During the Brexit negotiations, estimates on net-migration by the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) showed two parallel trends: declining new arrivals from the EU (EU immigration) and increasing departures of EU nationals who were living in the UK (EU emigration). To date, however, little is known of the latter, and the circumstances and factors that inform and shape their decisions to leave the UK. Drawing on the Eurochildren project dataset (www.eurochildren.info), this paper offers insights into motivations and experiences of those EU nationals who have left the UK since the EU referendum in June 2016.

Some interviewees returned to their country of birth, others to their hometown. For some, leaving Britain meant to settle down in a new country altogether. In their variety, these ‘leaving trajectories’ reveal a range of challenges EU nationals who leave the UK have to overcome, including for those who go ‘back home’.

Professor Nando Sigona is the Director of the Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) at the University of Birmingham, and a Research Associate at the University of Oxford’s Refugee Studies Centre. He is one of the founding editors of the journal Migration Studies, and the editor of the book series Global Migration and Social Change by Bristol University Press.

The event is organised by the Ethnicity, Race and Diverse Societies Research Network at the University of Sussex.

The event will be held online on Zoom. Joining instructions will be circulated to registered participants on the day of the event.

Webinar with Professor Nando Sigona (Birmingham)