To ask what you think of Eastern Europeans living in the UK?

[Bananasinpjs7]

I have lived in the UK for almost 10 years which is pretty much a 1/3 of my life. I never thought I’d stay this long but met my partner here and decided to build a career in an industry that we don’t really have in my home country... yet.
I’m trying my best... language wise I think I’m pretty fluent. English is the language I speak 95% of the time.
I try to fit in as much as possible, learn as much as I can about the UK to understand it’s history and culture...
But I feel extremely left out ... I feel people look at me and think ‘she is from eastern eu’ as if it has some sort of stigma. It feels like if you are from somewhere glamorous like France or Scandinavian countries you are much more accepted... I’m so tired of constantly feeling like this

Actually about 51% of the population are net contributors and 49% are net takers. You realise you have to be earning c30k per annum to be a net contributor?

I didn't know that! I'd love to see some links to more info. When I say "few" I more meant the caricature of "benefit scroungers".

Doesn't change my position, but I do believe that the better off in society should support the less well off.

Also doesn't change my view on immigration. Happy to have people be here, create a diverse society and would be interested to know how many of them fit into the 49% vs UK born people.

I know plenty of immigrants who live in council housing. I suggest if you think otherwise, you live a very sheltered life.
It's probably harder now but 10-15 years ago, it was much easier to get council housing.

And there is your problem. The government have sold off council housing and not built more. Not really to do with who is living in it.

I love the Eastern Europeans that I know. My grandfather is Polish and I love hearing the language and also the accent he speaks English with. He was always a very hard worker and is extremely family orientated.

12 years later and she has never worked more than 20 hours a week in a minimum wage job. She also now has a council house. I actually don’t blame her for coming here to try and build a better life for her child but no one can claim that she isn’t a cost to the country.

Also, is the reason she hasn't worked in a more than min wage job (and therefore been a more productive member of society?) because she hasn't had access to education, or training? Or struggled with childcare as a single parent?

Shouldn't we be trying to make these things better to enable people to get better jobs and contribute more?

having lived with Romanians, they are as far aligned to Romanians as Irish travellers are to the Irish. I often get asked whether I'm a traveller lol.

While Irish travellers come from an Irish ancestry, Roma come from an Indian.

It's probably harder now but 10-15 years ago, it was much easier to get council housing.

I came here 11 years ago , and as I said I struggled to even get the basic things to function like a bank account and NI number.

I think some of those who are in denial about Eastern Europeans claiming benefits in this country should have a closer look at the areas that voted for Brexit and then voted Tory (get Brexit done) for the first time in decades, in December.

Mass low / unskilled migration from Eastern Europe has not been good for the British lower working class. It has increased competition for jobs, pushing salaries and Ts and Cs down and increased competition for services such as healthcare and housing.

How would you feel if you had been on the waiting list for social housing for years and kept seeing new arrivals being given housing before you because they are in more need?

The people in the areas that voted Brexit didn’t vote Brexit because of an influx of Eastern European Doctors.

Ok, maybe it was true in 2008. Anyway, how many British women, with small children, are working more than 20hrs a week? I would say not many. That's the system. Btw. In Poland every mother has maternity paid for a year so I wouldn't say that the UK benefit system is more generous.

@TazSyd you really want to signal something. You can say that openly really.

And there is your problem. The government have sold off council housing and not built more. Not really to do with who is living in it.

No but if immigration is managed rather than an open door policy which freedom of movement is then you have more control over numbers entering and can plan public services accordingly. When the EE countries joined, the government massively underestimated the number of people who would come here.

@deragod

What should I be saying openly?

@Bananasinpjs7 Hi, fellow Hungarian here. [Waving]

I have lived in the North East for nearly 20 years now. People are lovely here, and I never had any issues with accent, etc. Although I probably live a sheltered life and have a Geordie son.

From my limited experience, I met a number of EE familes doing various baby classes and groups etc, there are couple of EE families in my son's school class.

On the whole I didn't/haven't made friends with them as they stick together, only speak their native language at the class, pick ups etc and don't try to talk to others.

Obviously not wanting what you want which is to make friends but does make it hard to do so if they don't speak to others.

Anyway, how many British women, with small children, are working more than 20hrs a week? every single one I know, myself included. Such derogatory comments about British people, buts that’s ok !

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

Yes but if your post doesn’t suit deragod’s position of Eastern Europeans = good and British = bad then you are a racist.

