Four years after Brexit came into effect, tens of thousands of people from the EU living and working in the UK and their families are still waiting for clarification of their status, including More than 5,700 people hold Spanish citizenship. Meanwhile, British border agents are increasingly turning away European citizens at the border on suspicion they might break the rules.
The case of the Spanish woman living and working in the UK who was expelled and returned to Spain from Luton Airport after the four-day Christmas break is an example of the limbo in which EU citizens have found themselves since the law was introduced. Rules imposed by Brexit that leave gray areas for many. In this case, as published guardianThe infected person is a 34-year-old woman named Maria, who lives with her husband and in-laws in Bedfordshire, central England, and was working as a veterinary trainee and had an official paper stating that she could work in the United Kingdom. . According to his testimony, he is waiting for his immigration status to be resolved because he requested residency papers late amid travel restrictions during the pandemic. A spokesman for the Ministry of Interior confirmed guardian In this case, border officers are acting with the “first priority of keeping” the UK’s borders “secure” and would “never” jeopardize this.
Exit agreement
According to the Withdrawal Agreement signed by the British government with the European Union, all EU citizens living in the United Kingdom on December 31, 2020 are entitled to reside and work in the country with the same rights that existed before Brexit.
The deadline for completing the papers was 30 June 2021, although there are exceptions to submitting them after the deadline for justified reasons in a difficult period due to the closure of borders due to the pandemic (particularly difficult in the case of the UK). Until September 2023, The United Kingdom was waiting to review more than 142,000 applicationsAccording to government data published and analyzed every three months the3million, an organization that defends the rights of European Union citizens in the United Kingdom. More than 11 thousand people have been waiting for two years. Among the pending requests, there were 5,760 Spanish citizens, according to the latest available data. This includes appeals for rejected cases and family reunification requests. The majority of outstanding petitions, more than 50,000, are submitted by citizens of Romania, followed by Bulgaria, Poland and Portugal.
“While they wait, their situation is precarious,” Andrea Dumitrash, CEO of the3million, explained to elDiario.es. “Significant delays in applications and increasing rejection rates mean that hundreds of thousands of EU citizens do not have a clear answer to prove their immigration status.”
People waiting will not be deported while they are in the country with their usual routine, according to the agreement with the European Union. “However, the situation at the border, when they return to the UK, is different. They are at greater risk of not being allowed into the country again as border control officers can quickly make a decision if they are not convinced that person has the right to live and work.” In the United Kingdom, based on documents provided to them and regardless of that person's requests.
In the UK, there are around 300,000 Spaniards who have been granted “settled” or “pre-settled” status introduced as a transition after Brexit which allows them to work, go to the doctor or open an account. The Spanish community is the fourth largest with this status after Romania, Italy and Portugal.
Complex paperwork
The papers for EU citizens, which were questioned by the European Commission, were partly challenged by British justice as an unnecessary complication.
In December 2022The British Supreme Court ruled against the government mechanism according to which, five years after obtaining a so-called “advance settlement,” anyone who did not repeat the papers to achieve the “settlement” would lose all his rights.
After some internal debate, the Conservative government decided not to appeal the ruling but had not finished designing the new system its own justice required. For now, it has agreed to a two-year extension for citizens with “pre-settlement” status. There can be gray areas where which EU citizens should have the right to remain in the UK is not entirely clear, and vice versa.
the Independent oversight body for citizens' rights (IMA, in its English acronym), a public and independent body of the government, achieved this victory. In a statement sent by a spokesperson for the organization to elDiario.es, the organization said that it is now “concerned” about how this judicial decision will be implemented and continues to hold the government accountable. It also ensures that “the rights of citizens awaiting a decision on their application include the right to work, receive benefits and enter and exit the UK.”
This body encourages anyone in distress to contact the organization and spread the word Videos With practical advice for EU citizens and other affected European countries such as Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.
Uncertainty is one of the big problems that many applicants face. “As we saw in the case of the affected Spanish woman, even though you do not have a decision, sometimes they give you an exception document and there can be confusion within the Home Office. “It's very complicated,” says Peter Walsh, professor of migration studies and academic researcher at elDiario.es. Oxford University Migration Observatory. “Sometimes, they don't even really understand what the rules are.”
Expulsions at the border
Most expulsions of EU citizens occur at the border with entry denied, as happened to Maria, either because they traveled while waiting for their case to be resolved or because they went to the UK for purposes other than tourism at most. From six months. As a tourist, a person from the EU can enter the UK on their passport and stay for six months, but cannot work or settle permanently.
Between January and September 2023, UK border officers denied entry to nearly 500 people of Spanish nationality out of more than 10,000 such cases involving EU citizens, according to British Home Office statistics. Cases have increased tenfold since Brexit, as evidenced by the evolution of the data it has collected Migration Observatory.
The number of EU citizens refused entry is around 4,000 every three months. “This means that about 60% of people refused entry to the UK are EU citizens,” explains Dumitrash of the3million. “The large number of EU nationals being stopped at the border is very worrying. It shows that the Home Office continues to subject people to a hostile environment where the burden of proof always falls on the individual who has to prove their rights. He added: “It is a disproportionate and very harsh application.” “Immigration rules are too complex, and it must stop.”
In addition to administrative expulsions at points of entry, thousands of people are being classified for deportation. Between March 2022 and March 2023, the UK forcibly deported 4,193 people; Among them, 46% were EU citizens (the most common country of origin being Romania), according to the Interior Ministry.
In fact, this represents a decrease compared to previous years. “The numbers are generally low for all nationalities. “It is difficult for us to deport people, whether to the EU or to other countries,” says Oxford Observatory's Walsh. “There were several thousand people returning 10 or 20 years ago. It is not clear why. Is it due to issues of diplomacy and the lack of willingness of countries to accept their citizens? Is law enforcement not working effectively? We do not know. But we know that we are returning fewer people to their countries of origin compared to what we have done historically.
And the European Union?
Brexit rules have also caused problems at the border for British citizens traveling or living in EU countries, although the numbers are small so far.
According to data available from Eurostat, in 2021, a total of 4,465 people were detained at the borders of EU countries, and in 2022, only 1,270 were detained. No Briton was expelled on arrival at the Spanish border during those two years.
Some countries, such as Spain, have not recorded forced deportations of British citizens. British citizenship is not among the top 20 nationalities rejected at the border. According to the latest available Eurostat dataCorresponding to 2022. The countries that have been most strict with British citizens so far are France, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
“Subtly charming bacon junkie. Infuriatingly humble beer trailblazer. Introvert. Evil reader. Hipster-friendly creator.”