In this photo taken on Friday, June 24, 2016, Gabriel Ionut, a 24-year-old Romanian who works as a traffic marshal, stands by a signal at a construction site in London. Ionut is in the minority of the hundreds of thousands of foreign European workers who welcomed the British decision to leave the European Union as the majority of them are struggling with uncertainty about their future in Britain. (AP Photo, Pawel Kuczynski)
LONDON 鈥� A tsunami of uncertainty has engulfed Anna Woydyla, a Polish restaurant worker in London, since Britain voted to leave the European Union.
Would her two teenage children, who grew up in the United Kingdom, still qualify for loans to study at British universities? Would she and her husband, after 11 years of working here, have to sell the home they just bought? Leave their jobs? Leave their new country? Try to apply for citizenship?
The 41-year-old is among hundreds of thousands of European Union workers in Britain who are fearful and confused over what happens next as their adoptive country begins the long process of unwinding its many ties to continental Europe.
鈥淚f it were just me, I could even return to Poland,鈥� a visibly tense Woydyla said as she stocked a bar in an Italian restaurant in London鈥檚 Camden district. 鈥淏ut my kids are more English than Polish. They don鈥檛 even want to go to Poland for their holidays anymore. They even speak to each other in English.鈥�
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An entire class of cosmopolitan entrepreneurs, workers, students and strivers who have made the U.K. their home since Britain opened its borders to its EU neighbors now see their futures in limbo. The immigrants changed the face of Britain, turning London鈥檚 Kensington neighborhood into a suburb of Paris, changing sleepy English towns like Boston into Baltic enclaves, filling supermarket shelves across the nation with Polish lager and Wiejska sausage.
鈥淚 personally cannot tell what鈥檚 going to change for me,鈥� said Andrea Cordaro, a 21-year-old Italian student who compared the shock of hearing the referendum鈥檚 result to the punch-in-the-gut feeling of flunking an exam. 鈥淚鈥檒l just have to keep my head up and hope for the best.鈥�
Laurence Borel, a 36-year-old digital marketing consultant from France, isn鈥檛 waiting to find out what鈥檚 coming next. She asked for her British passport in May after more than 15 years living in the country.
鈥淚鈥檒l bet a lot of people are applying,鈥� she said, explaining that she鈥檇 been mulling the idea of a passport for years but the referendum prompted her to act.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to go back to France,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y life is here.鈥�
At workplaces and schools across the country, managers have sent out emails to worried foreign staffers and students, assuring them that 鈥� for now 鈥� nothing has changed.
鈥淭he formal process for leaving the European Union will take at least two years,鈥� Oxford University said in one such statement. 鈥淥ur staff and students can be assured that in the short term, we anticipate no disruption to employment or study.鈥�
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Over the long term though, the lives of the estimated 3 million EU citizens living in Britain may change in ways big and small. A survey commissioned by the Financial Times found that if Britain鈥檚 current immigration rules were applied to EU nationals, the overwhelming majority would lose their jobs and be forced to leave the country 鈥� catastrophic news for Spanish barristas, Romanian strawberry pickers, German investment bankers and the industries that rely on them.
The biggest impact may be on the Poles, the largest group of foreign EU workers in the U.K. An estimated 850,000 people from Poland are now in the U.K., seeking wages and opportunities far beyond what they could ever expect in their ex-communist homeland, a flow so dramatic that Polish is now England鈥檚 second-most-spoken language.
The fate of the Poles in Britain is such an important domestic issue in Poland that President Andrzej Duda vowed after the British referendum that Polish leaders will 鈥渄o everything to keep the rights unchanged鈥� in upcoming negotiations with British leaders.
鈥淚 trust that the British government will appreciate the contribution the Poles are bringing into the development of the British Islands, into their social and cultural life,鈥� Duda said.
Under British law, EU immigrants who have resided in the U.K. for more than five years can apply for permanent residency. In practice, however, few EU citizens have bothered as their passports already allow them to travel freely and easily access education, health care, pensions and other services in Britain.
The Polish Institute of International Affairs, a Warsaw-based think tank, has estimated that still leaves up to 400,000 Poles who arrived in Britain after 2012. Though the path forward is still unclear, it鈥檚 possible that they 鈥� along with hundreds of thousands more from elsewhere in Europe 鈥� may have to apply for work visas and, if rejected, have to leave the country.
Aware of the EU workers鈥� anxiety, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who had backed the failed 鈥渞emain鈥� side, issued a special message Friday to the nearly one million European citizens living in London alone.
鈥淎s a city, we are grateful for the enormous contribution you make, and that will not change as a result of this referendum,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou are very welcome here.鈥�
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To be sure, not all European workers in Britain are panicking or fearful.
鈥淚 feel good. Leaving the EU is a good idea,鈥� said Gabriel Ionut, a 24-year-old from Bucharest, Romania, who works as a traffic marshal at a construction site in London. He has worked in the U.K. for four years and, with a residency permit, is confident about his chances of staying.
He says he fully understands native British concerns that their island has been forced to absorb too many immigrants in recent years, with too little control over who can come in due to the EU rules ensuring the free movement of people and labor.
鈥淣ow they will have more control over allowing in only the really good people,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd they will also be able stop more refugees from the Middle East. I am afraid there could be terrorists with them.鈥�
Another Romanian construction worker said he was mostly confused. Iosif Achim, a 32-year-old from Satu Mare, Romania, has been in Britain for six years but never bothered to apply for a residency permit.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going to happen now,鈥� said Achim. 鈥淏ut in my opinion this is going to be bad.鈥�
The concern was mirrored across the Channel by the estimated 1.2 million U.K. citizens living in Europe.
The referendum 鈥渟houldn鈥檛 affect me too much. But it could,鈥� said Herman Martin, a British composer who has lived in Brussels for the past 24 years. Overall, he said, the British vote to leave the EU would be a disaster for both parties.
鈥淚 find it quite disturbing,鈥� he said.
Everyone with foreign ties appears shaken.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all in shock and deeply saddened,鈥� said Christine Ullmann, a German who works in digital marketing in London, including on the 鈥淗ug a Brit鈥� campaign that pleaded with the British to remain in the EU. Ullmann said she cried on the train Friday morning.
Borel, the French consultant, agreed that emotions were still raw.
鈥淚 love London. I love the English. I鈥檓 heartbroken,鈥� she said.
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