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BREXIT

No second chance for Brits in Sweden who missed post-Brexit status deadline

Sweden is not planning to follow Denmark’s lead and let Brits who missed the deadline reapply for post-Brexit residence status, a government spokesperson has told The Local.

No second chance for Brits in Sweden who missed post-Brexit status deadline
A total of 2,630 UK citizens were ordered to leave countries in the EU and EEA in 2021 and 2022, with Sweden responsible for 41 percent of these. Photo: AP Photo/Alastair Grant

The Danish government in March announced that hundreds of British nationals who missed the deadline for post-Brexit residency would be allowed to apply or reapply.

But a spokesperson for Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard confirmed to The Local on Tuesday that a similar reprieve was not being planned in Sweden “at the moment”.

Sweden has ordered 1,100 British citizens to leave the country since the end of the Brexit transition period, according to data from the EU’s statistical office Eurostat – 41 percent of the EU’s total deportation orders for Brits.

When The Local in February asked the migration minister to explain the high figures, she said they came as “complete news” to her.

“We want them here,” she told us at the time.

We have, despite repeated contact with the Swedish border police, Migration Agency and government, not been able to confirm how many of the Swedish deportation orders are due to late applications, but data suggests they are, as in Denmark, only a few hundred.

Reasons for rejected applications for post-Brexit residency, according to the Migration Agency, include “incomplete applications, applications where the applicant did not fulfil the requirement for residence status, and applications listed as ‘reason unknown’”.

The deportation figures include Brits whose residency application was rejected, but also other reasons for deportation, such as recently released prisoners or people turned away on the border because they did not have the right to enter Sweden. There could be some degree of inaccuracy, including people being counted twice, and reported data may to some extent vary between EU countries.

OPINION: Sweden should follow Denmark and reconsider Brexit deportations

In Denmark, at least 350 British nationals who lived in Denmark at the time of Brexit failed to apply to remain in the country before the deadline of the end of 2021, after letters to remind them were not sent out. Many of them were subsequently given orders to leave.

But after criticism from rights groups, who accused Danish immigration authorities of not correctly applying the rules of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, the Danish government announced that the deadline would be extended until the end of 2023.

“It’s hard to see how Sweden has fulfilled its obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement concerning publicity and the admissibility of late applications from UK nationals,” David Milstead of the Facebook group Brits in Sweden, which in the run-up to the deadline warned that Sweden was not doing enough to reach Brits affected by Brexit.

Sweden ran information campaigns but generally did not contact Brits directly to inform them that they needed to secure their right to stay.

“Sweden mainly targeted those British citizens in the care of the state. This is important but ultimately these are people who could have applied late with a well motivated reason to have a late application accepted. The authorities essentially ignored the bulk of UK nationals. As a strategy to ultimately get as many Brits in Sweden as possible to acquire the new residence status and avoid deportation it was ill-thought-out,” said Milstead.

Several readers of The Local told us they wrongly believed they already had the right to stay in Sweden and did not need to apply for residence status, due to confusion over similar-sounding terms such as residence permit, residence card and residence status.

“Late applicants typically encountered confusing information from the Swedish state. For example, many looked at the Migration Agency web pages after Brexit and were assured that they had acquired permanent residency. They discovered much later that permanent didn’t mean permanent in their case,” said Milstead.

Late applications are not the only reasons why so many British nationals in Sweden have had their residence status rejected.

One British citizen, Gregory, had lived in Sweden for 21 years but was between jobs at the time of the deadline, which he told The Local meant he did not qualify.

Stockholm chef Stuart Philpott only learned that he should have applied for post-Brexit status shortly before he was frogmarched onto a return flight by Swedish border police.

James, a British citizen working in the building industry, only found out he no longer had residency in Sweden after calling the Migration Agency about an unrelated issue.

The Swedish Migration Agency last week put the deportation of Kathleen Poole, an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s, “on hold” pending an assessment of her health. The expulsion order, which has sparked outrage in the UK, has however not been repealed.

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BREXIT

Who in Europe is affected by the UK’s new Brexit border checks on goods?

The UK has finally introduced post-Brexit border checks on food, plants and some animal products coming in from Europe. These affect businesses for now but soon they will be extended to people carrying personal goods from the EU to the UK. 

Who in Europe is affected by the UK's new Brexit border checks on goods?

The UK finally brought in post-Brexit border checks on Thursday February 1st, affecting several products, including food and plants. 

The checks on goods arriving from countries in Europe have been due to come into force since January 2021, when the UK left the single market and customs union. But the British government postponed them five times, to allow companies to prepare and to avoid the price hikes that will result from more paperwork and longer delivery time. 

Now that the checks are finally coming into effect albeit in a phased approach, “Brexit finally becomes real for imports of EU goods into Britain,” The Economist writes.

So who is affected now and what’s the next step?

Which products are checked?

