Moving to France post-Brexit: researcher wants to hear experiences

Sociologist Michaela Benson from Lancaster University, who studies issues of migration, citizenship and identity, is preparing a new study about Britons who have moved to the EU after Brexit and is looking for volunteers to take part.

“I want to know about their experiences, why they moved, and how they now view Britain and where they live,” she said.

“I am just wrapping up a study on people who have moved from the EU to the UK post-Brexit, so we want to match that.

“I will be trying to tease out what changes Brexit has brought and how that is reflected in people’s relationship towards the UK and France.

Brexit makes it harder for people to move, so I think we’ll be seeing a slightly different, more limited, population moving over compared to before, such as those who are moving for jobs they already have, or for family reasons.

I think those moving are also more likely to be financially stable and there would be less opportunistic movement than we might have seen before, where people would come and stay in France and look for work.

Perhaps retirees also may be more financially stable and not dependent on the state pension.”

Professor Benson said her research on the opposite direction found that EU migration had “dropped off a cliff ” post-Brexit, with only around 3.5% of arrivals to the UK in the following year coming from the EU.

“This may be partly because anyone planning to move had tried to get in before Brexit.

We will still have to see if that bounces back.”

You can sign up for the study on here.

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