A seriously ill British man living in Sweden has gone into hiding over fears he will be deported because of what he says is a government error over Brexit residency rights.
Mark Smith, 60, who has suffered heart attacks and strokes, has severe headaches and chronically high blood pressure that has been hard to treat, was told by phone that he should leave Sweden by 17 October because he was an “alien” without permission to stay.
Terrified of deportation, he and his wife have left their home in Falkenberg, in south-west Sweden, for a caravan park. “We are in hiding, we daren’t go back to our apartment. We are scared to go out because we don’t know if the police will come and take us,” Smith said.
On 12 October a court ruled that a deportation decision would not be suspended, but gave him until 20 October to “submit his application for a retrial” regarding “the grounds for the decision on indefinite deportation”.
Smith has been in Sweden since 2017 and says the authorities told him he did not need to do anything to stay after Brexit in 2020. He worked, had private health insurance, supported his wife and registered on the population register run by the national tax authority, as Swedish rules require.
He did not know, however, that Sweden was among 13 of the 27 EU member states that required Britons living in the country before Brexit to make a formal application to remain. Other countries, such as Spain, did not adopt that system and only required Britons to declare that they were resident.
Smith said: “I asked the tax authorities three times on different occasions if I had to do anything because of Brexit and they said no, telling me I had to wait five years to apply for permanent residency.
“Because it was the tax authority, a government body, I took it for granted that what they told me was correct,” he added.
David Milstead, a British-Swedish volunteer citizens’ rights activist working through the Brits in Sweden group, said Smith’s case was typical of many Britons living in Sweden.
Milstead said: “Mark’s experience is far from unusual. I have come across many British citizens who actively sought information from the Swedish authorities about their residence rights after Brexit, only to receive vague, unhelpful answers, sometimes being told that they needed to do nothing.”
They include 78-year-old widow Joyce Thomas, whose husband also asked about Brexit residency and was told by the tax authorities there was nothing to do, and who is now fighting a removal order.
Smith had a minor heart attack on Wednesday night but wanted his situation made public because he said the British government needed to know what was happening to expats in Sweden, “not just to me but others”.
His wife, Petra, said his health conditions had left him so vulnerable that she was not sure “if he will last until Christmas”.
She said: “He has been told he can’t drive, he can’t fly – what do they expect him to do? Get up and walk to England? Come on, Sweden, we need to step back from all of this and be better.”
After 12 years together, she said deportation would be devastating for her and her 15-year-old son, who has special needs and whom Smith co-parents. “It is wrong what they are doing, I feel ashamed to be Swedish. What they are doing is racist to British people,” Petra said.
Smith’s troubles began in 2021 when he applied for sickness benefit and officials told him he should have applied for post-Brexit residency.
Milstead said Smith’s case was “depressingly familiar” and should warrant the urgent attention of the European Commission, which has previously said Sweden was not breaking any laws.
“A gentleman withMark’s serious health conditions should not mean he has to fight deportation. “It is difficult to understand how the European Commission has concluded that Sweden’s treatment of late applications under the [Brexit] withdrawal agreement does not warrant a challenge,” he said. “Sweden stands out so starkly from other EU countries, and there are serious questions that remain unanswered, particularly about proportionality and the treatment of vulnerable people. These are precisely the kinds of cases where the protections of the withdrawal agreement ought to matter most.”
The Scandinavian country has come under mounting pressure over its approach to the withdrawal agreements, having deported 458 Britons, including one man who had been in the country since he was 10 years old, and a 65-year-old man married to a Swede with no family or property in the UK.
Sweden has also issued removal orders to a man with dementia who is in 24-hour care and who has been in the country for 25 years.
Under the legally binding treaty, governments agreed to communicate the Brexit residency rules, consider late applications on reasonable grounds, and make “proportionate” decisions, including in the case of vulnerable people.
Smith’s troubles began in 2021 when he started to get ill and applied for sickness benefit. Officials told him he should have applied for post-Brexit residency. The couple did so immediately; they recall making the application at the end of 2021, in time for Sweden’s 31 December 2021 deadline.
They waited more than two years to hear back, and when they did, it was a rejection on the grounds that they were not married and therefore did not have a family connection to merit his residency in Sweden.
They were married in 2023 and had been living together since 2017.
It is not clear whether Smith applied for the specific Brexit residency or through the usual immigration route—an important difference, and one that may not have been made clear to Britons protected by the withdrawal agreement. Family connections are not a criterion under free movement rights, which apply to any individual regardless of marital status, so campaigners believe they have a strong case.
Smith said: “We were so much in love, we lived together, we did everything together, even now we hold hands walking down the streets. We wanted to get married, we wanted to do it the right way. I wanted to ask Petra’s father for permission and have him give her away, but two weeks after he gave me permission to marry his daughter, he passed.
“So we were looking into marriage but things just kept happening. But we don’t understand why this matters.”
They also said they had not been given the full court paperwork from the first case appealing against the migration agency’s decision, so they appealed to a higher court without the full arguments against them.
After speaking to a judge this week, Petra has been assured that all the paperwork will be sent to them by post, but they feel angry that they were not informed of the information the migration agency was arguing before the courts.
Sweden’s migration agency has said there is no evidence Sweden has taken an extreme approach to the withdrawal agreement.
The UK Foreign Office has raised concerns about Sweden’s approach to the withdrawal agreement with the European Commission on numerous occasions, but has been told Sweden is not breaching the agreement.
A spokesperson said: “We are in touch with Mr Smith and are providing consular support. We know this is a distressing and challenging time for those concerned and we are urgently raising the situation with both the Swedish authorities and the European Commission.”
The Foreign Office welcomed a statement by Sweden’s former mMigration Minister Johan Forssell said in August that Sweden would look into “additional measures” to address the issue of Brexit deportations, and Magdalena Andersson, who is on track to form the new government, made a similar statement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are FAQs about the British citizen facing deportation from Sweden under postBrexit rules who went into hiding
1 What happened to the British citizen in Sweden
A British man who had lived in Sweden for years was told he no longer had the right to stay after Brexit Facing deportation he went into hiding instead of leaving
2 Why is Brexit causing deportations from Sweden
Before Brexit Brits could live and work freely in Sweden as EU citizens After Brexit they need residence permits under Swedens rules for nonEU citizens and some people dont meet the requirements
3 What is the EU Settlement Scheme and does Sweden have one
The EU Settlement Scheme is the UKs system for EU citizens in Britain Sweden has no matching scheme Brits there had to apply for residence status under Swedish law by the end of 2021
4 What is residence status in Sweden
Its the permission Brits needed to keep living in Sweden after Brexit Its granted based on things like work family ties or sufficient income
5 What is right of residence
Its the legal right to live in a country Before Brexit Brits in Sweden had it automatically as EU citizens Now they need it granted under Swedish immigration rules
6 Why would someone be denied residence status
Common reasons include missing the application deadline not meeting income or support requirements gaps in paperwork or relying on rules that no longer apply to Brits
7 What happens if a Brit is denied and ordered to leave
They usually get a deadline to leave voluntarily If they dont they can face deportation and possibly a ban on reentering the Schengen area
8 Why did this man go into hiding
Going into hiding is a way to avoid deportation People do it when they feel they have no legal options left but dont want to leave their home job or family
9 Is going into hiding a good idea
No It doesnt fix the legal problem It can lead to detention forced removal and reentry bans and it makes future applications much harder
10 Can someone in hiding still get legal help
Yes A lawyer can often act on their behalf and some immigration cases can be handled without the person appearing in person Hiding doesnt remove the
