This paper explores debates concerning the migration-citizenship nexus by analysing the complex relations between Polish migrants’ attributes of citizenship (status, political participation and sense of belonging) in response to the UK’s EU Referendum held on 23 June 2016. It draws on the previous research exploring Polish migrants’ experiences of citizenship rights during the Scottish independence referendum in September 2014 (Pietka-Nykaza and McGhee, 2015) and the UK General Election in 2015 (McGhee and Pietka-Nykaza, 2016) and includes 12 interviews with Polish migrant residents in Scotland prior and just after to the UK’s EU Referendum in June 2016. Through exploring our participants’ initial responses to, at that time, a potential Brexit, this article discusses the relationships between the different aspects of citizenship: including (1) their legal statuses (e.g., as EU citizenship, permanent residents, British and/or Polish citizenship); (2) their opportunities for political participation; and, (3) their sense of belonging. By so doing this paper outlines and explores the emergence of divergences as well as the inter-relationships between these aspects of citizenship and concludes with the discussion on the meaning of the concept of ‘citizenship’ in the context of political change and social uncertainty.
