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UPDATED: Essential no-deal Brexit checklist for Brits in Sweden

Many of the 20,000 Brits living in Sweden may be wondering what they can to secure their future in the country in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Here are the key steps to take.

Published: 14 March 2019 10:36 CET
Updated: 21 August 2019 16:12 CEST

UPDATED: Essential no-deal Brexit checklist for Brits in Sweden

What do Brits need to do to secure their futures in Sweden? File photo: Erik Mårtensson/TT

Check your residency status

If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, Brits will become third country residents.

In the case of a no-deal Brexit, as The Local has reported before, Sweden has formally guaranteed a one-year 'grace period' during which Brits and their family members can stay in Sweden under the same rights. There's no need to apply for this; the exemption from usual permit laws will apply automatically, but if you plan to travel during that year, you should apply for a passport stamp proving your right of residence.

But after this year, it's highly likely Brits will require residence and/or work permits in order to stay in the country, and they would need to apply for these during the grace period.

“Rules will vary depending on your own circumstances, so check the basis for your stay,” the British Embassy in Sweden has said in its checklist. “During [the one-year grace period], you should apply for a residence permit. Once you have applied, your stay is legal and you can continue to receive social benefits until you have got a decision, even if this takes more than a year.”

As of August 2019, it remained unclear what rules would apply to self-supporting Brits, including pensioners as well as those who do not have a job or Swedish partner during the one-year grace period. It's also unclear whether current regulations around work and residence permits would apply, or whether the government would introduce new legislation to deal with the affected Brits.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Sweden cannot guarantee Brits' future in no-deal Brexit

Hans Dahlgren was appointed Sweden's EU minister in 2019. Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT

And those who have already applied for Swedish citizenship but not yet received a decision by the date of any no-deal Brexit must also apply separately for residence.

“An outstanding application for citizenship does not in itself give you the right to stay. If your citizenship application has not been approved towards the end of the one-year exemption, you should apply for a residence permit in the meantime. This will not affect your citizenship application,” advises the embassy.

As for those who have not yet been in Sweden long enough to apply for permanent residence or citizenship, the Swedish parliament in July 2019 approved legislative changes that would allow Brits to count their time in Sweden as EU citizens towards a future residence permit application.

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Ensure your UK passport is valid

“UK passports must remain valid for the duration of your stay in Sweden,” the embassy has warned.

This means you should check when you need to renew it, which you can do using this tool. There should be at least six months left on a passport in order to travel to most countries in Europe.

Don't be caught out by any rule changes affecting passport validity after a potential no-deal Brexit. In cases where a current passport was renewed before the previous one expired, extra months may have been added to its expiry date. These extra months may not count towards the six months needed, meaning you may need to renew your passport more than six months before the stated expiry date. If travelling after October 31st 2019 in the event of a no-deal, your passport will need to both have at least six months remaining, and be less than ten years old.

Even with a valid passport, as noted above, it's a good idea to get your passport stamped if you're a British resident of Sweden planning to travel outside Sweden during the one-year grace period. Your right to travel within the Schengen area will be applied automatically, but the stamp ensures there won't be any issues proving you have right of residence when returning to Sweden.

The stamp will be issued by the Migration Agency, and once a decision has been made (the agency has said it's aiming for a one-week turnaround) you can take your passport to be stamped at one of 12 service centres across the country.

The agency initially said that it would be possible to apply via their website from March 22nd, with applications processed from March 30th. But after EU leaders agreed to an extension of Article 50, postponing the date of Brexit, the agency said the stamp applications would also be delayed and would become available on their website only if a no-deal Brexit was confirmed.

As for Brits who want to visit Sweden for up to three months but not to stay long-term, this will be possible without any visa or passport stamp.

How the Swedish Migration Agency is preparing for a no-deal Brexit
Photo: Adam Wrafter/SvD/TT

Exchange your driving licence

If there's a no-deal Brexit, British licences will no longer be valid in the EU, but the Swedish government has said it plans to give Brits a one-year grace period during which they can continue driving using their UK licences.

