From students studying in the UK to employees working there, the decision by the Britons to leave the EU will have a widespread effect on their lives. Tuition fees for university students from EU countries studying in the UK are expected to rise between 30 to 40 per cent, while their access to affordable student loans will be limited.

Greeks working in the UK will have to fulfil stricter hiring requirements, while the issuing of visas and working permits are expected to change for the worse. They will have limited access to the country’s welfare state, especially benefits, as well as less favourable working conditions compared to UK citizens. 

Greek students made up the fifth largest non-UK group studying in that country, according to official data, with over 10,000 enrolling in British universities in 2014-15. With the ‘Brexit’, theses students are likely to fall under the category of ‘overseas students’, meaning they would be excluded from the benefits and perks ‘home students’ enjoy. As an example, home students pay an annual tuition fee of about 11,500 Euros, while ‘international students’ pay an additional 6,000 Euros.

Speaking to ‘Protothema.gr’, Aristides Madellis, who is in charge of the organisation studiesinuk.net was reassuring saying that the British had had it clear that regardless of the outcome of the referendum the status quo would not change for students.

On the impact Brexit would have on employees in the UK and those interested in seeking work there, things will get worse, as Professor at the Aegean University, Charalambos Tsardanidis says. ‘If new migrants to the UK do not find work in 6 months they would have to leave’, he says. Another negative outcome is the fact that working visas and permits will be much more difficult to acquire. Currently that are approximately 52,000 Greeks living and working permanently in the UK.