Transitioning from European citizenship towards immigration identities after Brexit (the case of Greek diaspora in the UK)

One of Brexit’s aftermaths, has affected those UK residents who had been identified as ‘EU citizens’ prior Brexit, and re-identified as ‘immigrants’ after Brexit. Based on the case of 30 in-depth interviews with Greeks (European citizens), residing in UK between 5 and 20 years, this study explores identity transition as participants negotiate their citizenship and immigration identities. The main findings of this phenomenological study depict four aspects of identity negotiations (primarily involving ethnic, citizenship and immigration identities): a) erroneous resemblance between civic and cultural European identity, b) tendencies of prejudice towards non-European identities, c) coherent albeit unproblematic lack of belonging towards the host culture and d) underlying conflicting identity perceptions and experiences signalling ongoing identity(ies) in transition.