Which EU Countries Are Being Kindest To British Expats

Many EU member states have now passed, or have stated their intention to do so, new laws ensuring the post –Brexit rights of UK expats.

The no-deal Brexit packages of rights on offer vary state to state, with some covering the majority of needs and others sticking to the bare minimum and charging for special permits. Malta’s no-deal resident permit tops the list for generosity, as it gives those resident on the island on 29 March a full 10 year status and allows workers open access to jobs as well as permitting students to continue with their studies. Self-sufficient expats must show an income equivalent to the island’s minimum wage as well as having private health insurance.

France is offering various schemes dependant on expats’ length of stay, with those resident for five years or more able to get a permanent residency card. For those who arrived during the past five years, as yet-unpublished income criteria may well be demanded, and the documents will cost around €269. UK expats in Germany will be processed under the country’s third country migration law, and will have three months to deal with the required bureaucracy. Britons wishing to stay are being urged to apply for new residency permits.

Poland is offering two options, with the first a temporary three-year residency permit and the second a permanent residency for Brits who’ve lived continuously in the country for five years. In Italy, lawmakers are discussing allowing British expats a lifetime right to remain for those who’re in situ on the withdrawal date, but nothing has yet been published as regards a promised decree guaranteeing residency for UK expats after a no-deal Brexit. Spain is now considering a full two-year transition period to allow its bureaucrats enough time to get it right, and Sweden is giving Britons a year after a no-deal Brexit to apply for residency.

Austria, however, is tougher with Brit expats, only giving them six months, and the Netherlands’ ‘national transition scheme’ allows a 15 month window for residency applications. Belgium and Portugal are guaranteeing British rights to remain until December 2020 no matter how Brexit ends, and Latvia and Bulgaria are allowing until the same date for residency applications. Lithuania is the only EU member state so far which is currently accepting applications for no-deal residency permits from British expatriates.