Migration or expatriation? Acknowledging my privileges and worries.
I emigrated by choice. I made a conscious decision to leave my home country. I was not forced to go: no war, no natural disaster, no dictatorship made leaving the only chance to survive. This is also the reason why I may define myself as “expat” rather than “migrant”. Don’t get me wrong: of course I’m a migrant, but my circumstances are different. I could decide freely what to do with my life, where to go. I would also be able to go back to my country if I wanted to do so. These circumstances make me and many others privileged.
I, personally, have yet another privilege. Being an EU citizen, I can choose to live in any of the 27 member states without all the hassle of dealing with visas, permits, and so on. Obviously, you have to comply with all the necessary procedures to get “in the local system”: job hunting and taxes, housing, healthcare, etc. What I mean is that you need to get the equivalent to a National Insurance Number for tax purposes and also as a form of identification; you need to register with a doctor and all this sort of stuff. No more than that — no expensive visas, no need to be sponsored by a company nor regular checks on your situation. All I had to do when I moved to the UK was to get my NIN so that I could start looking for a job, register with a General Practitioner to have access to healthcare. I’m also on the electoral register so that I can express my vote — here, yes, I have a limit that is I can only vote for local elections. Then, I had a bit of money saved to help me flat-hunting, because this is indeed tricky here in Edinburgh.
In general terms, once finished with all these procedures, foreign EU citizens can stay in the country they chose for how long as they wish. In theory, they’re entitled to the same rights as the citizens of the host country. However, this doesn’t mean you won’t encounter discrimination since it depends on the people you deal with.
So far, I’ve lived and moved within European countries. This freedom of movement is an awareness I grew up with. My first trip abroad was when I was a teen. I went to Spain to visit my sister who was on her Erasmus: “Your national identity card will be enough, no further checks are necessary” — I remember been told. Same thing for school trips — the UK, France, and then Spain again. Also, from my region in Italy, it is very easy to cross borders: do you want to go to Austria or Slovenia? Just drive through! It is like walking from a room to another and I think this is lucky.
As a result, I have never had to deal with visas or permits of any sort. It’s been easier compared to those friends of mine who have to prove their incomes, their occupation, or residency in order to stay somewhere. A visa costs money, it often has a time limit, it needs to be the right type of permit according to the purpose and length of your stay. It is bureaucracy — a word that I inevitably associate with stress, waiting times, being sent from one office to the other, etc. But that’s probably because I grew up in Italy, where bureaucracy can be hell!
All that glitters is not gold.
The EU has a lot of issues under many aspects, yet the freedom to roam and settle somewhere else is one aspect that I cherish. Alas, the UK — where I live — voted in favour of Brexit and things will soon change even for European citizens, especially for those coming in 2021.
However, those who settle here before the end of 2020 will still be in time to keep their rights in terms of leave to remain, access to welfare, healthcare, job market. In other words, they’ll be able to maintain their status as EU citizens as it was before Brexit.
To secure their rights, EU citizens have to apply for the so-called “settled status”. The online procedure is usually simple and quick, provided you have a phone with NFC — which mine hasn’t, so I had to borrow somebody else’s mobile! You have to download the app, scan your passport, answer some questions, and take a selfie — no smiles and filters okay?! After you provide some personal details, you submit everything and wait for the result. If necessary, they may ask you for official documents as proof of address in order to check for how long you have been in the UK.
In my case, it took 10 minutes to submit the application and no further evidence had to be sent. I guess because my situation was clear and through automated checks of my taxes and employment records they could see I had been living and working here since 2019. In not even a week's time, I got my result: a “pre-settled status”, meaning that I have a 5-year leave to stay. After 5 years, I will have to apply again and, if everything goes right, I should get a permanent leave to remain.
I can’t complain: it was easy, quick, no paperwork at all. I nonetheless felt a bit sad because it was a change for me. Maybe because such change came along with all this Brexit thing. Maybe because suddenly they made you feel like a stranger, like someone that had to earn a permit to stay, and I was not used to that. More than myself, I think of other people that had lived in the UK for decades, started a family or a business here, and suddenly all their certainties were shaken.
This is another aspect that comes with migrating — or expatriating if you prefer: you are different and potentially exposed to discrimination. From apparently innocent jokes to insults and more explicit abuse. You never know what is going on in somebody else’s mind. I work in a souvenir shop — usually aimed at tourists, but nowadays mostly English visitors and locals come in due to the pandemic restrictions. So, I’m dealing with many local people on a daily basis and it sometimes happens that they find out I’m Italian. Most of the time they react positively, starting to tell me about their travels there, the sunny weather, and things like that. But it does happen that somebody becomes grumpy or mumbles something because I cannot understand what
they’re saying.
On another note, I once had an explicit experience of racism when visiting a shop. The old man working there seemed nice. We started talking about this and that…until he found out I was a foreigner. Then — like a creepy character in a creepy film — he suddenly changed his facial expression, tone of voice, and became rude. He started walking towards the door, in this way pushing me to go away, while saying something like “go back to your country!” and more — which I honestly erased from my memory! Then he hurried to close the shop.
I’ll try to tell you what my feelings are. I definitely think that Edinburgh and Scotland in general are welcoming places. I hardly ever felt unwanted. However, sometimes I do feel a particular unease — one that comes with standing out of the crowd, the awareness that at any time you can be discriminated against because of your origins. In some cases, I have felt fear: my accent is foreign, I do pronounce words in the wrong way or make mistakes, I often need people to repeat their sentences to me. You never know who is in front of you. I also think that the Brexit debate had an impact on me in this sense. It has polarised society in two groups — in favour or against — making their opinions quite extreme. As a person who wishes to blend into society as much as I can, I’ve felt for the first time like somebody pointed a finger at me and said “No, now in order to stay you have to prove you’re worthy.”
Obviously, these kinds of thoughts are not constantly in my mind. As I said I live in an overall welcoming place and I’m also aware that other minorities have a greater stigma on them, therefore being much more exposed to discrimination. But, you know, thoughts like these do arise from time to time. However, no matter the slight unease I feel on some occasions and no matter my wish to blend into society, I shall never reject my roots. I still believe that difference brings richness.
