Unreleased Brit Government Paper Poses Huge Risks To British Expats’ Rights In Europe

A report on the UK government’s threat to deport EU expats who fail to register in time for post-Brexit immigration status may result in devastating retaliatory treatment of UK expats in Europe.

The majority of European expatriates at present living in the UK will need prior permission to stay post-Brexit, thus cancelling the priority given to EU citizens over immigrants from other world countries. The recent report stresses as yet unreported guidelines for new immigration status registration, with exemptions only granted to those with mental or physical incapacity and expat children whose parents haven’t applied for them.

At present, just 50 per cent of the estimated several million European citizens living as expats in the UK have applied for the new legal status, with immigration lawyers who’ve read the government’s draft post-Brexit guidelines saying the paper includes strict measures to deal with those who’ve not applied in time to be considered. In addition, the crucial information for EU expats in Britain has no release date as yet and, should the December 12 election result in a Labour or coalition government, all the present proposals could well be changed.

A spokeswoman for the 3Million group supporting EU citizens’ rights in the UK told the media the most vulnerable European expats fall into several sectors including those not working, the elderly and those who’re victims of domestic violence. The group has major concerns about the government’s position, as many EU citizens in the UK seem to think they don’t need to apply for settled status. Should only 5 per cent of applicants not come forward, some 175,000 EU citizens would be at risk of becoming undocumented migrants facing immediate deportation.

Worse still, any British government action which backtracks on previously promised rights for EU expat citizens will inevitably result in a similar loss of rights for the several million UK expats living in Europe, the majority of whom are retirees. A number of EU member states’ promises to support resident UK expats were clearly described as being dependent on the manner in which European citizens in Britain were treated post-Brexit, making the contents of the as yet unreleased paper pose a huge risk to all British citizens’ rights in Europe.