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British student turned back at Swedish border over Brexit permit mix-up

A British student set to begin a PhD at a prestigious Stockholm university was turned back at the border and had his move delayed after being given misleading information by Swedish authorities about the visa rules that applied to him.

Published: 26 March 2021 09:08 CET

British student turned back at Swedish border over Brexit permit mix-up

A photo the student took of border police on the platform. Photo: Michael Hawgood

Michael Hawgood will study cancer genetics at the Karolinska Institute, and since his acceptance onto the programme in December he has been preparing for the move, contacting multiple Swedish authorities to ensure he had the paperwork.

But when he tried to move to Stockholm from Copenhagen, where he has lived since 2017, he was turned back despite having multiple documents proving he was moving to Sweden to work and reside there.

Email correspondence seen by The Local shows how the Migration Agency gave him information about the wrong kind of permit.

After his acceptance onto the programme Michael applied for a residence permit, now a requirement for Britons moving to Sweden for work or study. He says he found “a lot of contradictory information” about what he needed, and contacted the Migration Agency several times to confirm he had the correct documentation to make the move.

“Normally we are shielded from this as EU citizens, but now Britons are non-EU we have to jump through all the hoops,” he told The Local. Apparent confusion over what now applies to Britons meant Michael was given misleading information when he contacted Swedish authorities.

After the student asked what permit applied to him as a Brit moving to Sweden for a PhD in 2021 agency staff members wrongly advised him about a work permit which he was not eligible for.

“If one is a British citizen and have lived in Sweden before Brexit one can stay even though no longer a EU citizen” one staff member at the agency said, directing Michael to the application for residence permits for Brits already resident in Sweden before the end of the transition period on December 31st.

When he asked about his permit for doctoral studies he was also told: “You apply online, from within Sweden and can stay in Sweden waiting for a decision.” However this information only applies to the post-Brexit permit, and not for Brits in Michael’s situation, moving for the first time after December 31st, 2020.

A Migration Agency spokesperson confirmed this to The Local, saying: “British citizens who want to study in Sweden now have to apply for a residence permit, which must be issued and granted before they arrive.”

Based on the information he had received, Michael set off to his new apartment in Sweden on March 13th, unaware that he needed an approved residence permit in order to enter, having been told that he could wait for it to be approved after arriving in the country. As well as proof of his permit application, he had his Swedish work contract, housing contract, and negative Covid-19 test result.

When he reached the border on March 13th, he says a border police officer told him his paperwork looked good but needed to be double-checked before he was allowed into Sweden.

“He said I could take the next train in 20 minutes. Instead I was waiting on the platform for three hours and then sent back to Denmark, where I no longer live,” said Michael.

When he contacted the Migration Agency to explain what had happened and to ask what could be done to get the documentation needed to travel, he was again told by email “British citizens do not require a visa and only need a passport or national ID card upon entry to Sweden”.

Under the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement this is correct and Brits can stay in Sweden for up to 90 days as visitors with no permit. However, at the time Michael was travelling, stricter rules on entry from both the UK and Denmark had been in place for several months, relating to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This meant that it was not possible to enter Sweden unless the traveller fell into certain exempt categories, such as residents in Sweden. But to be considered under this category, Michael needed an approved residence permit and not just an in-progress application. The agency also directed him to border police, who are responsible for making decisions on individual cases and interpreting current border laws.

“But you can’t contact border police,” Michael told The Local. “I tried several times, I called the police in Malmö who said they couldn’t answer questions about the border controls, and when I asked to be connected to the border police I was told this was not possible. It seems like the only way to speak to them is when you’re stood in front of them at the border.”

“It has been extremely stressful and tiring. I have been on the phone all week with Migrationsverket and the police trying to get answers and figure out what I need to do. It is next to impossible to get through to them on the phone and all the contradicting info makes it very difficult to navigate,” he says.

“I was meant to collect the key to my apartment that Saturday evening. But I was not allowed in Sweden, I was in a mess. I had to arrange for my supervisor to collect the key on my behalf. I also had all my belongings picked up by a removal company the day before I left and they were delivered this week. I was extremely worried about what would happen to my stuff if I was not there to receive it. Thankfully my supervisor took care of that in Stockholm.”

He had also moved out of his Copenhagen apartment, and told border police that his apartment and belongings were in Stockholm.

As of March 22nd, Michael has been informed his permit application has been accepted — although he says he only found this out because he was calling the Migration Agency every day, and has not received any email or post to confirm this.

“I wanted proof that it had been accepted, so that I can take this with me across the border to show the police. Migrationsverket will not send me anything digitally, even though the year is 2021. Instead they posted the documentation to the Swedish Embassy in London,” said Michael, still currently resident in Copenhagen.

He contacted the London Embassy, who said he could collect a copy of the document from the Swedish Embassy in Copenhagen, although when he visited the embassy, he was told this was not possible, and was unable to get through to the London embassy on the phone.

At the time of publication, Michael had been told his permit application has been approved, but that he would need to travel to Stockholm to get a photograph and fingerprints taken for the permit to be issued.

Michael Hawgood. Photo: Private

Member comments

Anonymous - 26 March 2021 at 20:40 CET

Sounds very typical of Sweden and Migrationsverket. Zero understanding, zero flexibility and poor processes. It’s always interesting to see how hard many work to market Sweden as a paradise when that effort could be spent actually making these things better. Migrationsverket needs to be held accountable for everything this chap went through. He should be compensated. I commend his PhD supervisor and I hope he can come here and do notable work.
1. Anonymous - 27 March 2021 at 14:26 CET
  
  I agree with you, Kori. Migrationsverket has become a rude, disgusting and deplorable organization because the media have neglected most of its hateful mistakes and they think they are allowed to play with people’s lives in any way they enjoy without real accountability. It must change and we all must change them, i.e., all migration agencies of the world because the damages to some people they have hurt have unfortunately been huge and irretrievable.
Anonymous - 27 March 2021 at 14:28 CET

I thank The Local and Catherine Edwards for this attention and coverage because Migrationsverket really really need your help and attention in order to recover from its chronic severe diseases. Thank you!

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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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