UK Expat here living in Munich.
Anecdotal, but many companies here (startups and corps) are getting more and more CVs from EU staff of Tech startups in London. Not sure if it's the same in Berlin or other EU hubs. Also wondering if UK citizens would move over to gain extra rights of EU movement when here during the transition.
Currently developing a free app for UK citizens to relearn medieval methods of subsistence living after the imminent collapse of the economy and our National Health Service. Pro users will be able to get access to horse-and-cart-focused GPS, gamified witch-finding tutorials, an advanced plague management app and outbreak tracker, and an advanced AI-assisted voice app (voiced by Simon Pegg) that shows you how to cure just about anything with leeches. I predict business will be booming. If any VC funders are interested, please send a pigeon to my homestead in Brighton.
There is a significant potential issue that might put off certain types of tech company considering the UK though only indirectly related to Brexit: encryption.<p>The EU is making motions towards privacy protection (see <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/19/eu-outlaw-backdoors-new-data-privacy-proposals-uk-government-encrypted-communications-whatsapp" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/19/eu-outlaw...</a> amongst other similar proposals) where the UK under May and Rudd seems to be wanting to move towards the China model (if the government can't read it, it is illegal).<p>If that intent remains then once we split there will be a stark difference that will be of concern to any companies who handle (or intends to handle) private data & communications as it will put off their potential userbase.<p>I doubt this will make existing companies (including startups) move right now, or in the foreseeable future, but it may make brand new startups consider forming elsewhere or existing EU companies think twice if they were considering some form of a UK branch.<p>There are other concerns with regard to the unclear future of free trade which will have an effect too. But you have to consider the extra hassle of setting up elsewhere: an entrepreneur living in the UK will experience greater "startup friction" trying to setup elsewhere (as they'll have to move at least some of their life) which might be more disadvantageous in the short term.<p>If enough technical people move for similar reasons then we'll see a skills shortage that will put tech startups off, but that is a much longer term matter.<p>I note that you mention "EU staff" not "UK staff" - if you are meaning to specifically exclude UK workers with that wording then the growth of people wanting to move may be due to the apparent glut of racist behaviour in the few months following the vote.
I've been thinking about it for a bit. I'm not affected by Brexit (Commonwealth citizen), but my partner will be (EU/Italian).<p>I think it's going to be a bit overblown. It's easier for EU tech employees to move their lives, than it is for London tech companies to up and move elsewhere. Because of this, I theorise that there will be an intermittent period where there will be a labor shortage in London, due to lack of EU workers to supplement the demand in London tech. This will balance out with time, with EU companies moving more of their offices out of London.<p>I think we have started to see this already, at my gig, we have found it quite difficult to get decent candidates through the door, and anecdotally a lot of our better candidates have been from the EU. We are about 50% Londoners, 30% EU, 20% World.
(EU national in London) Not at all. I think the doomsday threats are overblown and the negotiating parties will reach a mutually beneficial deal at the 11th hour.<p>Much more concerned about the possibility of the current Labour party gaining power actually.
(EU national living in UK). I was ambivalent on working at the headquarters (here in Birmingham) or in remote, and actually started looking for a house here.<p>Thankfully I waited until after the referendum. The ensuing social, political, and economical confusion was convincing enough. I bought a house not far from my hometown, somewhere in southern Europe. I'll move there after some major renovation, some time next year.<p>I might be biased, but I realized in the few years I lived in the UK that the services, health care, and general quality of life are overall better down there than up here. I obviously have only anecdotal proof of that.<p>On a positive note, it has been very instructive so far to live in the country where this is happening, and especially in an area that voted in favor of leaving.
I'll move to London in about one month from Berlin, because YOLO and they will have a deal anyways.<p>In addition, those Brexit fears are overblown. UK leaves EU and apparently it's doomsday. Did it ever matter to anyone who considered a move there, that US/Canada/Norway/Israel/Australia/NZ/Switzerland/.. has never been part thereof? Was it a consideration in your decision? I bet it was not.
Anectdotally I've heard of ARM an loosing entire team to Brexit. And being forced to open up a micro office in the teams country of origin.<p>Brexit is real, big players are feeling the pain.
