Bookworm,
As ever your posts are informative and relevant. However I only speak for myself when saying I will consider myself 100% VFR when shooting practice approaches, and that doesn't depend on the country I fly in.
The controller is free to consider me IFR or VFR when providing services, but he cannot tell me what rules I should fly under. If I was shooting an approach with weather below VFR minimums it would not be a practice, it would be for real, I would consider myself IFR, and I would expect the missed approach procedure to be clear if I went missed for whatever reason.
So my agreement to differ with chilli is based upon what I consider myself to be doing, not what he considers himself to be doing.
Placing yourself under the control of an Approach Control Unit by requesting practice approaches is taken as an implicit request for participation in (at least) procedural separation from other flights
I don't like implicit requests, but even so, the same applies in US airspace. Even when I am VFR, they will separate you as if you are IFR, with the get out clause that if you hit something it's the pilot's fault.
If a spitoon has problems, not surprising I do too!