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Rebordering Britain & Britons after Brexit

Mapping social science research on Brexit and migration

This fully searchable database lists peer-reviewed journal articles on Brexit and migration published in social science journals since May 2015. It will be updated periodically. For our initial review of this body of work see our 2022 article published in Migration Studies From state of the art to new directions in research what Brexit means for migration and migrants.

578 articles

What about Europe? European identity and spatial imaginaries of Europe among Polish migrants during post-Brexit negotiations in Scotland
This article takes the concept of spatial imaginaries to explore how the post-Brexit negotiations shifted meanings of 'Europe' for Polish migrants residing in Scotland. A flourishing subfield of 'Brexit geographies' has explored the meaning and consequences of Brexit (as an event…
Linking embeddedness to physical career mobility: How Brexit affected the preference of business, economics and management academics for leaving the UK
In this study, we use embeddedness and boundaryless career perspectives to investigate the extent to which Britain's withdrawal from the European Union ('Brexit') led business, economics and management academics to consider emigrating.
The UK National Health Service's migration infrastructure in times of Brexit and COVID-19: Disjunctures, continuities and innovations
The COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit were separate yet inter-related developments which affected the British National Health Service (NHS).
Migrant dentists, health system responses and future challenges: a case study of the United Kingdom and Australia
Dentists, managing highly prevalent oral disease are in demand across the world and hence potentially highly mobile. Both the United Kingdom and Australia, continue to be favourable destinations for migrant dentists.
Brexit with a little 'b': navigating belonging, ordinary Brexits, and emotional relations
This article analyses senses of belonging and belonging disrupted via the lens of Brexit with a little 'b': namely at the level of ordinary experiences in the flow of daily lives. Our interlocutors recount these as deeply emotionally charged experiences.
Expecting Brexit and UK migration: Should I go?
This paper examines the impact of the 2016 UK referendum and expecting Brexit on migration flows and net migration in the UK. We employ a Difference-in-Differences strategy and compare EU migration to non-EU migration before and immediately after the UK referendum of June 2016.
'I haven't met one': disabled EU migrants in the UK. Intersections between migration and disability post-Brexit
Historically, disability studies have ignored the experiences of people who migrate, while migration studies frequently excluded disabled people. This is a surprising omission from both fields of study given that many disabled people are migrants, and many migrants are disabled people.
Exploring Imagined Temporalities in Resettlement Workers' Narratives: Renegotiating Temporal and Emotional Boundaries in Post-Brexit Britain
This paper develops the concept of 'imagined temporalities' to explore multiple temporal subjectivities, time cultures, 'myths', and realities evident in interviews with resettlement workers who were part of the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) in Merseyside, United Kingdom (UK).
International student mobility options following Brexit: An analysis of the genesis of Britain's Turing Scheme
This paper examines the interplay between geopolitical goals, governance and International Student Mobility (henceforth ISM). It explores how the United Kingdom's newly envisaged domestic credit-mobility programme (the Turing Scheme)…
Older British migrants in Spain: Return patterns and intentions post-Brexit
After the Brexit referendum results, there may have been fears that a significant part of the British population in Spain, one of the largest outside the Commonwealth, would return to the United Kingdom. This paper uses different sources to assess whether, on the one hand…
Infrastructuring exit migration: Social hope and migration decision-making in EU families who left the UK after the 2016 EU referendum
Since the 2016 EU referendum, estimates on net-migration by the UK’s Office for National Statistics have shown two parallel trends: declining new arrivals from the EU (EU immigration) and increasing departure of EU nationals formerly living in the UK (EU emigration). To date…
Return migration and embedding: through the lens of Brexit as an unsettling event
This introductory paper, reflecting the Thematic Cluster of four papers, brings together two themes that are important for migration studies: return migration and embedding. Beyond any simplistic assumptions of settlement and permanent integration back into the origin country, following return…
Higher education and research: multiple negative effects and new no opportunities after Brexit
Brexit has weakened collaboration between UK higher education institutions and their EU counterparts, with negative implications for UK resources and capacity, without leading to new global strategies and opportunities.
The vulnerability of Central & Eastern European and Zimbabwean migrant home care workers’ wellbeing in the UK: the intersectional effects of migration and social care systems
The UK welfare system and growth in social care escalate the demand for migrant care workers (MCWs) as a system-level intervention. However, the UK migration regime creates structural barriers and facilitators for different groups of MCWs. The nature of the UK migration and social care policies…
British and Polish Temporary Protection Schemes: Addressing Displaced Persons from Ukraine
The UK has responded strongly to the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Since February 2022 British actions have been noticeable compared to those taken by other NATO allies. In the face of a mass influx of refugees…
Recent developments in immigration patterns: a case study in Málaga province (Spain)
Foreign populations play an important role in the Axarquia comarca in the province of Malaga, Spain, where in some municipalities they account for over 40% of residents. Many of these populations are very small and have come to depend on immigration to maintain population levels. In this context…
Brexit and the War for Talents: Push & pull evidence about competitiveness
Brexit raised the question of whether the UK will continue to attract internationals. Here the focus is on academic staff - a critical component of the War for Talents discourse and current geopolitics in the field. Despite a clear trend of loss of EU internationals…
