Brexit Brits in Lower Austria

At the beginning of 2021, 11.529 United Kingdom (UK) citizens were registered as living in Austria, 1.295 of those in the federal state of Lower Austria. This date also marks the end of the Brexit transition period as per the UK- European Union (EU) Withdrawal Agreement (WA) and as such the date on which the status of those UK citizens changed from (EU) citizen to that of a third-country national. This change in political and legal circumstances has necessitated a recalibration of the relationships UK citizens living in the EU have, both with the UK and their host countries. In this project, we address the question of how this transition in citizenship rights has affected UK migrants’ sense of belonging and integration in Lower Austria. Conducted by a member of the UK migrant community in Lower Austria, this project is highly participatory in nature and centres reflexive practice throughout. The empirical core of the project will be a series of 30 active interviews conducted with UK citizens living in Lower Austria, complemented by document analysis and semi-structured interviews with civil servants responsible for administering new residency permits for UK citizens. As well as being relevant for scientific discussions around belonging and integration, this project has direct policy relevance, which is reflected in the prominence given to the Policy Dialogue event to be held at the end of the project. The Policy Dialogue will bring together UK citizens, policymakers, and civil servants in Lower Austria, with the aim of establishing a dialogue between these communities. The project findings and personal exchange of views will be useful for Lower Austria officials, not only in interacting with this specific group of migrants, but can inform strategic thinking on integration in years to come.