The Impact of Brexit on Young Poles and Lithuanians in the UK: Reinforced Temporariness of Migration Decisions
The main aim of this paper is to assess the extent to which the 2016 Brexit referendum impacted on the decisions of young Polish and Lithuanian migrants to stay in the UK or return to the country of origin. We analyse information from 76 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Lithuanians and Poles...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw, and Polish Academy of Sciences
2020-06-01
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| Series: | Central and Eastern European Migration Review |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ceemr.uw.edu.pl/vol-9-no-1-2020/articles/impact-brexit-young-poles-and-lithuanians-uk-reinforced-temporariness |
| _version_ | 1811255399620280320 |
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| author | Luka Klimavičiūtė Violetta Parutis Dovilė Jonavičienė Mateusz Karolak Iga Wermińska-Wiśnicka |
| author_facet | Luka Klimavičiūtė Violetta Parutis Dovilė Jonavičienė Mateusz Karolak Iga Wermińska-Wiśnicka |
| author_sort | Luka Klimavičiūtė |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The main aim of this paper is to assess the extent to which the 2016 Brexit referendum impacted on the decisions of young Polish and Lithuanian migrants to stay in the UK or return to the country of origin. We analyse information from 76 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Lithuanians and Poles living in the UK, as well as those who have returned to Lithuania and Poland since June 2016. We find that, for our interviewees, the referendum had little impact on the decision to stay in the UK or return to the country of origin, giving way, instead, to work, family and lifestyle considerations. Only for a select few did it act as a trigger, either adding to other reasons which eventually prompted the return to Lithuania or Poland, or motivating people to secure their rights in the UK and delay plans to leave the country. We conclude by discussing our results together with existing research on transnationalism and life-course migration theory: regardless of interviewees’ decisions to stay or return, these were never final, stressing the fluid nature of migration and the desire of our interviewees to maintain ties across multiple places. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T17:23:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-27fb9423b6ad4f2dae3ce92082bb0c61 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2300-1682 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T17:23:14Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw, and Polish Academy of Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Central and Eastern European Migration Review |
| spelling | doaj.art-27fb9423b6ad4f2dae3ce92082bb0c612022-12-22T03:23:24ZengCentre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw, and Polish Academy of SciencesCentral and Eastern European Migration Review2300-16822020-06-019112714210.17467/ceemr.2020.06The Impact of Brexit on Young Poles and Lithuanians in the UK: Reinforced Temporariness of Migration DecisionsLuka Klimavičiūtė0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2517-603XVioletta Parutis 1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0733-9683Dovilė Jonavičienė 2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0103-4280Mateusz Karolak 3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0740-4430Iga Wermińska-Wiśnicka 4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4818-3128PPMI, LithuaniaUniversity of Essex, UKPPMI, LithuaniaUniversity of Wroclaw, PolandSWPS University; SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Poland.The main aim of this paper is to assess the extent to which the 2016 Brexit referendum impacted on the decisions of young Polish and Lithuanian migrants to stay in the UK or return to the country of origin. We analyse information from 76 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Lithuanians and Poles living in the UK, as well as those who have returned to Lithuania and Poland since June 2016. We find that, for our interviewees, the referendum had little impact on the decision to stay in the UK or return to the country of origin, giving way, instead, to work, family and lifestyle considerations. Only for a select few did it act as a trigger, either adding to other reasons which eventually prompted the return to Lithuania or Poland, or motivating people to secure their rights in the UK and delay plans to leave the country. We conclude by discussing our results together with existing research on transnationalism and life-course migration theory: regardless of interviewees’ decisions to stay or return, these were never final, stressing the fluid nature of migration and the desire of our interviewees to maintain ties across multiple places.http://ceemr.uw.edu.pl/vol-9-no-1-2020/articles/impact-brexit-young-poles-and-lithuanians-uk-reinforced-temporarinessreturn migrationtransnationalismbrexitlithuaniapoland |
| spellingShingle | Luka Klimavičiūtė Violetta Parutis Dovilė Jonavičienė Mateusz Karolak Iga Wermińska-Wiśnicka The Impact of Brexit on Young Poles and Lithuanians in the UK: Reinforced Temporariness of Migration Decisions Central and Eastern European Migration Review return migration transnationalism brexit lithuania poland |
| title | The Impact of Brexit on Young Poles and Lithuanians in the UK: Reinforced Temporariness of Migration Decisions |
| title_full | The Impact of Brexit on Young Poles and Lithuanians in the UK: Reinforced Temporariness of Migration Decisions |
| title_fullStr | The Impact of Brexit on Young Poles and Lithuanians in the UK: Reinforced Temporariness of Migration Decisions |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Impact of Brexit on Young Poles and Lithuanians in the UK: Reinforced Temporariness of Migration Decisions |
| title_short | The Impact of Brexit on Young Poles and Lithuanians in the UK: Reinforced Temporariness of Migration Decisions |
| title_sort | impact of brexit on young poles and lithuanians in the uk reinforced temporariness of migration decisions |
| topic | return migration transnationalism brexit lithuania poland |
| url | http://ceemr.uw.edu.pl/vol-9-no-1-2020/articles/impact-brexit-young-poles-and-lithuanians-uk-reinforced-temporariness |
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