Brexit Testimonies

"Since the referendum, although I’ve done NOTHING WRONG, hope after hope has been dashed that I could continue my life as before ... As a woman, my right to live in my own home now seems dependent on my marriage to an EU national."

When Brexit hit, my family’s first response was ‘Will you move back?’ My immediate response was ‘No!’, but it made for some hard reflection as to why I left the UK in the first place. Brexit opened my eyes. I thought I had left for adventure, but with hindsight, it was because I wasn’t being treated equally at work. Badly paid and with poor prospects, I couldn’t see a way to fight the UK obsession with money and class status. I hated that independence, self-sufficiency, wasn’t then an option for women like me.

I’ve lived here for 30 years and my life has changed – a lot! All my adult life experiences took place here, getting a great job, a degree, my marriage, the birth of my three dual national children. While I’d worried a lot about the increasing hostility to the EU in the UK and even to me personally, I hoped that I was wrong about how things would go, that good sense would win. I’m originally from the north, and the writing on that wall was pretty clear to see. I wasn’t surprised when they refused us the right to vote on something so vital to our lives. Sadly, my premonitions were right. When the result came, I felt sick. I still feel sick.

Since the referendum, although I’ve done NOTHING WRONG, hope after hope has been dashed that I could continue my life as before. We’ve ended up with little left of our rights. As a woman, my right to live in my own home now seems dependent on my marriage to an EU national. I love my husband, but this unromantically removes my choice in the matter. My right to keep my job has been questioned, I’m expecting my salary to be slashed, and my right to move within the EU on retirement removed, killing my, admittedly pipe dreams of moving somewhere warmer. As a feminist, my only route to maintaining my independence seems now to try the enormously expensive and horribly difficult route of applying for nationality. Although I truly love my host country, who has thousands of euros to spare? Who keeps proof of every activity for 30 years? And will they even accept me?