Currently the new checks concern food, plants and some animal products from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, as well as the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

Under the new system – the “Border Target Operating Model” – these goods are classified in categories based on the risk they pose to public health and the environment.

From February 1st 2024, imports of plants and animal products considered at ‘low risk’, a including ham, sausages and cured meat, as well as butter, cheese and cream as well as cut flowers, will have to be notified to authorities before they arrive in Great Britain but will not require a health certificate and they will mostly be exempt from systematic controls. 

Imports considered at “medium risk” (mostly concerning meat, dairy and fish products) or “high risk” (all plants for planting, potatoes, used farm machinery, certain seeds and wood) will require health or phytosanitary certification.

READ ALSO: How the UK’s delayed Brexit checks on fresh food from the EU could affect you

As of April 30th 2024, physical checks will begin on medium and high-risk products. Inspections will be done at designated border posts, instead of at the destination. The government said the selection of consignments for physical checks will be based on risk and the “history of compliance of specific trades”. 

From October 31st 2024 orders of medium and high-risk goods will have to be accompanied by a safety and security declaration. 

Reuters reports there will be no checks on fruit and veg imports from Europe to the UK until October.

But companies exporting products from the EU to the UK will be severely affected.

Shane Brennan, Chief Executive of the Cold Chain Federation told the UK in a Changing Europe website: “To illustrate the issue – if I am a producer of buffalo mozzarella in northern Italy, or of chorizo in western Spain… I will for the first time (possibly ever) be asked to become an exporter.. and I must train myself up on the complex international and UK rules, find a local vet that is willing to certify my goods, at site (at a cost of €200 to €700 a time); find a specialist haulier, usually on a lorry carrying goods from other local food producers with the same compliance burdens; employ an agent to ensure the data entries onto the UK’s food import IT system, alongside customs declarations, at maybe €50 to €200 a time; and… pay a new border inspection charge of up to £43 irrespective of whether my consignment is physically inspected or not.

“The reality is that many EU based food producers will take the decision not to service the UK anymore,” he said. 

Chorizo

Sending chorizo from a company in Spain to a friend in the UK? That will get more expensive. Photo: Monica Volpin from Pixabay

Why the UK is checking goods

Why are checks needed at all given that there are no quotas or tariffs under the post-Brexit EU-UK trade agreement? The reason is that both the UK and the EU have to make sure that goods meet the quality standards set out in the respective laws. 

The EU put in place border controls on goods imported from the UK immediately after the UK left the single market, in 2021. This left British exporters at a disadvantage, as they faced customs checked while EU exporters to Britain did not, the UK’s National Farmers Union (NFU) noted. 

In addition, the NFU said in October, that “border controls have a vital role to play in upholding our nation’s biosecurity, food safety and international reputation… It is crucial that goods we import into the UK meet equivalent standards and do not undermine biosecurity”.

Also, the lack of UK controls on EU imports could be challenged at the World Trade Organisation because it gave the EU an unjustified preferential treatment over other countries.

More paperwork and concerns

The new system, however, is expected to have an impact on the price of goods. Companies on both sides of the Channel will have to deal with more paperwork, which will increase costs that are going to be passed on to consumers. Time will also be a factor, as there could be delays at custom controls, especially for shipments with several types of products (the so-called “groupage”) or if businesses make mistakes in filling the forms. 

According to the UK government, the changes will cost UK businesses approximately GBP 330 million (€388 million) per year.

Businesses have expressed concerns especially for fresh goods, which could be damaged or perish while waiting. The VGB, the Dutch flower growers’ association, called on the British government to delay the checks again because they are due to start in the middle of the planting season.

Marco Forgione, director general at the Institute of Export and International Trade, told the BBC this week: “There is still confusion and uncertainty, both here in the UK and in the EU… we need to do more to make sure businesses here and in the EU really know what these changes are and how they can comply with the new regulations.”

Individual travellers could face checks from April

For now at least, personal goods brought to the UK by individual travellers are not impacted by the new rules or subject to checks.

But they will be in the near future, a spokesperson of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) told The Local.

Under the current rules , it is currently possible to bring to the UK food, including dairy, fish and meat for personal use, although there some restrictions, such as 2kg maximum on pork products. There are no restrictions on bringing food items such as chocolate, biscuits, cakes and bread.

Wine, beer and spirits are not affected by the new checks, but they have been subject to new limits since January 2021.

A plant health certificate is already needed for certain plants, seeds, bark and wood from the EU, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

But when the 

READ ALSO Bovril, tea and ham sandwiches – what are the rules on taking food from the UK into the EU?

The spokesperson for DEFRA said: “The future policy for personal imports is still being finalised and we will publish details shortly.

“It remains our intention that the new personal imports policy will come into effect in April 2024. Details are being finalised but the policy will adopt similar principles of risk assessment and proportionality as set out on the Border Target Operating Model.”

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