A 78-year-old British widow has told the BBC she is struggling to devour oregon slumber arsenic the Swedish authorities threatens to deport her implicit a precocious post-Brexit residence application.
Joyce Thomas, a retired nurse, moved to Sweden 22 years agone with her husband, who passed distant from crab 3 years ago.
This came aft they were informed by the Swedish authorities that they should person made a ceremonial exertion to enactment successful the state aft Brexit.
Thomas has since had galore applications and appeals rejected, and Tuesday marks the latest deadline for her to permission voluntarily.
"This is implicit hell," she said from her location successful Sweden.
"I can't sleep, I can't eat. You get up successful the morning, you don't cognize what's going to happen."
The Swedish migration curate told the BBC that the authorities volition "examine whether determination are measures we tin instrumentality to marque the process easier for those affected" by immoderate consequences of the EU-UK withdrawal agreement.
When the UK near the EU connected 31 January 2020, British citizens stopped being EU citizens, which meant they could nary longer enactment successful Sweden with close of residence status.
During a transitional period, British citizens could use for residence presumption nether the withdrawal statement betwixt the UK and the EU - which ended connected 31 December 2021.
Thomas said she and her hubby were unaware that they needed to taxable an exertion and she was lone informed of the regularisation erstwhile she attempted to re-enter the state successful 2023.
After years of appeals, the Migrationsverket, the Swedish authorities bureau liable for migration, told her past period that her voluntary departure deadline was 8 September.
Her lawyers are arguing against the deportation, but she is inactive waiting to perceive from the government.
Thomas said the anticipation of having to permission her son, grandchildren, friends and husband's sedate has go excessively overmuch to bear.
"I'm tired, I truly americium bushed and I'm not young anymore," she said.
"Where is the empathy? I've lived present for much than 20 years - I've got friends, I've got family."
According to Eurostat data, betwixt 2021 and 2025, 2,490 UK nationals were ordered to permission Sweden. This is astir a 3rd of much than 7,500 UK nationals ordered to permission the 27 EU Member States implicit this clip period.
The Migrationsverket said it could not remark connected Thomas's lawsuit without her consent and did not respond to a question astir however galore British nationals are astatine hazard of deportation.
However, it told the Guardian past week that 458 British citizens had been deported oregon forcibly removed since Brexit.
Last month, a household told the BBC however their father, who has dementia and vascular parkinsonism and is surviving successful full-time attraction successful Sweden, was besides threatened with removal aft much than 2 decades successful the country.
Swedish curate for migration, Johan Forssell, told the BBC that the existent model was implemented by a erstwhile authorities and that it "will truthful look intimately astatine the concern and analyse whether determination are measures we tin instrumentality to marque the process easier for those affected".
He did not code Thomas's lawsuit straight but said "the authorities believes the rules should beryllium applied generously".
"The UK is simply a precise important spouse for Sweden, and we privation British citizens who unrecorded and enactment successful Sweden to beryllium capable to stay here," helium said.
"We are presently successful dialog with the applicable Swedish authorities to get a clearer representation of what measures whitethorn beryllium possible," helium added.
A spokesperson from the the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said: "We invited the connection from the Swedish authorities that they volition look astatine this issue. We are acceptable to enactment them successful doing so."
English (US)·