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How Brits can prove their post-Brexit rights in Germany – before they get their residence card

Many Brits in Germany have their rights protected under the Withdrawal Agreement, but that can be hard to prove. Here's what to do if your employer wants to see your residence title - but you don't yet have it.

Published: 12 August 2021 10:17 CEST
How Brits can prove their post-Brexit rights in Germany - before they get their residence card
Many Brits are reliant on their post-Brexit residence card to prove their rights - but a large proportion haven't received it yet. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Holger Hollemann

Since the UK left the European Economic Area (EEA) at the end of 2020, ending the free movement of Brits in the European Union, many British people in Germany have faced a long and stressful wait for proof of their status. 

Though the rights of British people who were living in Germany before January 1st 2021 are assured under the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, it’s not easy to prove it without the Aufenthaltstitel-GB: the special residence card issued to Brits in Germany after Brexit. 

In a survey conducted by The Local in June, around a quarter of respondents said they hadn’t yet been offered an interview for their new residence title, while 48 percent of people who had attended the interview hadn’t yet received their card.

READ ALSO: Postcode lottery: Brits in Germany on what it’s like to apply for the post-Brexit residence card

In the meantime, life has continued, and some Brits who have applied for new jobs, freelance work or social support have found themselves in a bind.

Most employers want to see evidence that their new hire has the right to work in Germany. And if they haven’t kept up with the latest on Brexit, they may be unaware that Brits who arrived in the country before 2021 have their rights guaranteed – with or without a card to prove it. 

The situation may be a stressful one, but according to citizens’ rights experts, it’s not insurmountable. Here’s what to do if your employer is asking you for a document you just don’t have yet. 

Know your rights

The most important thing to understand is that, unlike a visa, none of your rights as a Brit in Germany are dependent on the card itself. Though it’s an incredibly useful piece of I.D. to have, the Withdrawal Agreement specifies that UK citizens who arrived before the cut-off date (January 1st, 2021) have the right to live and work in Germany indefinitely.

In addition, the Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) this year issued a memorandum to employers advising them not to ask for proof of their rights or status until the end of the year. 

READ ALSO: READ ALSO:  Germany extends ‘trust’ period for employing UK citizens after Brexit

“Until the end of 2021, you can trust a statement by UK nationals and their family members to have a right of residence under the Withdrawal Agreement,” the notice says. “You can at least always assume that this is the case if the entitled employee was living in Germany on 31st December 2020.”

Clarify the situation

If an employer or job centre employee is asking for your official documentation and you don’t have it to hand, it may be worth sending them a link to the official advice for employers from BMAS (in both English and German) and gently reminding them of your Withdrawal Agreement (WA) rights, which were passed into German law last year. 

READ ALSO: Brexit: Germany passes law to guarantee rights of British residents

As a gesture of good faith, you could also offer to show some form of proof that you were here before the cut-off date – such as your registration (Anmeldung) in Germany – and are therefore covered by the WA. 


Minister for Labour and Social Affairs, Hubertus Heil (SPD). The Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs has issued guidance to employers telling them not to ask for proof of residency from Brits this year. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Bernd von Jutrczenka

Another option, according to citizens’ rights group British in Germany (BiG) is to get in touch with your local Foreigners’ Office (Ausländerbehörde) and explain the urgency of your situation. 

“If the employer is digging their heels in and if, for example, the individual has not yet been to their appointment at the Ausländerbehörde or has not received the card yet, then I would also suggest that they contact the Auslaenderbehörde again and see whether the appointment can be held urgently and/or whether the Behörde can issue a letter stating explicitly the right to work,” BiG’s Alison Jones told The Local.

Ask for help

If the discursive approach doesn’t work, BiG recommends getting help from specialist groups set up to support Brits with their post-Brexit residence issues. 

“If people are experiencing difficulties with their employers, I would recommend they contact either one of the UK Nationals Support Fund services set up to support British citizens with the residence process,” said BiG’s Matt Bristow.

“For people in Bremen, Hamburg, Niedersachsen and North Rhine-Westphalia that is SSAFA, and for the rest of Germany it is the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).”

Jones agrees that the UK Nationals Support Fund could be a sensible first point of call when asking for help.

“It can be a really frightening situation for someone to be in, and people may be afraid of getting into an argument with their employer so may want to look for ways to handle it that do not feel like an escalation,” she explained. “Contacting the UKNSF organisations does not have to be an escalation in any way whereas the Betriebsrat or the Ausländerbehörde conceivably might be.”

Seek legal advice – or financial support 

While it’s unlikely to come to this, if you’re facing genuine difficulty with an employer after Brexit, it could be worth seeking guidance or representation from a legal expert.


Brits whose rights are assured under the Withdrawal Agreement are entitled to jobseekers’ support and other benefits. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Oliver Berg

“Depending on what the workplace is like, people might consider talking to their Betriebsrat,” said Jones. “It is quite possible that they will know nothing about the Withdrawal Agreement, but they should be prepared to look at the documentation including the advice to employers and, if necessary, to advise on or help the employee represent the position to management.”

READ ALSO: ‘A big worry’: Why Britons living in Germany still face bureaucratic headaches over Brexit

If you’re already employed and your workplace has a trade union, you could also consider contacting your union representative, adds Bristow. 

It’s possible that your local Employment Agency (Arbeitsagentur) may be able to assist if you’re unable to work due to Brexit-related issues – and it’s important to remember that Brits who are covered by the Withdrawal Agreement are eligible for benefits and jobseekers’ support.

