British man with severe health issues in hiding in Sweden over Brexit deportation order

A 60-year-old British man living in Sweden has gone into hiding with his wife after being ordered to leave the country by 17 October, following a dispute over his post-Brexit residency status. Mark Smith, who has lived in Sweden since 2017, suffers from heart attacks, strokes, severe headaches, and chronically high blood pressure that is difficult to treat. He and his wife Petra have moved from their apartment in Falkenberg, south-west Sweden, to a caravan park out of fear of being detained by police.

Smith said that in 2020, after Brexit, Swedish authorities told him he needed to do nothing to remain in the country. He had worked, held private health insurance, supported his wife, and was registered on the population register administered by the national tax authority. Sweden is one of 13 of the 27 EU member states that required Britons living there before Brexit to make a formal application to remain, unlike Spain and others which only required a residency declaration.

A court ruling and a race against time

On 12 October, a court ruled that the deportation decision would not be suspended, but gave Smith until 20 October to submit an application for a retrial regarding the grounds for the decision on indefinite deportation. Smith said he had asked the Swedish tax authorities three times whether he needed to do anything because of Brexit, and each time was told no, and that he had to wait five years to apply for permanent residency. He trusted the tax authority’s answers because it is a government body.

David Milstead, a British-Swedish volunteer citizens’ rights activist with the group Brits in Sweden, said Smith’s case is typical of many Britons in Sweden. He has encountered numerous British citizens who actively sought information from Swedish authorities about their residence rights after Brexit, only to receive vague or unhelpful answers, sometimes being told they needed to do nothing. Milstead said a gentleman with Smith’s serious health conditions should not have to fight deportation, and questioned how the European Commission could conclude that Sweden’s treatment of late applications under the Brexit withdrawal agreement does not warrant a challenge.

Health fears and family impact

Smith had a minor heart attack on Wednesday night. His wife Petra said his health conditions leave him vulnerable, and she is unsure if he will last until Christmas. She said he has been told he cannot drive or fly, and asked what they expect him to do—get up and walk to England? Petra, who has been with Smith for 12 years, said the deportation would be devastating for her and her 15-year-old son with special needs, whom Smith co-parents. She said she feels ashamed to be Swedish and called the treatment racist to British people.

Smith’s troubles began in 2021 when he fell ill and applied for sickness benefit. Officials then told him he should have applied for post-Brexit residency. The couple applied immediately, at the end of 2021, in time for Sweden’s 31 December deadline. They waited more than two years, and the application was rejected on the grounds that they were not married and had no family connection to merit residency. They married in 2023, but family connections are not criteria under free movement rights, which apply regardless of marital status, and campaigners believe there is a strong case.

Wider concerns and calls for action

Sweden has deported 458 Britons, including a man who had been in the country since age 10, and a 65-year-old man married to a Swede with no family or property in the UK. Removal orders were also issued to a man with dementia in 24-hour care who had been in Sweden for 25 years. Under the legally binding Brexit withdrawal agreement, governments must communicate residency rules, consider late applications on reasonable grounds, and exercise proportionate decisions, including for vulnerable people.

Milstead said Sweden stands out from other EU countries, and there are unanswered questions about proportionality and the treatment of vulnerable people. He said Smith’s case is depressingly familiar and should warrant urgent attention from the European Commission. Smith said he wants his situation publicised, and that the British government needs to know what is happening to expats in Sweden, not just to him but to others. He also recalled that he had wanted to ask Petra’s father for permission to marry, and her father died two weeks after giving permission. Smith said they were so much in love, lived together, did everything together, and even now hold hands walking down the streets.