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BREXIT

REVEALED: More than 2,800 Brits ordered to leave European countries since Brexit

Almost two years after the UK officially left the European Union, one of the consequences of ending free movement has become clear for the hundreds of Britons who have been ordered to leave countries across Europe.

Published: 4 January 2023 15:18 CET
REVEALED: More than 2,800 Brits ordered to leave European countries since Brexit
Photo by FREDERICK FLORIN / AFP

Data published recently by the EU statistical office, Eurostat, reveals that about 2,250 UK citizens were ordered to leave EU countries between 2020 and September 2022. If we add the numbers for the countries of the European Free Trade Association (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland), where EU free movement rules also apply, the total increases to 2,830.

The UK officially left the EU at midnight on 31st January 2020, but free movement with the EU continued until 31st December 2020, when the post-Brexit transition period ended. This period coincided with lockdowns and travel restrictions to limit the spread of Covid-19.

Data on non-EU nationals ordered to leave EU member states includes people found to be illegally present in member states who are subject to an administrative or judicial decision imposing them to depart. In other words those who fail to meet residency or visa requirements as well as those ordered to leave after committing crimes.

While the data doesn’t include the exact reasons on why these Britons were ordered to leave – so we don’t know the exact figure on how many orders were directly linked to the results of Brexit and the ending freedom of movement –  Citizen’s Rights campaigners say the numbers reflect what has been happening in certain countries since Brexit.

It is also not possible to compare the figure to pre-Brexit figure for the number of Britons deported because Britons were not considered third-country nationals prior to Brexit so the data is not available.

In total, according to Eurostat, more than a million non-EU citizens were ordered to leave the EU between January 2020 and September 2022. UK citizens represent a small proportion, but the situation varies between countries, depending on national migration policies, administrative and judicial procedures and data reporting.

This is what emerges from the Eurostat data for the countries covered by The Local.

Sweden the toughest

While France was responsible for the highest proportion of leave orders to non-EU citizens, it is Sweden and the Netherlands that have taken the toughest approach to Brits.

Sweden is responsible for 1,050 of the 2,250 British nationals ordered to leave EU countries between the first quarter of 2020 and the third quarter of 2022.

In the run up to the Brexit deadline for residency The Local carried a warning by a leading group for Brits in Sweden that authorities in the country were not doing enough to reach UK citizens to make them aware of the date.

READ ALSO: Post-Brexit residence status: Sweden rejects more Brits than any other EU country

Recently The Local covered the story of Stockholm chef Stuart Philpott, who only learned that he should have applied for post-Brexit residence shortly before he was frogmarched onto a return flight by Swedish border police.

After Sweden the Netherlands followed with 615 orders for Britons to leave. Norway and Switzerland, which are not part of the EU and have separate Brexit agreements with the UK, issued 455 and 125 departure orders respectively, according to Eurostat data.

Malta ordered 115 UK citizens to leave, France 95, Belgium 65, Denmark 40, Germany 25 and Austria 10.

When it comes to Denmark The Local revealed that hundreds of Brits who had moved to the country shortly before Brexit were not sent reminder letters that they needed to apply for a new residency status. Some of those Britons now face deportation, despite having jobs and family in Denmark.

Spain, which hosts the biggest UK community in the EU, has not ordered any Briton to leave the country since Brexit, and nor did Italy – at least according to the Eurostat data.

Jane Golding, co-founder of the British in Europe citizens’ rights group, said the data about Sweden was “not surprising”. “We do know that, statistically, the percentage of refusals of status in Sweden is far higher than in equivalent countries and the numbers ordered to leave correspond fairly closely to refusals of status under the withdrawal agreement,” she said.

Michaela Benson, Professor in Public Sociology at Lancaster University and expert on migration, citizenship and identity, added: “It is a reminder that since Brexit, British citizens no longer enjoy freedom of movement.

“Anyone newly arriving or who did not meet the deadlines for applying for status under the terms of the withdrawal agreement, is now considered as a third country national and subject to domestic immigration controls in the EU-26 member states [the 27 EU countries minus Ireland].”

Similar to other nationalities, the majority of leave orders concerned men (1,560).  Some 195 also affected young people below the age of 18, with Sweden topping the list (135), followed by the Netherlands (20) and Germany (5).

Debbie Williams of the group Brexpats Hear our Voice said countries need to provide more detailed data to explain the orders to leave.

“I’d like to see more transparency on these issues because how do we know if the withdrawal agreement is failing people if we don’t know the detail,” she said.

Illegally present in EU

When it comes to immigration law enforcement, Eurostat collects statistical information from individual countries not only about orders to leave, but also about people refused entry at the EU external borders, people found to be illegally present in a member state territory and people returned, or deported, following a leave order.

There might be differences however between the number of persons found to be illegally present in a country and those ordered to leave because those affected might have left the territory voluntarily or their situation might have been regularised.

Third-country nationals are considered illegally present in an EU member state under national immigration law if they have entered unlawfully – for instance avoiding immigration controls or using a fraudulent document – if they have overstayed their permission to remain – for example stayed for longer than 90 days without a visa or residency permit – or they have undertaken unauthorised employment.

Of the 681,200 non-EU citizens found to be illegally present in the EU in 2021, only 590 (less than 1 per cent) were British, according to the available data. The real figure for the number of Britons found illegally present in EU countries since Brexit may be higher but more accurate data which includes figures for 2022 is not yet available.

Some 110 cases were due to overstays, 90 to illegal entry and 210 for “other reasons”.

Switzerland reported 75 overstays and 50 illegal entries.

