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I am a migrant. I am not an expat.

I was born and brought up in the South West of the UK. I migrated to London for work. I then migrated to France for my wife’s work and now we’re migrating back to London for my work.

Migration is a natural state.

Birds migrate all the time. We celebrate the arrival of the swallow as it brings summer. Yet we demonise people who want to have a better future for themselves.

While I have lived, worked, raised a family, and paid taxes in France the rhetoric around immigration has become more hostile. The conditions for residency and citizenship are becoming harder. All because the governing party are trying to stem the rise in support for Rassemblement National (RN) a far-right party. The mayor of my town, who is affiliated with Les Republicans, has sent letters to every household denouncing the evils of immigration and the English language. We live in a town where 50% of the population were born outside of France - I would call it international, but seeing as we can’t vote in the local elections he feels emboldened to insult half of his town.

When I raise my concerns with French friends they brush my concerns off with “they don’t mean you”. They might not mean me, but it impacts me. And it doesn’t “mean” me because I’m white and working in a highly paid, highly taxed job. But I am no different from a non-white person who came to France, works multiple low-paid jobs, just to provide a better life for themself and their family. Why? Because we’re immigrants.

I love France. And I would have loved the opportunity to be French - it’s something I still aspire to be, even if circumstances don’t currently allow for it. It is, despite the rhetoric and policies from politicians, a country anyone could and should be proud to call home.

Why do I feel this way about a country whose politicians are openly hostile towards immigrants? A lot of it is to do with the fact that France is good at integration, even if you don’t want to integrate. There’s a huge emphasis on civic participation and most of the public holidays are focused on Frenchness, such as Labour Day, VE Day, Bastille Day, Armistice Day - these days are all about celebrating France, French values, and the French themselves. French flags are flown pretty much everywhere. You can’t ignore the civic pride that France has in itself and that rubs off. I certainly did not move to France thinking that I wanted to be French - there was a lot of resistance from me towards moving countries. But now? Cut me and I bleed the tricolour (red, white, and blue blood cells - geddit?).

If I compare life in the UK to life in France, life in France is better (if significantly more bureaucratic) because the food is better, childcare is cheaper and a more complete provision that accommodates for working parents, more healthcare choices, better and cheaper public transport services, etc etc. Both the UK and France are, on paper, developed countries and shouldn’t be much difference between them yet there is. But you’re not going to know that, or believe it, until you’ve experienced both systems.

So why do people want to be immigrants?

Because the destination country is better, or perceived to be better, than the country of their birth. To leave everything you know behind and start a new life takes courage - something that not many people understand.

Immigration can be a positive force, beyond the economic benefits that immigrants provide to their host countries, such as a standard to hold ourselves accountable to. Everyone has different perceptions about a country, and immigrants will typically have an overall positive perception of their host country - so let’s harness these perceptions and make life better for everyone by treating these perceptions as something to attain, even if we know the realities are in stark contrast with the dreams.

Perceptions such as “the NHS is the world’s best healthcare system”, “this is the land of the free, home of the brave”, or “liberté, égalité, fraternité”. These are ideals which many immigrants aspire to, yet we take for granted and never deliver on.

Why do people fear immigration?

Like most fears, it’s not really fear of the thing, it’s the fear of what it represents: the unknown.

Fear is a survival instinct, evolved over millennia, that protects us from harm. In the past, it helped early humans survive by avoiding unfamiliar plants, animals, or tribes. But today, fear often arises not from physical danger, but from the unfamiliar: cultural difference, economic uncertainty, or social change. When people feel like they’re losing control over their environment, their identity, or their future, fear steps in as a defense mechanism. It’s less about actual threats and more about the perception of loss, whether that’s jobs, status, or community.

Fear is also socially reinforced. We adopt the fears of those around us, especially when stories, whether from media or political rhetoric, tie unfamiliar people or ideas to danger. It’s easier to reject than to understand; curiosity takes effort, while fear shuts the door. But when fear is named and examined, we can weaken its hold on us. We may not eliminate it, but we can learn not to be controlled by it.

Immigration enriches all of us

There’s the literal enrichment that immigration brings - we all get richer through immigration. Job vacancies are filled, taxes paid, stuff bought - these all have economic multipliers. People working = (modest) riches for all.

Beyond economic benefits, there are substantial cultural enrichments that immigration brings. Immigrants bring with them their own cultural traditions and they get fused and melded with their adoptive cultural traditions and you get new cultural traditions.

Curry, fish and chips, the croissant and French pastries, America - these have all been created by immigrants. The humble curry is the UK’s favourite dish, and has been for years, and wouldn’t exist in the form it does (tailored to British tastes) if it weren’t for immigrants from Bangladesh. The symbol of France: le croissant, and other pastries (viennesories), were introduced by Austrian immigrants.

We don’t lose traditions, they evolve to meet our standards and tastes. In my own lifetime, the curry that is served in the UK has evolved - it’s become less sweet, and more complex and piquant. This is influenced by changing tastes as well as immigration from other countries, such as Pakistan, India, and Thailand.

Does immigration always bring benefits?

No.

Some people bring hatred with them and want to do harm to their adoptive country. Think of Islamist extremism, Christian nationalism, the “war on woke”: these are concepts that often get labelled as “imports” but they have been brought to us through immigration.

Hate is easy to embrace as it feeds on the fear that we have as humans. Overcoming fear is difficult because we’re going against what feels like instinct. It has what has kept us safe and allowed our species to survive. If we overcome fear we can do more than survive - we can flourish. Without the benefits of immigration, we would be poorer culturally and economically. Yes, there are negative aspects to immigration but, on balance, the benefits significantly outweigh the negatives.

To Conclude

The birds do it, fish do it, butterflies do it, humans do it. Migration is as natural as breathing, it follows patterns and cycles and is not a one way movement. The borders we draw on maps are real in law but don’t exist in nature - imagine the absurdity of checking the residency status of a salmon as it swims upstream to spawn.

Immigration is not just good policy, it is natural. It’s good economics. It’s rich culture. It’s human.