That whole region, from Grenoble France through Zurich and into Munich is also just really hot right now. Tens of thousands of world class talented engineers and recent science grads. Coupled with the alpine idyll locales. the general atmosphere of Gemütlichkeit. Who wouldn't want to relocate there! Kinda longing for it myself on this cloudy NYC morn ;)
Not at all. Especially if the free trade and free movement agreements stay in place, or are expanded (EFTA, Schengen). These are not the same thing as the EU.<p>In fact, smart businesses will new open offices in UK (outside of EU), just to hedge their bets on the future. Buy low, sell high.
Meanwhile in Spain... lots of companies are leaving Catalonia for exactly the same reason. The fear to be excluded from the EU and the permanent feeling of uncertainty<p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/catalans-to-defy-spanish-court-in-push-for-independence-1507285158" rel="nofollow">https://www.wsj.com/articles/catalans-to-defy-spanish-court-...</a><p>In the last two weeks around 400 big and medium companies (national and international) changed their tax domicile from Barcelona to other Spanish cities (Valencia, Malaga, Bilbao or Madrid). Including the biggest catalonian banks, and six of the seven catalonian companies in Ibex 35.<p>Could happen the same in UK? Nobody knows, but when it starts other companies will follow. No matter what they say now. If we can learn something from this smaller simulation of brexit is that money hates troubles and can run faster than politicians.
Not because of Brexit itself but more because of how incompetently they're handling it thus far and the implications of that:<p>1. No certainty that our customers will remain here or that they'll keep buying. We're seeing larger customers slow down spending.<p>2. No certainty that we can hire the right people from wherever we need to.<p>3. Little hope that the government will act in a pragmatic, pro-business manner (in fact, red-tape and the corporate tax burden is all but certain to rise for anyone who's not a large multi-national). HMRC (the tax man) are on some crusade to impose some MTD (Making Tax Digital) program and some other disasters on business, tightening up rules on the use of independent contractors, etc. This is not the government showing flexibility, this is the government going about business as usual whilst squabbling over what Brexit means and leaving the economy unattended.
No. The rhetoric and threats are off the scale for both sides at the moment. What gets missed in the (profitable) news din is that UK Gov has all but guaranteed EU folk can stay in the country as before.<p>This has been reiterated since day one. EU citizens will have a right to stay and UK Gov will do absolutely everything they can to see that through. The only reason they cannot put it to paper yet is they are waiting for reciprocacy from the EU.
Once the EU agrees to provide UK in EU with exactly the same rights as the UK is offering them, it will go down in law.<p>There is so much bluster and threats from all sides. It takes a bit of digging and close examination to see what really is being said and offered.
The government and companies based in the UK always complain about skills shortages and how the free movement of people helps to alleviate that problem. They've been saying this for the last 25 years and have done nothing to ease the situation by investing in training or education. Its just easier for them to import staff.<p>I feel London's a bit like Rome or Athens in as much as were a rich elite living off the back of a massive pool of slave labour, or cheap imported labour in this case.<p>Brexit is only going to have a short term effect on the tech sector, we'll still let highly skilled labour in and probably give them generous tax incentives to stay personally and at a corporate level.
Anecdotal evidence and mass media will lead you astray, best to look at the numbers. VC investment in the UK since Brexit is ~$2.5B, about 2x that of Germany and 3x France.
I have just moved to Berlin a month ago. If you have no family/other commitments in UK, I feel the threshold of reasons to leave UK has been crossed already.
Along those lines, I have always wondered why tech salaries I see advertised for the UK seem so depressed (£40k-£50k) compared to the USA (typically > $100k). Is it because of EU labor mobility? If so, will Brexit push tech salaries up to USA levels?
(UK resident on a Tier 1 Tech Nation visa)<p>I'm waiting to see what happens. It's already done a number on my relative wealth through the pound dropping, but just going to ride it out for a bit and see how dumb the govt. is in the negotiations.<p>As others have said, London is so ridiculously international and concentrated with tech experience and that eases my mind a bit, but if they do crash out and things go tits-up I'll seriously look at leaving.
