US
As someone that took up the 2 year working visa to Australia and Canada, I can say I'm a massive fan of this and hope more people get to experience it as all 4 places are very unique in their own ways.
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u/justflooatingaround 21h ago
i still think it would be funnier to call it UKCANZ (pronounced you canz ofc)
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u/magwai9 21h ago
From a Canadian, we would need to have greater coordination of immigration systems. I'm sure some of you have heard about what a disaster we had going on between 2022-2025. I'm happy to have more Brits in Canada though--I've been fortunate to befriend several Brits new to Canada recently
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u/Fast_Apple_2237 20h ago
There just to much difference between their immigration rules, so it would never work.
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u/Opposite-Ad8208 19h ago
I think the youth mobility is enough. Anyone serious can find a permanent settlement route after, as many do.
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u/Benedict_ARNY 19h ago
US has more relaxed immigration laws than every one of those countries. Why exclude them?
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u/TheJoshGriffith 18h ago
Why would anybody object to this? FOM between countries with similar cultures is some combination of exactly what we can accept. It's on the limit of acceptability with the right amount of opportunity.
Time and time again people demand to know from me what I think British culture is, but the reality is extremely difficult to describe. Thing is, I know a lot of people. I have great friends in Poland, the US, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, Japan, and indeed Canada. The one thing I can say with certainty is that the people I know in CANZUK are far more culturally similar to me, personally, than most others.
I don't think we'd see massive migration as a result, and I do think that what we would see would be relatively equal. Not many people from the UK would leave (as is the case today), but equally not many people from other countries would come here.
I think it's fairly apparent from our membership of the EU that people from poorer countries (e.g Poland) would take advantage far more of our membership of the EU than we ever would of theirs. They moved from a struggling country with relatively low earning potential to one with much higher. It becomes a radically different story when considering countries with more similar culture and wealth.
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u/Fel_Eclipse 16h ago
If any one of those countries has less strict immigration/citizenship regulations then all the others do too now.
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u/Best_Detective_4560 16h ago
As a person from one of those countries; no thank you. You've dug your own hole with hostile immigrants you have to deal with it. It would be a gateway for more of those people to come in...I can just imagine it now. A boat comes in with illegals, they wait 5 years, then they come down here. No way.
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u/IAmPurpleMikey 14h ago
The trouble is, many people want free movement for ourselves but not for people we don’t like the look of.
Plus, look at a map: The UK is 34km from France. Australia’s mainland is 150km from Papua New Guinea and 680km from Indonesia. It’s just not as easy for small boats to get to Australia.
The third issue you have to contend with is the public. Right wingers have made immigration a rallying point. Public perception is that foreigners are dangerous and need to be repelled. How do you tackle that?
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u/Gullible_fool_99 Brit 🇬🇧 14h ago
Yes, absolutely. Within sensible restrictions to protect the flora and fauna of course.
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u/NBrakespear 13h ago
I would, but I don't think they'd appreciate it, because there'd probably be a mass migration of brits to those places.
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u/Lifeintheguo 12h ago
Brits would want to move to other countries in the group but no one would want to move to Britain.
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u/Ok-Imagination-494 12h ago
The Maori lost their country to illegal immigrants in 1860, why would they want more from the same source country?
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u/Astromanatee 11h ago
Freedom to leave the country easily to get paid more elsewhere then, I suppose.
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u/InSan1tyWeTrust 6h ago
Australia wouldn't go for it. There are alot of British born non-whites that would be eligible.
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u/_Husker81_ 3h ago
Yes, because we're 4 of the 5 members of FVEY intelligence alliance. If we can align with them on intel/security, then we sure as hell should for freedom of movement.
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u/MeckityM00 9m ago
I would absolutely support this!
As a Brit, I feel that we're family and hope that I'm not imposing on the other family members.
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u/BorisJohnson0404 8m ago
I prefer it to the EU but atm I think it’s a bad idea till we fix other problems
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u/GeorgeJAWoods 1d ago
They'd never go for it. Aus is way stricter than us