Five years ago, on December 31st 2020 the post-Brexit transition period came to an end and along with it free movement of people between the UK and EU countries.
Whilst the rights of Britons to stay and work in Europe were safeguarded, many UK nationals who benefited from the Withdrawal Agreement have found them hard to secure and campaign group British in Europe says the battle to ensure no one loses out is still ongoing.
"We still get cases every week and we are now seeing much more complex ones than they used to be, so we cannot say that Brexit is done. There is a long way to go before the full set of rights will be implemented,” says Fiona Godfrey from the citizen's' rights campaign group British in Europe.
“Brexit is something we will never get over, even if we have come to terms with it and the loss of our rights, and most of us have been able to access the withdrawal agreement rights. I think there's still a sense of bereavement and the consequences will stay with us,” Godfrey added.
After Brexit came into effect UK citizens were required to apply for their new legal status in 13 EU countries and Norway (the constitutive countries). In another 13, plus Iceland and Switzerland (the declaratory countries), they had to register or just request the new documents when the old ones expired, while Ireland has different rules under the Common Travel Area.
Over the past two years, British in Europe have carried out a project funded by the EU to “Inform, Connect, Empower (ICE)” UK nationals in the EU, so they could understand how the withdrawal agreement was implemented in 11 countries – Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta and Sweden.
Godfrey and other British in Europe volunteers had met for dinner at the start of the project and whilst they had come to terms with Brexit and the impact on their rights, they felt the need to act.
"It was the first time we all came together in person and it was a special evening, really moving… We went round the room and asked people what had brought them to withdrawal agreement volunteering and everyone had a different reason… they just didn’t want to sit back, and that’s a feeling that stayed to this day,” Godfrey concluded.
Confusion on immigration status
“We wanted to test whether people who had to apply for their new status had done so, also in declaratory countries, and if they experienced any issues, in particular on the upgrade to long-term residence , the role of absences, family reunification, social security and equal treatment,” says British in Europe's Godfrey.
“In constitutive countries, almost 90 per cent of people had applied for their status, which is good, but the 10 percent of people who didn’t could spell bad news, although some may have not done so because they acquired an EU citizenship. In declaratory countries, 17 or 18 percent of Britons have not applied for the new card,” she adds.
“On the whole, you could argue, it's a success. But when you look at the declaratory countries, where there are big populations [of British nationals], such as Germany and Spain, it’s potentially thousands of people who do not have a new withdrawal agreement card, so they could experience difficulties for instance when they travel outside of the Schengen zone under the EU's new EES border system,” she says.
Typical problems
While overall the implementation of the withdrawal agreement has been “relatively smooth,” it has not been the case in all countries, according to the final report of the project.
A key issue was the confusion between national or EU residence statuses, a problem often faced by non-EU citizens, the report says. For instance, people seeking to obtain EU long-term residence, which grants rights across the EU, were “steered towards national immigration statuses, with which the authorities are more familiar,” the document explains.
In other cases, such as Sweden, the interpretation of the withdrawal agreement was “very strict and literal”, which “does not reflect the spirit” of the treaty, according to British in Europe. For other countries, the problem is a lack of resources, again reflecting situations already experienced by non-EU nationals.
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Different problems in each country
During the two-year project, British in Europe volunteers recorded 89 individual cases of problems associated with the implementation of the withdrawal agreement that were considered to be widespread among community.
The largest number was in Sweden (34), where issues were reported “both around in-time and late applications”, as well as family reunification and the upgrade of residence status, Godfrey says.
Another country with several cases was Austria, where there were issues of equal treatment related to access to social housing and the right to buy property.
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Across countries, problems were reported with regard to family reunification and absences. The report says that “cases have arisen where a child is born after the end of the post-Brexit transition period to parents who are withdrawal agreement beneficiaries with permanent residence (allowing them to be absent from their host country for 5 years) but their newly born child is only entitled to ordinary withdrawal agreement residence status (allowing them to be absent for six months, and in some cases up to a year).”
“As yet, the position of the child’s status is not clear… and we and the Commission have different views on the position,” the British in Europe report says.
Family reunification rights is also an issue for beneficiaries of the withdrawal agreement who were not in a durable partnership nor married before the end of the post-Brexit transition and later wished to bring their new partner or spouse to their host state, as family rights under the agreement only apply to relationships existing before December 31st 2020.
In addition, groups reported several issues related to the right of equal treatment and non-discrimination. These concerned the purchase of property, access to student grants and loans, and family rights for same sex couples.
Emerging issues
In the future, British in Europe expect cases to increase in the area of social security coordination, especially as Brits reach retirement.
In 2025 and 2026 the group also expects the upgrade to permanent residence to be a “recurring issue”. Beneficiaries of the withdrawal agreement could obtain permanent residence if they have lived in their host country for at least five years, or ordinary or temporary residence if less than that. Five years on, people with temporary rights should be able to upgrade to permanent residence, if their situation hasn’t changed.
This will grant them enhanced rights regarding absences, for instance, but issues have been reported regarding authorities making “unnecessary requirements” such as language knowledge or “onerous financial information”.
“In theory, old residence card are enough to prove their status domestically, but our position has always been to get a withdrawal agreement card as soon as possible to secure their rights,” Godfrey says.
A toolkit with information about the rights of British citizens in the EU under the withdrawal agreement is available on the British in Europe website.
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