TOMAS Muniz from north west Spain is one of 127,000 people working for the NHS in Scotland who hails from mainland Europe.
He has lived in the UK for more than 15 years, has a wife, two
children and helps doctors and nurses look after patients and maintain their skills by managing Hairmyres Hospital library.
But, he says, he could not vote in the EU referendum. After the result he received a letter from his MP to reassure him that, despite the vote, his right to live and work would not be affected “in the immediate future”.
READ MORE: Beyond Brexit: Hospitals risk losing EU staff lifeline after Brexit
This, he said, made him wonder if he should be worried. “I felt this is concerning because clearly they are worried about the Europeans living here,” he says. “They are thinking they do not want these people to worry, but the letter does not confirm anything.”
Mr Muniz, who lives in Glasgow, came to the UK as a university exchange programme student. He said it opened his eyes to new opportunities, and he went on to spend time in Holland, before returning to the UK. Now he fears his children, Liam, four, and Mila, three, will not have the same opportunities he enjoyed. He says: “Because of Brexit I decided to get Spanish passports for my kids so they have the freedom to travel around Europe – the freedom I had – in the future.”
He describes feeling astonished the morning of the Brexit result and says when he holidayed in Spain shortly afterwards, to see family, people thought he was moving home because of the decision. “They felt it was an earthquake,” he says.
READ MORE: Beyond Brexit: Hospitals risk losing EU staff lifeline after Brexit
Despite reservations when his wife Michelle first suggested they moved to Glasgow, he likes the life they have built in Scotland. “Glasgow is such a gem,” he says. “There are many things I love about it. It is growing on me big time.”
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