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A 78-year-old British widow living in Sweden has expressed deep distress as she faces the possibility of deportation following a late application for residence after Brexit. Joyce Thomas, a retired nurse, relocated to Sweden 22 years ago with her late husband, who passed away three years prior due to cancer. The Swedish government has warned her to leave the country voluntarily by a recent deadline, citing that she failed to submit the required formal application to remain after the UK’s departure from the EU.
Thomas revealed to the BBC that she is struggling with the uncertainty, saying, “This is absolute hell.” She described her situation as unbearable, unable to eat or sleep, and overwhelmed by the fear of what might come next. The complications arose because British citizens lost their automatic EU residency rights when the UK left the bloc on 31 January 2020. A transitional period existed until 31 December 2021, during which applications for residence under the withdrawal agreement could be submitted. Thomas and her husband, however, were unaware of these requirements until she attempted to return to Sweden in 2023.
Despite multiple appeals and applications, Thomas’s requests have been denied, and Swedish authorities—through Migrationsverket, the government agency responsible for migration issues—have imposed a deadline for her to leave. Her legal team continues to contest the deportation, but she is still waiting for a final decision. The prospect of being forced to separate from her son, grandchildren, friends, and her husband’s gravesite has taken an emotional toll. “I’m tired, I really am tired and I’m not young anymore,” she said. “Where is the empathy? I’ve lived here for more than 20 years – I’ve got friends, I’ve got family.”
On a broader scale, data from Eurostat indicate that from 2021 to 2025, Swedish authorities have ordered nearly 2,500 British nationals to leave the country, representing about one-third of the total expulsions of over 7,500 UK nationals across all 27 EU states during the same period. While the migration agency declined to comment specifically on Thomas’s case without her consent and did not disclose the total number of British nationals facing deportation, it confirmed to the Guardian that 458 British citizens have already been deported or forcibly removed post-Brexit. Swedish Minister for Migration Johan Forssell acknowledged that the current regulations were established by a previous administration and pledged to explore options “to make the process easier for those affected,” emphasizing a desire for the rules to be applied generously. He underscored the importance of the UK as a partner and expressed a willingness to allow British residents to remain in Sweden. Meanwhile, Thomas’s local MP, Håkan Svenneling of the Left Party, has criticized the government’s migration approach as “inhumane” and urged for policy changes following the upcoming election. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office responded by welcoming Sweden’s commitment to review the issue and offered their support
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