“I don’t actually know whether there would be any action the Employment Agency could take, although it would at least start to protect the position in case the work contract is terminated,” says Jones. 

Let citizens’ rights groups know

If you’re facing difficulties with your employer due to Brexit, Bristow recommends speaking to BiG so that authorities can be made aware that this is happening – and potentially take steps to fix it. 

“Whilst we can’t provide the individual support that SSAFA and IOM do, we do feed back trends to the British Embassy and the German authorities,” he said. “It really helps for us to know where people are and who they work for.”

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BREXIT

OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

The EU has drawn up plans to make it easier for non-EU citizens to gain longterm EU residency so they can move more easily around the bloc, but Italy-based citizens' rights campaigner Clarissa Killwick says Brits who moved to the EU before Brexit are already losing out.

Published: 8 December 2023 14:34 CET
OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

With all the talk about the EU long-term residency permit and the proposed improvements there is no mention that UK citizens who are Withdrawal Agreement “beneficiaries” are currently being left out in the cold.

The European Commission has stated that we can hold multiple statuses including the EU long-term permit (Under a little-known EU law, third-country nationals can in theory acquire EU-wide long-term resident status if they have lived ‘legally’ in an EU country for at least five years) but in reality it is just not happening.

This effectively leaves Brits locked into their host countries while other third country nationals can enjoy some mobility rights. As yet, in Italy, it is literally a question of the computer saying no if someone tries to apply.

The lack of access to the EU long-term permit to pre-Brexit Brits is an EU-wide issue and has been flagged up to the European Commission but progress is very slow.

READ ALSO: EU government settle on rules for how non-EU citizens could move around Europe

My guess is that few UK nationals who already have permanent residency status under the Withdrawal Agreement are even aware of the extra mobility rights they could have with the EU long-term residency permit – or do not even realise they are two different things.

Perhaps there won’t be very large numbers clamouring for it but it is nothing short of discrimination not to make it accessible to British people who’ve built their lives in the EU.

They may have lost their status as EU citizens but nothing has changed concerning the contributions they make, both economically and socially.

An example of how Withdrawal Agreement Brits in Italy are losing out

My son, who has lived almost his whole life here, wanted to study in the Netherlands to improve his employment prospects.

Dutch universities grant home fees rather than international fees to holders of an EU long-term permit. The difference in fees for a Master’s, for example, is an eye-watering €18,000. He went through the application process, collecting the requisite documents, making the payments and waited many months for an appointment at the “questura”, (local immigration office).

On the day, it took some persuading before they agreed he should be able to apply but then the whole thing was stymied because the national computer system would not accept a UK national. I am in no doubt, incidentally, that had he been successful he would have had to hand in his WA  “carta di soggiorno”.

This was back in February 2022 and nothing has budged since then. In the meantime, it is a question of pay up or give up for any students in the same boat as my son. There is, in fact, a very high take up of the EU long-term permit in Italy so my son’s non-EU contemporaries do not face this barrier.

Long-term permit: The EU’s plan to make freedom of movement easier for non- EU nationals 

Completing his studies was stalled by a year until finally his Italian citizenship came through after waiting over 5 years.  I also meet working adults in Italy with the EU long-term permit who use it for work purposes, such as in Belgium and Germany, and for family reunification.  

Withdrawal agreement card should double up as EU long-term residency permit

A statement that Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries should be able to hold multiple statuses is not that easy to find. You have to scroll quite far down the page on the European Commission’s website to find a link to an explanatory document. It has been languishing there since March 2022 but so far not proved very useful.

It has been pointed out to the Commission that the document needs to be multilingual not just in English and “branded” as an official communication from the Commission so it can be used as a stand-alone. But having an official document you can wave at the immigration authorities is going to get you nowhere if Member State governments haven’t acknowledged that WA beneficiaries can hold multiple statuses and issue clear guidance and make sure systems are modified accordingly.

I can appreciate this is no mean feat in countries where they do not usually allow multiple statuses or, even if they do, issue more than one residency card. Of course, other statuses we should be able to hold are not confined to EU long-term residency, they should include the EU Blue Card, dual nationality, family member of an EU citizen…

Personally, I do think people should be up in arms about this. The UK and EU negotiated an agreement which not only removed our freedom of movement as EU citizens, it also failed to automatically give us equal mobility rights to other third country nationals. We are now neither one thing nor the other.

It would seem the only favour the Withdrawal Agreement did us was we didn’t have to go out and come back in again! Brits who follow us, fortunate enough to get a visa, may well pip us at the post being able to apply for EU long-term residency as clearly defined non-EU citizens.

I have been bringing this issue to the attention of the embassy in Rome, FCDO and the European Commission for three years now. I hope we will see some movement soon.

Finally, there should be no dragging of heels assuming we will all take citizenship of our host countries. Actually, we shouldn’t have to, my son was fortunate, even though it took a long time. Others may not meet the requirements or wish to give up their UK citizenship in countries which do not permit dual nationality.  

Bureaucratic challenges may seem almost insurmountable but why not simply allow our Withdrawal Agreement permanent card to double up as the EU long-term residency permit.

Clarissa Killwick,

Since 2016, Clarissa has been a citizens’ rights campaigner and advocate with the pan-European group, Brexpats – Hear Our Voice.
She is co-founder and co-admin of the FB group in Italy, Beyond Brexit – UK citizens in Italy.

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