After that, however, Brits would likely need a Swedish driving licence, and it's possible to apply to exchange the licence at any time. This is done by applying to the Swedish Transport Agency.

Otherwise, third country nationals without an agreement with Sweden covering driving licences typically need to apply for a Swedish licence from scratch, taking a theory and practical test at an estimated cost of at least 4,000 kronor.

Brits visiting Sweden after the one-year grace period but not intending to be registered in the country (i.e. without a personnummer or coordination number, including tourists and short-term visitors) would be able to drive in Sweden using their British licence, even in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Students: speak to your university

If there's a no-deal Brexit, British students will be able to use the one-year grace period to apply for a student permit.

Usually, non-EU students pay tuition fees in Sweden, but the Swedish government has prepared legislation which would exempt UK nationals from paying student fees until 2022, if the student was either admitted to that course before the date of a no-deal Brexit, or already had residence in Sweden by that date. This legislation would come into force after a no-deal Brexit.

It's also worth being in contact with your university's student office so that they can update you with any new procedures or requirements, whether specific to that university or to all of Sweden.

Photo: Melker Dahlstrand/imagebank.sweden.se

Member comments

Anonymous - 17 March 2019 at 01:14 CET

And I was under the impression that Sweden will follow the UK. I was going to continue buying Swedish Volvo’s even though the ones I buy are made in Gent!!

Become a Member to leave a comment.

'I feel exiled': How Brits in Europe are locked abroad with foreign partners

Europe is home to hundreds of thousands of British nationals, many of whom have foreign partners and children. But if they want to move to the UK to live and work it will soon become more difficult.

When it comes to getting a partner visa, the UK has some of the strictest rules in Europe. In addition to hefty fees and a healthcare surcharge, the Home Office requires British citizens and long-term residents who bring their foreign partner to the UK to have a minimum income showing they can support them without relying on the social security system.

The minimum income up until now was set at £18,600 (€21,700), or £22,400 (€26,100) if the couple had one child, plus another £2,400 (€2,800) for each other child.

But these income requirements will rise steeply from April 11th 2024.

How it works: What Brits in Europe should know about UK’s new minimum income rules

From this date the minimum a British national or long-term resident will need to earn if they want to return home will increase to £29,000 (€33,800) and up to £38,000 (€44,313) by spring 2025, although there will no longer be an additional amount for accompanying children.

Alternatively, families need to prove they have at least £62,500 (€72,884) in cash, which from 11 April will increase to £88,500 (€103,207).

‘Family life has been destroyed’

To put this in context the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford suggests that around 50 percent of UK employees earn less than the £29,000 threshold and 70 percent less than £38,700. The Observatory also says that while the number of people affected by the policy is small compared to the overall UK immigration (family visas represent 5 percent of all entry visas), the impacts on concerned families can be “very significant”.

The Migration Observatory notes that other European countries apply income thresholds to sponsor foreign partners. Spain, for instance, requires sponsors to have an annual income equal to the social security salary. In Denmark, sponsors must not have claimed social benefits in the three years before the application. But in Spain and the US, the partner’s foreign income also counts towards the threshold.

So what does this mean for mixed British and international families living in Europe who might want or even need to return to the UK to live?

Campaigners have complained that many Britons with foreign partners have simply been “locked abroad” or families have been separated while they try to meet the minimum income or savings requirement.

Reunite Families UK, a non-profit organisation supporting people affected by the UK spouse visa rules, says this policy causes distress, especially for children.

Some 65 percent of respondents in research carried out by the group said that their child received a diagnosis of a mental health condition due to the separation of their parents.

“Since its introduction, this policy has destroyed the family life of countless people and children,” Matteo Besana, Advocacy and Campaigns Manager at Reunite Families UK said.

