How Brexit changed migration: French citizens in London from ‘EU movers’ to ‘migrants’

For the French in London, as for other citizens of the European Union, the Brexit process resulted in the end of free movement for EU citizens relocating to the United Kingdom and affected the rights of those already living there. This article traces how Brexit shaped the spatial choices of middle-class French citizens whose status in London changed as they became international migrants with diminished rights in the United Kingdom. This case study, based on longitudinal ethnographic research between 2014 and 2022, sheds light on how relative privilege operates in migration processes and draws attention to the diversity of experience among middle-class migrants when new bordering arrangements are enacted.