Yep I'm thinking of heading to Europe and to be living there on Brexit day. I reckon it'll be a reasonable time for the EU to say "OK, whoever was over here then can stay". I haven't decided where to go yet though.
I wouldn't consider it now since I'm kind of settled here (house ownership, kids, etc...). Also, the London scene is so international and diverse that I don't think I'd feel at home anywhere else now.
Yes, not just because of brexit, but it was what tipped it over the edge for us. Have a few friends in tech who have left UK over the last year, more are planning to leave. We are not moving to Europe though, but to the SF area. We'll keep the R&D here for now (we are a deep tech company), and see how things with the negotiations pan out.
Not the in the UK, but in New York. I was planning to move my company and myself back to the EU where I'm from, and London specifically. An English speaking country is a must for my partner, having previously lived in Germany we found it highly stressful due to not being able to interactive with the government/landlord/accountants/lawyers etc. in English.<p>Brexit means I won't.
Not a startup, but a small UK Ltd selling software services to a German company.<p>At the moment, selling to the EU just requires filling in VAT and EC Sales List tax forms. This paperwork is all automated by accounting software.<p>If selling from a UK Ltd company ever becomes a problem, it is a simple matter to create a company in an EU country so I can continue to sell services and products via that. Having residency isn't required to setup and run a company in many EU countries, so I suspect I'd be able to continue working without worry.<p>The only issue would be transferring over income from a foreign country in a compliant manner. If that becomes expensive, then it might be worth moving residency to a different country. But rushing to make a decision seems rather silly when the decision depends on details that haven't even been talked about yet.
I bet there will some kind of "soft exit" deal. Neither UK nor the EU can afford to be at odds with each other, so the risks of a hard Brexit are blown out of proportion. Right now it's just business as usual, threats, arrogance and political grand standing. UK will be fine.
Not really... I am not sure whether an actual "Brexit" will happen, given the recent breakdown in talks with our European counterparts. Politically, they may say that we've left Europe, but in reality, the ties are rather deep and difficult to sever (some might even compare it to chopping your own leg off!). I am looking forward to the dip in housing prices as the government flip flops on policy and interest rates begin to rise - that alone is a fairly good reason to stay in the UK! Also, from a business perspective, it's an easy place to get things going. I have a bit of experience with setting up entities in other countries, and the UK process is comparatively straightforward.
I'm a Portuguese expat living and working in the UK and at the moment I'm not thinking of leaving but... It will depend on what happens in the next year or so.
(EU citizen living in UK) Yes. Brexit tipped it over the edge. Because of brexit GBP went down which become big lost for me when investing outside of GBP. Even more interesting, current startup that I am working for, decided that it's a good idea to move dev team to EU so essentially I will be working for the same company but from outside of UK.
People will follow the money. Corporation tax is likely to go down further.<p>Its currently 19%, lowest in the G7, and will fall to 17%<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/corporation-tax-to-17-in-2020/corporation-tax-to-17-in-2020" rel="nofollow">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/corporation-tax-t...</a>
(EU national living in UK)<p>Yes, I want to leave. I believe in the idea of Europe and want to help it succeed.<p>I work in London. It used to be a great place to be if you enjoy living in an open multicultural environment with fresh ideas. Now it's turning into an old boring and way overpriced place.
My startup is basically a virtual company - meaning we're all remote - but officially based in London. I could be forced to change that after Brexit, depending on the terms.
I know one person who moved back (to Poland) but even he said that Brexit was only part of the reason.<p>The only people I know who have moved to Europe aren't in tech.
I'm going to get an Irish passport with a view to it possibly being relevant for future academic funding or work.<p>(My grandmother was born in Ireland)
UK Citizens won't be egar to move due to language barrier. UK Startups look at their market as English speaking countries. UK, USA, etc..<p>So we are not going to move to a none English speaking country for what? easier access to trade?... Just set up a EU based subsidiary company at a later date after launch and translation.<p>I dont think it's viable. Of course panicked EU citizens will return to homeland due to lack of certainty. Which is odd, that they think UK are not going to be as welcoming after brexit.
Not exactly a startup, but I had well oiled Ltd running for 10 years in London.
I shut it down and I am running my business via another European country. Clients are a mix of US, UK and EU projects.