More than 2,250 British citizens were ordered to leave EU member states between the end of the Brexit transition period and September last year, according to figures from the bloc’s statistical office.
Quarterly data published late last month by Eurostat shows a total of 2,285 UK nationals were expelled from 1 January 2021, when British citizens lost their free movement rights within the EU, until the third quarter of last year.
Experts cautioned that the data did not specify why people were ordered to leave so not all expulsions may have been related to residency rules, but said the figures amounted to “the starkest possible reminder” of the consequences of Brexit.
“British citizens are now third-country nationals in the EU and those who are not covered by the withdrawal agreement are subject to domestic immigration laws,” said Prof Michaela Benson of Lancaster University, who has co-led several research projects on post-Brexit migration, citizenship and identity.
The Eurostat data, first reported by the Local, showed striking variations between EU member states, with Sweden accounting for nearly half (1,050) of all British citizens ordered to leave over the period and the Netherlands almost a third (615).
Malta told 115 UK nationals to leave its territory, France 95, Belgium 65, Denmark 40, Germany 25 and Austria 10, while some countries with large populations of British residents, including Spain, Portugal and Italy, reported no expulsion orders.
Benson said the contrasts most likely reflected domestic policy differences on immigration, registration requirements, and recording and reporting. “Denmark obviously has a notoriously tough approach to all immigration,” she said.
The Guardian has reported the cases of two British nationals, Phil Russell and Will Hill, who were ordered to leave because they did not know until too late they had to apply to stay in Denmark after Brexit and their applications were a few days late.
Sweden and the Netherlands had particularly strict registration requirements processes even for EU nationals, while Spain is known to have asked some UK nationals to leave but has seemingly not reported it.
Jane Golding, co-chair of the British in Europe group, said there were “worryingly high” numbers of orders to leave in some countries but the data did not distinguish between people who arrived after December 2020 and those resident before, who should in principle have rights under the Brexit withdawal agreement.
“Without further information, we cannot tell whether there are withdrawal agreement implementation problems in some of those countries that need to be investigated,” Golding said.
Benson said some of those ordered to leave may also have found themselves “accidentally” in EU member states as a result, for example, of Covid lockdowns, while others could have been subject to judicial orders, for example after committing crimes.
Comparisons with previous years are not possible because British citizens were not classed as third-country nationals so the data is not available, but it seems likely many of those ordered to leave since January 2021 have fallen foul of post-Brexit residency rules.
“We don’t know the precise reasons people were told to leave, so we should be cautious about drawing too many definitive conclusions,” Benson said.
“But this is the starkest possible reminder that 26 EU states – all bar Ireland – can exercise national immigration controls on UK citizens, and many are doing so. And that’s a consequence of Britain leaving the EU.”
Under the terms of the withdrawal agreement, UK citizens who were legally resident in one of the EU’s 27 member states at the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020 were eligible for permanent residence, protecting their basic rights.
Fourteen countries, including Spain, Germany, Portugal and Italy, opted for systems automatically conferring a new post-Brexit residence status on legally resident Britons, with no risk of losing rights if any administrative deadline is missed.
The remaining 13, however, required UK nationals to formally apply for their new post-Brexit residence status, with many setting cut-off dates.
Those who missed the deadline – many of whom have said they were not properly informed of their need to apply – as well as new arrivals since January 2021 are now subject to EU member states’ immigration, residency and visa laws for third-country nationals.