Governance responses to international agreements: The impact of the Kolpak ruling on cricket 1998-2021
This article investigates the impacts of global legal rulings and political agreements on domestic sport, and charts the responses of national governing bodies to these changes. The article studies rulings and agreements that impacted on employment practices within professional sport.
Modeling the effects of Brexit on the British economy
We estimate the short run effects of Brexit border disruption on the UK economy. We estimate a structural VAR for the UK, where Brexit effects are identified by the dates of Brexit events, the referendum, and the exit from the single market. We find evidence of short run effects of Brexit:
Class, Migration And Bordering at Work: The Case of Precarious Harvest Labour In The Uk
This paper draws on symbolic bordering perspectives as a conceptual frame to highlight practices that shape the reproduction, justification, masking and distancing of precarious work. Via a case-study of the UK harvest labour market in 2020–2021, at a time of Brexit and COVID-19, we use media…
Freedom of Movement and the Normative Value of the Right to Work in the United Kingdom Post-Brexit
A new legal order has arisen in the United Kingdom ('UK') following that country's withdrawal from the European Union ('EU'). Nowhere are these changes more evident than in the complex rules that have emerged in the fields of freedom of movement and the right to work.
The Securitization of Asylum: A Review of UK Asylum Laws Post-Brexit
Understanding the role of external actors is essential to understanding the United Kingdom’s (UK) securitization agenda in the field of asylum. Whilst the internal dynamics of securitization in migration and asylum and its links to the Brexit referendum have been extensively analysed…
Lockdown Life in the Diaspora: A Case Study of the Romanian Community in the UK
This research aims to shed light on the Romanian diaspora's experience of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK, a global pandemic experienced by all, yet not under the same restrictions or with the same challenges. It looks at how the Romanians rate their experience of the pandemic in the UK…
The impact of the post-Brexit migration system on the UK labour market
The end of free movement and the introduction of the post-Brexit migration system represent a major structural change to the UK labour market. We provide a descriptive assessment of the impact on a sectoral basis. We examine how overall labour force growth has differed between sectors…
The new grounds for deportation of European Union citizens in the United Kingdom
Politicians often mention immigration enforcement, and deportation in particular, as a means to assert state sovereignty. This article looks at deportation through exiting the European Union, an event that was interpreted as regaining sovereignty from the supra-national organisation.
Trick or treat? The Brexit effect on immigrants’ mental health in the United Kingdom
This paper investigates changes in the mental health of immigrants living in the United Kingdom (UK) during the European Union (EU) referendum. Using the UK Household Longitudinal Study, this paper assesses how the mental health of immigrants has changed before and after the referendum…
Racialisation of Polish migrants in the UK and in Spain (Catalonia)
The European Union expansion in 2004 resulted in a large-scale migration from less ethnically diverse Poland to multicultural societies. Many Polish migrants have become conscious of being white due to contact with people of colour, and at times…
The labor market impacts of Brexit: Migration and the European union
Given the uncertainty over the post-Brexit immigration system between the UK and EU, how are new migration regulations affecting labor markets?
Suddenly I felt like a Migrant: Identity and Mobility Threats Facing European Self-Initiated Expatriates in the United Kingdom under Brexit
In recent years, several countries have undertaken political initiatives aimed at reducing immigration. At present, we lack a clear understanding of how self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) living in these countries interpret and respond to such initiatives.
Superdiversity's backstory
In Superdiversity: Migration and social complexity, Vertovec returns to the concept of superdiversity and reviews its uses in different disciplinary fields. Importantly…
(Br)exit citizenship: belonging, rights and participation
This paper offers an in-depth analysis of perceptions of (Br)exit citizenship, integrating key themes of European Union (EU) mobile and political citizenship, along belonging, rights and participation. It draws on a series of original…
Marginalized (non)citizens: migrant youth political engagement, volunteering and performative citizenship in the context of Brexit
Migrants' opportunities for civic and political participation are often restricted by their legal rights. This paper reports on a study which included a survey with 1,120 young people aged 12-18 originally from Central and Eastern Europe, living in the UK…
The vulnerability of in-between statuses: ID and migration controls in the cases of the 'Windrush generation' scandal and Brexit
In this article, I argue that identity documents (ID) and migration statuses are both tools of population control and subjectivities that individuals have an interest in holding. I use documentary analyses and interviews with 31 EU27 citizens in the UK…
Who blames Brexit for their decision to leave the UK? The departure of skilled Germans from Britain after the referendum
Brexit created uncertainty for migrants living in the UK and a potential reason to leave the country. Some of the consequences of the Brexit referendum, such as the loss of skilled workers, may have been unintended.
“The Points System is Dead. Long Live the Points System!” Why Immigration Policymakers in the UK Are Never Quite Happy with Their Points Systems#
The UK’s ‘Australian-style’ points-based system (PBS), introduced in 2021, has been promoted by politicians as a strategy to ‘take back control’ of migration after leaving the European Union. However…
The politics of EU diaspora in the UK post-Brexit: civic organisations' multi-scalar lobbying and mobilisation strategies
Focusing on the3million-a major organisation that was formed after the 2016 Brexit Referendum to represent EU citizens in the UK, this article explores the role of online communication in supporting civic actors' lobbying and mobilisation strategies at local, national and international levels.