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Brexit calendar: These are the future key dates for Brits in Sweden

The key Brexit date is here, but for British people in Sweden, there are some other important dates to be aware of in the coming months.

Published: 30 December 2020 11:34 CET
Updated: 30 December 2020 15:51 CET

Brexit calendar: These are the future key dates for Brits in Sweden

Here are the key dates to keep track of. Photo: vectors icon/Pexels and Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash (edited by The Local)

December 31st, 2020

The transition period that has been in place since Britain left the EU on January 31st, 2020 – and kept most things the same – comes to an end on December 31st.

This date marks the last day that British nationals can take advantage of freedom of movement. They must be resident in Sweden if they wish to take advantage of the more generous provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement, which guarantees right to residency, work and life-long health cover.

But even if they are resident in Sweden by the end of the year, moving elsewhere in Europe after December 31st won't be as easy because onward freedom of movement comes to an end at the stroke of midnight.

Current European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) issued by the UK are only valid until December 31st. S1 holders and students living in Sweden are encouraged to apply for a new EHIC card. It should state on the card that it is valid in Sweden. People who already have a European card issued by their host country do not need to renew it.

A ban on commercial flights from the UK to Sweden is set to expire on December 31st, but please note below that as of January 1st, you may have to show a negative coronavirus test before entering the country.

January 1st, 2021

This is the big one, the first day that the UK emerges into the world without any formal ties to the EU, apart from the trade deal that was agreed on at the 11th hour.

It marks a lot of changes for British tourists, who will have to follow new rules if they want to visit Sweden. You can read more about what applies to visits to Sweden here (these rules apply to visitors, not to British people who are already resident in Sweden).

January 1st also marks the day when UK passports will no longer be accepted for travel within the EU if they have less than six months until their expiry date – so check your passport and renew if necessary.

From January 1st, all but Swedish nationals and people who transport goods will have to show a negative coronavirus test, taken at the most 72 hours before arriving in Sweden. You can read more here.

From January 1st, 2021

British driving licences will still be valid in Sweden after the transition period ends on December 31st, regardless of whether or not the holder already lives in Sweden. Brits who live in Sweden will also be able to continue using their licence in Sweden, even if they have been living in Sweden for more than a year (normally non-EEA licences will only remain valid for up to a year after you've registered as a Swedish resident).

It is worth noting that UK licences are connected to a UK address, so Brits may still need to exchange them if they decide to live in Sweden in the long term. It will not be immediately possible after January 1st to simply swap out your licence without having to sit a driving licence test again (which most non-EEA licence holders have to do), but the Swedish government has told The Local that it is working on a solution for this.

“The goal is that a solution will be in place by July 1st, 2021. What the solution will look like is not yet clear,” a spokesperson for the transport ministry told The Local in November.

January 21st, 2021

A temporary entry ban on people travelling from the UK – imposed due to a new strain of coronavirus detected in the UK at the end of 2020 – is set to expire on January 21st. Swedish citizens and other people travelling from the UK who live and work in Sweden are exempt, so they can still travel freely between the countries. But please note that non-Swedish nationals will be required to show a negative coronavirus test.

March 31st, 2021

Keeping track of all the various travel restrictions is no easy feat, but there's also a separate entry ban for non-EU countries which will also apply to Brits in the new year, after the post-Brexit transition period ends. This is currently in place until March 31st, but Brits who are entitled to residence status in Sweden will be exempt.

September 30th, 2021

Brits who wish to apply for a new residence status to protect their long-term right to stay in Sweden post-Brexit have been able to do so since December 1st.

British citizens who need to apply for a new residence status should fill out one of those forms, and send in a copy of their passport or national ID card, and documents that show that you have the right of residence in Sweden. You can read more here, and see what documents you need to show the Migration Agency here.

The application must be submitted before September 30th, 2021.

October 1st, 2021

This marks the date when EU national identity cards will no longer be valid to enter the UK. This doesn't directly affect British people, but if you are travelling to the UK with a Swedish friend or family member who doesn't have settled status in the UK, remind them that they will need a passport after this date and not a national ID card.

March 2022

This is the final date when British nationals can move back to the UK with a European partner or spouse without them having to meet tough new criteria on income, skills and English language level.

After this date any EU citizen must meet strict immigration criteria including a minimum income level – and having a British spouse will not affect this.

Have we missed any key dates? Please email [email protected]

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'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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