It’s now been one year since the UK electorate voted in favor of "Brexit”. Overnight, more than three million EU citizens living in the UK realized they were unwanted migrants, with a big question mark hanging over their future residence and work permits; people who had previously assumed they could stay in Britain for as long as they wanted.
Since then, they have lived with a growing sense of uncertainty. Brigitte Vollmer, a German doctor working at a clinic in Southampton, is considering looking for a job outside of the UK. She came as a European, not as a migrant whose presence is merely tolerated. Some British hospitals are concerned they won’t be able to keep operating if all the EU migrants leave. German scientists are now also turning down professorships at prestigious British universities - unthinkable just a year ago. The future of science and research in Britain is now considered too uncertain, given that a good portion of funding for research will be lost when the UK leaves the European Union. The sense of unease and uncertainty is great among EU citizens.
