Life after Migration: Opportunities and Challenges for Young Europeans in Brexit Britain: Longitudinal Survey and Qualitative Interview, 2022-2024

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The MigYouth project investigated the post-migration transitions and pathways to citizenship for young Europeans (aged 16-26) in Britain in the aftermath of the UK withdrawal from the European Union. The project aimed to to understand how young Europeans navigate life after migration and plan for the future in the context of post-Brexit visa systems, the covid-19 pandemic recovery and the rising cost of living. These young people have spent their formative years experiencing multiple transitions and border-crossings related to moving home, learning English, changing education systems, finding work in a precarious and austere economic climate and forming key relationships in the context of divisive political rhetoric surrounding immigration. The study engaged with over 1500 young Europeans across the UK to build an understanding of youth transitions in education and employment, and how these shape prospects for citizenship and settlement in the UK. This collection consists of three datasets: 1) a longitudinal survey documenting the experiences of European migrant youth at key transitions between education and work. Survey wave 1 was released in Spring 2023 and includes demographic data, rates of satisfaction with education, work, housing and health, perspectives on UK immigration process and systems, including EUSS, expereinces of discrimination and racism and impacts of Brexit and covid-19 pandemic. Survey wave 2 was released in Spring 2024 and includes repeat questions to track change over time, as well as new sections on political participation and mental health. There are two versions of the survey data, the one containing partial postcodes is only available with the depositor permission. 2) Qualitative interviews and focus groups with 42 young Europeans to gather perspectives on education, work and lifecourse transitions in the context of migration to the UK. Interviews were carried out, but not limited to, four case study locations across the UK: Wolverhampton and the West Midlands; Glasgow and Central Scotland; Swansea and Carmarthenshire; Belfast and Northern Ireland border counties. 3) a co-produced podcast series entitled 'Im Migrant', recorded by young Europeans in Glasgow in Summer 2024 and launched in December 2024.

This study is the first UK-wide study of young Europeans (aged 16-26) experiences of education, work and training in the context of the UK withdrawal from the EU. The number of young people from Europe growing up in UK has risen sharply over past 15 years, particularly since the accession of 10 East-Central European states to the EU. These young people have spent their formative years experiencing multiple transitions and border-crossings related to moving home, learning English, changing education systems, finding work in a precarious and austere economic climate and forming key relationships in the context of divisive political rhetoric surrounding immigration. How do this sizeable cohort of young people navigate these transitions in different parts of the UK, as they develop plans for the future and pathways to citizenship? Existing inequalities in education and employment, combined with new challenges fuelled by Brexit, are shaping the choices of EU nationals about whether to remain or leave the UK (Lulle et al., 2016; King & Williams, 2017), with a dramatic decline in the level of EU immigration since the Brexit referendum in 2016 (ONS, 2019). Given the positive fiscal impact of EU migration to the UK and the reliance on this labour supply in key sectors of the economy (Wadsworth, 2018), there is an urgent need to better understand young people's education and employment trajectories and how employers are planning for and responding to potential changes in workforce demographics after Brexit. A multi-disciplinary team of researchers combine expertise in migration and population studies, education and social policy to design and produce a series of significant research outcomes. First, the study reviews the evidence on educational and employment pathways and challenges for young Europeans through a systematic analysis of existing data sets and targeted, sustained engagement with practitioners and policy makers to identify key policy and practice challenges. Second, the study produces new longitudinal data on the changing aspirations, experiences and outcomes of young Europeans in education, training and employment to highlight how their plans evolve and what barriers they face and sometimes overcome. Third, the study uses a participatory research approach to explore young people's perceptions and experiences of settlement and citizenship in the UK, in the context of Brexit. Involving young people as co-researchers, the study will explore their aspirations for the future; sense of belonging and citizenship in the UK; perspectives on potential constitutional change in the UK and the EU; and engagements with social movements and digital activism. The research offers original data on how young Europeans living in diverse geographical locations adapt to the multiple transitions of growing up as a migrant in the context of regional political transformation. We consider how these dynamics actively shape pathways to citizenship and a sense of belonging in the UK, or particular parts of it. The study fills a gap in research by employing an intersectional approach to analysing young Europeans' experiences of Brexit alongside key youth transitions, with potential to inform UK-wide and devolved policy and practice tackling the challenge of youth marginalisation and migrant integration. In depth longitudinal data on young people's educational aspirations, work experiences and citizenship practices provides insight into how 'integrated' European migrant youth feel in different nations of the UK, connected to various representations of 'nation' that circulate in policy, political and public discourses. Importantly, the study also addresses the relative absence of migrant youth voices in public debate and provide policy makers and the public with a more rigorous understand of the everyday lives of young migrants.