In Limbo 
I arrived in UK in September 2011 with my ex husband and six kids. My dream was to have a better life for my children…
One testimony we won’t hear is from the people who will now never come to the UK.
I have worked both in France and Spain on short term contracts. I have never had any issues in any of these countries, but perhaps that is because I am passionate about languages and culture, desperate to learn about history and the area I live in. I am a curious person and I have always left a place with more friends than I started out with.
I left my country in 2013 to start a new chapter of my life in London. I was escaping from my home country’s narrow-minded and toxic culture, which never truly allowed me to explore my own self and be fulfilled in my personal and working life. I was looking forward to working hard in order to finally pursue my dreams. I was also trying to end a toxic relationship that was holding me back in life and giving me a lot of pain. I came to study and took my Master in London, enjoyed the study very much and got a distinction, all while working as a waitress. I was looking for a better job post-graduation when 23 June happened.
I doubt Brexit will have a significant impact on my material life. But in the extreme case of a hard Brexit, where bargaining-chip tactics prevail and then go awry, I could be forced to close my consulting business here, leave my three French kids and my French girlfriend.
I reported this incident back in July 2016 about being racially victimised due to the Brexit vote. It happened in Stratford, East London.
I’ve been in the UK for the most part since 1984 which I gave as entry date because that’s when my National Insurance was issued. I’ve never been out of the country for more than two years. Like many others, I never thought it necessary to apply for anything such as ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain) and the idea of the UK leaving the EU never crossed my mind. I’d heard about the automatic right to Permanent Residency (PR) after five years and thought all you had to do was to live here.
I live in London with my foreign-born wife and dual-nationality children. You might assume that my wife’s well-being is what makes me such a staunch Remainer – or Revoker, as I’m hoping we’re going to start calling ourselves to get more people into the movement and to give it renewed focus.
“First of all, be as safe as possible – literally – in your everyday life. Make your home a peaceful and secure place in every way, beginning with it being in a neighbourhood that feels safe…” Those are recommendations for anyone who is trying to recover from psychological traumas. A peaceful place to live is an absolute must for anyone with trauma-related conditions, such as PTSD. People fleeing from warzones come to mind; but it also applies to those who may have not lived through war, but try to recover from other violent conditions they have suffered “back home”, recently or decades ago.
From my teens onwards I knew that I was going to move away from Germany by the time I was 18. Initially I had investigated Australia, but then we realised my dad’s uncle who had moved there decades ago couldn’t be traced. So I decided on Scotland, I had pen pals there and ended up staying with one of them for the first month or so till I was able to find my feet and get a flat sharing with a couple of other people.