DESIGNER Juliette Boisseau, who hails from France and has spent most of her life in the North-East, feels her world is falling apart.

The 51-year-old, of Newcastle, who moved to the UK at the age of 20, said since the referendum she had felt “unwelcome and let down”.

She said: “I have two children who are nearly teenagers who are very anxious. They are asking ‘Is my mum going to be kicked out of this country?’

“My 12-year-old son does not sleep and my daughter, who is ten, comes home with headaches every day, because it is so stressful - even though nothing has happened to us yet.”

“They are trying to get their head around it and are worried that they may have to move country. To me this is home. When I come back from holiday in France and cross the bridges in Newcastle I feel at home.

“My whole world is falling apart even though everyone says you are you’ll be alright you are married to a British citizen. But, because I am an EU national, I have to go through that absolutely ridiculous onerous system of proving that I have been here for 30 years.”

“People have come here in good faith and now are being told to get out.”

Lina Dobreva, 22, of Bulgaria, who is a post-graduate student at Sunderland University, said: “I love Sunderland. I love the North-East. It has been amazing to me.

“I could have imagine myself staying here, but now I feel I owe it to myself to move.

“I don’t want to risk in two years time for the Government to say actually free movement is over. If you go to Bulgaria you can’t come back.

“I moved a country already.”

She added: “When I come to Sunderland I feel I am coming home, not when I go to Bulgaria to see my grandparents.

“I need to find an environment where I can grow older and professionally and personally.

“And I don’t want to lose the links that I have with my roots, which an end to free movement could put a stop to.”