What deragod doesn’t seem to realise is that shouting racist and silencing anyone who tries to have an open discussion about the pros and cons of FOM, is a good part of what got us to Brexit.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers what?
With The UK system, limited access to pre school care etc. Most women who happend to not be middle class have to limit their working hours. Sometimes fees are more than salary.

Not RTFT but I would just say that when you are an adult it is really hard to make friends even if you are from another part of the UK. I also think it must be quite difficult raising a family here without extended family around, whether you are from the UK or not.

I am from an EE country and has lived in the UK for more than 10 years. My DH is also from EE but from a different country (we have also different mother tongues). DCs were born here. They consider English as their mother tongue and don't feel anything but British.
I could say that I felt some raised hostility after the Brexit vote. One old man who heard me talking to my children in my mother tongue shouted to a shop assistant he couldn't wait for the day when all immigrants leave. I thought it was very unpleasant but I knew he was just a fool. We were on holiday in his area.
A few days later someone in a cafe had rudely corrected my English in front of the other customers even telling me to repeat how to say it the correct way. I was so shocked that I lost my speech. At that time I wished he would never go on holiday and would always stay and Britain.
As for EEs being nice or not nice then I can say they are no different to other immigrants from the other parts of Europe at least. I can only say that some EEs (mainly the older generation) behave in a reserved manner due to growing up under the communism. The younger ones are more relaxed.
I know of EEs who socialise mainly only with their own country people. Neither me, now DH do it. We don't forget our culture but we feel like Britain is our home and can't stand when foreigners who have settled down in here, constantly moaning about Britain. I don't understand those people and it's very disrespectful. Obviously we can moan a little bit as it's natural but when you say how bad is here and how good is back home then why are you here?

What I find amusing about British is when they say they heard someone speaking with an EE accent. My accent is different from my DH's although we both speak Slavic languages. Our accents would sound completely different to people coming from Moldova (Romance language) or for example coming from the Baltic countries. Slovenians, who are next to Italy, also speak a Slavic language but they're not in the EE.

Here's my "fresh off the boat" story. Keep in mind that 1.I was young,dumb and fairly ignorant and naive to the rules and 2.I didn't actually need to work(because of OH and because I came with savings), but I wanted to.

So first we have the debacle with the bank account. Had to set up a second appointment, there was once again some ahhhing and uhhming but ok to go ahead. I've been told "You've done well for yourself " you hen I said I'm living with OH god ho owned his house, an absolutely hilarious "joke" about mail order brides and just general sneering .

Then on to my first NI appt, rejected as I do not require one. Fair enough as I wasn't working yet.

Landed a job at a pub, appt number two with a letter stating my hours ,pay etc. Rejected you do not require a NI number at this time. Pub owner lovely, but he said we can't go further without one. Fair enough.

Then we had this little catch 22 situation, the jobs that would take me without a NI paid too little for me to qualify for one and I couldn't get a "proper" job without one.

This was the situation when I was introduced to an agency that promised jobs without an NI to get started and would also put you on their books, as long as you held a job for 6 months and apply on your behalf. Great thinks little dumbass me. It was basically slave labour. 12 hour shifts, one break, £50 pounds a day if lucky, lots of unpaid trial/training days that coincided for example with big events in restaurants, keep your head down, don't make a fuss , you didn't last 6 months start all over again. Promises of better hours, contracts, a better position and ofc the NI pipe dream. I did loads of various shitty jobs all proud of myself I'm working and making it happen. What an idiot. I was treated like shit, shouted at, sworn at, called "cheap help" rtc.

I was sexually assaulted and then fired by one of my bosses when I kicked off about it. I was on month 4.

After that I was in a bad place for a while, didn't work, my self esteem was in pieces, stopped going outside unless I really had to, hated people.

Picked back up and started cleaning cash in hand. I loved it, because shitty toilets were so much better than people. A lot of my clients were baffled why I was "just a cleaner" with a Uni education, well spoken etc. I'd just smile and say it suits me better.

In 2014 I finally got my NI number, started volunteering in various places, working around my daughter to try and build myself back up and get used to being around people.

One year later, the day DD started reception full time I also started working full time and have been there ever since , with excellent performance reviews every year.

I'd like to say everything was sunshine and rainbows since then , but I still get comments,jokes ,distrust and sometimes even abuse.

I wasn't poor back home.I lived in the city. I went to uni. My mum was a midwife and my dad was in the Navy. I rented a flat with mates and had a job.

TL;DR: still waiting for the magic flat keys .