“Women have been forced to become single parents to their children and live away from their partner and the father of their children only because they didn’t meet the threshold.

“As shown by our research on the mental health impact of the policy, these are scars that, particularly for children, will be carried for the rest of their lives,” Besana said.

The people most likely to be affected are women, who tend to earn less or not work because they took on caring responsibilities. Also heavily impacted are people under 30 and over 50 years of age, people living outside London and the Southeast of England where wages are higher, and those belonging to specific ethnicities, according to the Migration Observatory.

The Local spoke to two British women, in Italy and Sweden, struggling to return to the UK with their families because of these rules.

More savings needed

Sarah Douglas, who has been living in Italy since 2007, was planning to return to Scotland with her Italian husband and three children.

“It was always our long-term goal to move back to the UK after we had our children and once we’d have saved enough to buy a home in the UK,” she said.

“In hindsight, we should have gone after the Brexit referendum, but in the beginning it wasn’t clear what the final deal would be and I naively assumed that situations like mine would be taken into account and we would have the right to return… Once it did become clear, we were in the middle of the pandemic and it wasn’t the time to move,” she said.

Having stayed home to take care of the children, Sarah will find it hard to land a job near her family in Scotland that meets the minimum income required to sponsor a foreign partner for a UK visa.

Her husband, a computer programmer, has been trying to get an employment visa, “but most of them state that you must already have permission to work in the UK,” Sarah says. And applying for British citizenship is not an option for a non-UK resident spouse.

‘People need to be aware’

Sarah and her husband are trying to save as much as they can, an alternative to the income requirement, but the amount they need is rising to almost £90,000, meaning it may be a long time before they have enough to move home.

While the aim of the UK’s policy is to ensure families moving to the UK are not a burden on the taxpayer, the reality is that people arriving on a family visa are not able to claim any benefits from the UK government.

“They should judge the overall financial viability of the family unit, rather than just the earning potential of the sponsoring partner,” Sarah says.

“We could live well with my husband’s salary and he could work remotely. We are stable and financially secure, but because I don’t earn any money, they say we are not able to support ourselves.”

Sarah says that most of the British public are unaware of the minimum income requirement.

“People think if you are married, your husband is allowed to come to the UK, but when I say no, it doesn’t work like that, they are really surprised. A lot of people are not aware of how this could affect them,” she said.

Looking for a job from abroad

Another British women who lives in Sweden with her South African husband and two children and plans to move to the UK told The Local how the minimum income requirement had put them in a “precarious and stressful situation”.

The woman, who preferred to remain anonymous said: “After having the two children, I was very fortunate to find a research position and do my PhD, which is a salaried position in Scandinavia, and now that I finished, we are looking to leave.

“But I need a job in the UK to sponsor my husband, and as a new graduate with limited work experience, it is not easy. It is even more difficult when you are not in the country and I missed out on opportunities because they wanted an immediate start. I really don’t want to move without my whole family,” she said.

She says the UK’s policy is “gendered and geographically discriminatory” because it makes life harder for women and also harder for anyone who is planning to move to a part of the country that isn’t in London, where salaries are higher.

“I feel exiled from my country and separated from my family there,” she said.

Her husband, she argues, has his own company and could continue working remotely from the UK, earning well above the requirement. He would also pay taxes and national insurance while having to pay the healthcare surcharge, a form of double taxation, she argues. But that would not entitle him to a visa.

“Our house is on the market now. We have booked removal companies for the 6th of June. The dog is booked for his transport. I just think this policy is so out of touch with the modern world,” she said.

Reunite Families UK has called on the government to recognise the right for British or settled citizens to bring their close family members to the UK and scrap the minimum income requirement. Alternatively, the group says the rules should take into consideration the earning potential of both partners and consider “the best interests of children”.

A petition on the UK parliament website asks the government to reconsider the minimum income policy. If it reaches 100,000 signatures, it will have to be debated in parliament.

This article has been produced by Europe Street news.

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