Envisaging post-Brexit immobility: Polish migrants’ care intentions concerning their elderly parents

Abstract

The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union will end the European Freedom of Movement and the privileged migration status of EU Citizens in the UK, which will likely affect ‘Brexit families’ and their transnational care arrangements. This is a case study of the biggest migrant group in the UK, namely Poles. Before the Brexit referendum, the first wave of the in-depth interviews identified several types of migrants’ intentions concerning elderly care for their parents who remained in Poland. The research approached intentions as discursive strategies: declarations of care commitment and statements provided to explain the absence of care intentions. The second wave was conducted after the UK had decided to exit the EU and new policies concerning EU citizens were being developed. Brexit’s influence on elderly care intentions is twofold. First, it brings higher uncertainty about future migration regulations and disorientates migrants about the possibilities regarding reunification with their parents in the UK. Second, Brexit appears in the interviews as a discursive construction to alleviate a migrant’s involvement in direct care provision, where they still deem it normatively appropriate to enact this cultural norm, but do not intend to in fact do so.

The Post-Brexit Legal Framework for International Migration in the UK: Differentiated Deportability of Poor Europeans?

“…Pre-settled status will expire after two years away from the UK and settled status after five years and holders of an expired status will need to apply under a different visa category to be able to legally return to UK. Given that EU citizens' mobility often has the form of 'liquid migration' (Engbersen & Snel, 2011), as they enjoy the FOM in their family and professional life, some may be not even aware of the immobilisation their new status entails (Radziwinowiczówna et al, 2020).…”

“…It is to be expected that migration of EU citizens to the UK will continue despite restrictive immigration system. EU migration may continue because of transnational networks (including networks of care (Radziwinowiczówna et al, 2018(Radziwinowiczówna et al, , 2020) and migration culture (Grabowska et al, 2017) developed in countries which have seen intensive post-accession migration to UK. Under strict, expensive, changing and difficult to navigate immigration system, some new entrants may opt to remain in the UK as irregular migrants (Myslinska, 2020).…”

The new grounds for deportation of European Union citizens in the United Kingdom

“…Pre‐settled status will expire after 2 years away from the United Kingdom and settled status after 5 years and holders of an expired status will probably need to apply under a different visa category to be able to legally return to UK. Given that EU citizens' mobility often has the form of ‘liquid migration’ (Engbersen & Snel, 2011), as they enjoy the FOM in their family and professional life, some may not be aware of the relative immobilisation their new status entails (Radziwinowiczówna et al, 2020).…”

“…Given that EU citizens' mobility often has the form of 'liquid migration' (Engbersen & Snel, 2011), as they enjoy the FOM in their family and professional life, some may not be aware of the relative immobilisation their new status entails (Radziwinowiczówna et al, 2020).…”

Who blames Brexit for their decision to leave the UK? The departure of skilled Germans from Britain after the referendum

“…Official statistics show a roughly 40 per cent decrease in net migration of EU nationals between 2016 and 2017 to the UK in the wake of the Brexit referendum Swinford 2017;Travis 2017). Most studies covering the Brexit-migration nexus that use individual data are based on qualitative interviews with migrants living in the UK (Brahic and Lallement 2020;Duda-Mikulin 2020;Guma and Jones 2018;Lulle et al 2019Lulle et al , 2018Mazzilli and King 2019;Mohr 2020;Radziwinowiczówna, Kloc-Nowak, and Rosińska 2020;Ranta and Nancheva 2018). 2 These investigations provide detailed descriptions of the situation and reactions of migrants during and after the Brexit referendum.…”