Paper short abstract:

The paper investigates the attitudes of Poles in the UK towards the EU Settlement Status, which range from compliance to resistance. We argue that the discourse of deservingness and normalization of future illegality point to how precarious 'EU citizens' get re-classified and adopt new identities.

Paper long abstract:

With Brexit, the United Kingdom will abandon the principle of the EU freedom of movement and newly established migration policies will expand the grounds for deportation. The EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) requires the EU citizens to apply for a new migration status. The Polish citizens (the biggest group of foreigners in the UK) have been the most numerous to apply in the EUSS but also, proportionally, the most reluctant group to do so. The topic of this paper is the attitude of Poles towards Brexit-related bordering. The paper draws upon 30 qualitative in-depth interviews conducted within the Horizon 2020 research project "Brexit and Deportations" (BRAD) in West Midlands, the region with the highest pro-Leave vote in the 2016 Referendum. The attitudes range from compliance to resistance. Some of those who comply declare they felt relief upon Home Office acknowledging their rights, something they missed under the EU Freedom of Movement. The interviewees who resign from applying often want to conceal their criminal record, as it could render them deportable. Both groups come up with a new narrative that rationalizes their presence in the UK as a valuable labour force which produces boundaries between a fiscal contributor and a burden. On the other hand, resistance towards the new borders of Britain come together with normalization of future illegality, that makes a reference to the undocumented status of Polish migrants before the 2004 EU Enlargement. The paper concludes that the symbolic violence easily re-classifies precarious 'EU citizens' as 'migrant workers' or 'illegals'.