Malta reported 70 Britons, all for overstays. 

Germany found 140 Brits to be illegally present in the country’s territory in 2021; the Netherlands 55; France 50; Austria, Sweden and Norway 30; Italy 25; Denmark 5; Spain none. 

Deportations

In all some 840 UK citizens were returned in the year 2021 and 1,340 overall since Brexit including up to September 2022, the most recent data reveals. The countries responsible for the most deportations were Sweden (745), Malta (115), Finland (110), the Netherlands (75) and, outside the EU, Norway (375). 
 
Again Eurostat’s data for deportations doesn’t explain the reasons behind the decisions so we don’t know how many are directly linked linked to the consequences of Brexit. There is also no data for the numbers of deportations of Britons prior to Brexit to compare with.
  
In comparison, some 82,700 non-EU citizens were returned to another country in 2021, with Ukrainians and Albanians representing the largest share. This was before the start of the war in Ukraine.
 

For more info on these statistics READ MORE.

  • The Local originally reported that 195 UK citizens were deported from EU countries in 2021 after receiving an order to leave but we have revised the figure up because new more accurate quarterly data has since emerged that reveals the number for 2021 is much higher because it includes data from countries like Sweden. New data also covers up until September 2022.

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BREXIT

Danish agency slammed for not sending new Brexit reminder letters

A support group for British nationals who live in Denmark has criticised the country’s residence permits agency after it said it would not be sending reminder letters before an upcoming deadline.

Published: 27 September 2023 16:40 CEST
Danish agency slammed for not sending new Brexit reminder letters

The decision not to send individual letters to people who may not be aware of the deadline was criticised by British in Denmark, a support group for UK nationals resident in Denmark.

The group said it was disappointed that people who were not sent letters back in 2021, due to an error by authorities, would again not be individually notified of the need to apply.

“We were disappointed to read that SIRI does not intend to reach out to the hundreds of British citizens who arrived in 2020 and did not get the information letters,” a spokesperson from British in Denmark told The Local with reference to the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI), which is responsible for processing residence permit cases.

“We fear that this is potentially a massive problem as we know that many who arrived in 2020 were wrongly told in person by staff at SIRI that they did not have to do anything else after registering under EU rules,” they said.

In a statement last week, SIRI underlined the importance of the extended deadline to apply for residence in Denmark under the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.

“British citizens and their family members who do not already hold a residence document in Denmark under the Withdrawal Agreement must submit an application – SIRI is not going to send out individual information letters,” the agency said on its website.

We will not send letters’: Danish immigration agency in reminder over extended Brexit deadline

In March, the government announced that British nationals who had missed the previous deadline to secure their post-Brexit residency status, now have until the end of 2023 to apply or resubmit their late application.

That decision came after a large number of British nationals living in Denmark missed the 2021 deadline, in part because many did not receive individual notification of the need to apply.

In December last year, SIRI told The Local that, due to an error, it did not send individual reminders to people who moved to Denmark from the UK after January 2020 — meaning many people were not directly notified that they needed to submit an application to update their residence status before the December 31st, 2021 deadline.

“There could still be many individuals out there who are unaware that they were given the wrong advice and have to re-apply to keep their residency under the Withdrawal Agreement by the end of the year,” the spokesperson from British in Denmark said.

“British in Denmark will continue to lobby for letters to be sent out, otherwise we fear that another wave of ‘late applications’ will happen after the new deadline has passed,” they said.

“We also will continue asking for clear guidance on late applications so that those who miss the extended deadline have some kind of clue as to what constitutes a ‘reasonable reason’ for applying late,” they said.

SIRI said that it was using its regular channels to inform affected persons about the deadline and that it was engaged in an information campaign.

“The British citizens and their family members encompassed by the Withdrawal Agreement should be aware that they must apply by the end of the year,” Kirsten Meier, the head of SIRI’s EU office, told The Local in a written comment.

“We have chosen to use the information channels we offer to all of our other users and therefore don’t send out individual letters,” Meier said.

“From SIRI’s side, we provide information about the deadline via the website nyidanmark.dk and our Brexit telephone line. Up to December, we will also spread the message on social media and via our network,” she said.

SIRI’s Brexit helpline can be contacted on the telephone number 72 14 20 05, according to the agency’s website.

Majority of Britons not affected

In 2021, British residents in Denmark who moved to the country under EU free movement rules were asked to submit applications to extend their residency status, and thereby receive a residency permit card.

People who completed this process in 2021 – the majority of Britons who live in Denmark – do not need to contact authorities again before the extended deadline.

People who moved to Denmark from the UK after December 31st, 2020 are not covered by the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and are therefore subject to Denmark’s general immigration rules for third-country nationals. They are also unaffected by the extended deadline.

However, the December 31st, 2023 deadline is important for a significant number of people.

That is because some Britons who have lived in Denmark since 2020 have not previously submitted an application under the Withdrawal Agreement. Others submitted their applications after the original deadline of December 31st, 2021 and subsequently received a rejection to having their application processed.

It is people who fall into these two groups who must submit applications within the new deadline.

According to figures provided by SIRI to The Local in January, 352 late applications had been received by the agency. Of these, 50 were rejected while 179 were pending. Some 113 had been approved despite late submission and 10 lapsed without an outcome. The figures cover late submissions from persons who both did and did not receive the information letters.

SIRI did send letters to over 19,000 British nationals in Denmark, but only to earlier movers — not those who registered after moving to the country between February and December 2020. Some 17,811 applications were received by SIRI before the deadline. 

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