It's five years since Brexit but problems lie ahead for Brits in Europe

Five years ago, on January 31st 2020, the UK withdrew from the European Union – causing (among other things) a number of headaches for British citizens living in EU countries and for EU citizens in the UK, whose residence rights depended on EU legislation.

Jane Golding, who co-founded the group British in Europe to defend the interests of Britons in the EU during the Brexit negotiations, remembers the “conflicting feelings” on that day.

“It was a deeply sad day as the UK was leaving the EU, but some relief that the citizens most directly affected would not face a cliff edge after all," she tells The Local.

She remembers sitting in the European Parliament session when the Withdrawal Agreement was signed, in January 2020, and joining parliamentarians singing Auld Lang Syne after it was done.

“Our lives were also about to be changed by other forces as we were on the cusp of the pandemic,” she recalls.

The Withdrawal Agreement

The Withdrawal Agreement protected most rights Britons in the EU enjoyed before Brexit, but only in their country of residence. Similar deals were signed with Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, non-EU countries part of the EU free movement area.

Free movement with the UK ended on January 1st 2021, after the post-Brexit transition period.

Despite some hurdles, especially in Sweden – the country that ordered the largest number of British citizens to leave – and Denmark – which had to reopen the application process as many did not receive the letter on the need to update their status – the majority could secure the right to stay in the EU countries where they had set up new lives.

But Golding warns: “Brexit may be done for some but the issues haven’t gone away for UK citizens in the EU.”

Updating residence status

“Because it is five years on, 2025 is a critical year for all of those who acquired temporary residence (for those who had lived under five years in an EU country) under the Withdrawal Agreement because they need to upgrade to permanent residence to ensure that they secure the full rights they are entitled to,” Golding says.

Permanent residence under the Withdrawal Agreement allows those who have acquired it the right to leave the country for up to five years without losing their existing rights.

British in Europe are however concerned that people will have difficulties updating their status especially “in constitutive countries (those countries where UK citizens had to apply for the new post-Brexit status) where the percentage who were granted permanent residence was initially low. Now there will be a lot of people upgrading to permanent residence”.

At the same time, Golding says, there is a “lack of clarity and information… around the process… and five years since Brexit, the Withdrawal Agreement implementation is not as much of a priority as it was.”

There is also anxiety that some countries may make onerous requests on UK nationals for evidence of five years' legal residence, especially to prove their self-sufficiency.

New digital border

Another concern is about the introduction of the new EU digital border system, the Entry/Exit System (EES), which is expected to become operational later this year.

Non-EU citizens who live in the EU will be exempted from the requirement to introduce their personal data in the EU-wide database of people crossing the external Schengen borders, but only if they have one of the documents listed in the Schengen Border Code.

Sue Wilson, chair of British citizens’ group Bremain in Spain, told The Local: “Britons resident in the Spain will be exempt from facial recognition and finger printing, but only if they possess a TIE residency card [Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero].”

Spain, like Italy, did not demand UK residents apply for post Brexit status as France and Sweden did - meaning that Brits in those countries did not automatically get an official post-Brexit residency card.

Spain hosts the largest community of British citizens in the EU and at least 100,000 still rely on the old green residence document, which is only recognised in Spain, she says citing British government sources.

“The rush to switch to the TIE, once the EES implementation is announced, could result in difficulties obtaining appointments with the relevant authorities. The drain on appointments will only be exacerbated by the demand of tens of thousands of UK nationals who moved to Spain pre-Brexit” needing to update their residence status, Wilson added.

Failure to obtain the TIE “could cause major issues when travelling outside of the EU, and could even result in being refused entry or being flagged as an over-stayer," she argued.

More complications

Brexit also made it more difficult for British citizens to move back the UK with their European spouses, as a minimum income of at least £29,000 a year is required for UK nationals to ‘sponsor’ their family members, in addition to visa and healthcare costs.

Other ongoing problems are related to evolving rules in EU member states regarding third country nationals.

The latest is the news that the Spanish government intends to apply a 100 percent tax to property sales to non-EU buyers. “Yet another unanticipated drawback of leaving the EU,” said Bremain in Spain's Sue Wilson.

Ordered to leave

While many UK nationals continue to move to the EU to work, study or retire, recent data by the European statistical office, Eurostat, revealed that about 4,670 UK citizens were ordered to leave EU countries between 2020 and September 2024. The number passes 5,000 when adding Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

This occurs when people are found to be illegally present because they overstayed their visa or residence permits, or because they committed serious crimes. It does not necessarily concern people with rights protected under the Withdrawal Agreement.

Sweden and the Netherlands are the countries issuing the highest number of orders to leave to British citizens, although they declined last year.

EU citizenship

In recent years, several British nationals fought in court to maintain EU citizenship, which is granted automatically to citizens of EU countries and gives free movement and local voting rights across the EU, as well as the right to participation European Parliament elections. The European Court of Justice dismissed the cases arguing that the loss of EU citizenship was the result of Brexit.

The only way to regain EU citizenship and full rights across the bloc would be therefore for the UK to rejoin.

According to the latest YouGov survey, 55 per cent of Britons now say that it was wrong to leave and would support a complete undoing of Brexit.

Speaking with foreign journalists in London, John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde and a top polling expert, said this is “not because a large number of people who voted to leave changed their mind, but much more because of the people who did not vote in 2016, including those who were too young”.

He warned however that it would not guarantee a clear majority in favour of rejoining the EU in the event of a second referendum.