Case study: 'I like to think Scotland chose me'

Iuliana Metiu, 29, hotel worker and student, from Sibiu, Romania, now lives in Edinburgh.

"I arrived on Scottish soil in November 2005. I didn't particularly choose Scotland - I like to think Scotland chose me," she said.

"I applied for au-pair jobs everywhere in the UK, and my first reply came from a lovely family from Yetts of Muckhart. Within three weeks from my first telephone conversation with them, I moved to this small village to look after three children.

"It has now been five years this November since my first day in Scotland and during all these years I remained here, I moved around Scotland, but I haven't crossed the Border to England, apart from to visit.

"I think I found my 'home' away from home when I moved to Edinburgh. Edinburgh is such a cosmopolitan city that I felt part of it."