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READER QUESTIONS

Reader question: If Britons are already resident in one EU country, can they move to another?

As British nationals face new rules on moving to EU and Schengen countries, readers are asking if already having residency in one EU member state allows them to move freely to another.

Published: 18 January 2021 13:05 CET
Updated: 31 May 2021 16:01 CEST
Reader question: If Britons are already resident in one EU country, can they move to another?
If you already call a European country home, how are your rights affected after Brexit? Photo: AFP
Question: I now have residency status in Italy, but I was wondering, does that allow me free movement within Europe or am I still bound by the conditions for all UK citizens?

This question is one of several similar queries The Local has received recently, as British nationals get to grips with new restrictions on travel and life in Europe.

EU membership and freedom of movement had previously allowed Britons to move abroad to live, work, and retire without the need for visas.

This had also allowed British nationals to then move freely from one EU member state to another.

But that is no longer the case, after British PM Boris Johnson and his government decided to end freedom of movement, including onward from one EU country to another.

Simply put, this means a British national wanting to move from one EU country to another would now need to apply for a long-stay or residency visa – in exactly the same way as if they were moving from the UK to the EU for the first time.

This is because rules are based on your citizenship, rather than on the country you have residency in.

So moving from one EU country to another, while still possible, is now more complicated.

READER QUESTION: Can Brits stay more than 90 days in the EU if they have a spouse with an EU passport?

For example, a British citizen now resident in France would not be able to move to Germany without going through the process for visas, because the freedom they used to leave the UK in the first place has ended.

Each EU country will have its own requirements for new residents. Italy, for example, has from January 1st 2021 introduced a new long-stay visa for British nationals hoping to move to the country.

No visa will be needed to stay in the EU or the wider Schengen zone for under 90 days in every 180 day period, but anyone planning a longer stay, or to do paid work, will have to apply for one.

Member comments

  1. Why would you want to leave Asti? For those who live elsewhere, the church is San Secondo, where (in normal times) I sing in one of the choirs.

  2. If a Brit has residency in France, for example, does that mean the 90 day limit for visiting other EU countries has already been used up ?

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BREAKING

‘We’ve found a solution’: Denmark extends deadline for post-Brexit residency

The Danish government announced on Monday that British nationals, who had missed a previous deadline to secure their post-Brexit residency status, will now have until the end of 2023 to apply or resubmit their late application.

Published: 27 March 2023 14:37 CEST
'We've found a solution': Denmark extends deadline for post-Brexit residency

After the UK left the EU, Britons resident in Denmark before the end of 2020 were required to apply to extend their residence status in Denmark and receive a Danish residence card under the terms of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.

A significant number of British residents – at least 350, according to official figures released at the beginning of this year – did not apply before the original deadline of December 31st, 2021, however.

Many were subsequently given orders to leave Denmark and Danish immigration authorities came in for much criticism from rights groups representing Britons in Europe, who accused them of not correctly applying the rules of the Withdrawal Agreement.

But on Monday the Danish government announced that the initial deadline will now be extended until the end of 2023.

This extended deadline will apply to all British citizens who applied after the original deadline and whose applications were subsequently not processed.

Brits who had moved to Denmark before the end of 2020 but never submitted an application to extend their Danish residency after Brexit will also have until the end of this year to submit an application, the Ministry of Immigration and Integration said.

A major complication with the original application deadline was an error relating to information letters sent out by the authority that processes the applications, the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI).

The information letters, sent in 2020, were intended to inform all British nationals living in Denmark of the need to apply for their residence status in Denmark to be continued after Brexit. But an error at the agency resulted in most people who moved from the UK to Denmark in 2020 not receiving the information mails.

The Local has previously reported on individual Britons who faced having to leave homes, jobs and loved ones in Denmark over the issue.

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“I am very pleased we have found this solution,” Minister for Immigration and Integration Kaare Dybvad Bek said in the statement.

“It has always been the government’s intention to make it easy and smooth for resident British nationals to stay in Denmark. There are some people who didn’t apply on time and we want to give them an extra chance,” he said.

Mads Fuglede, immigration spokesperson with coalition partner the Liberals (Venstre), said that “In light of Brexit, we decided in parliament that it should not harm British residents of Denmark that the United Kingdom is no longer part of the EU. I am therefore also pleased we have found a solution for the Britons who did not apply on time”.

All British residents of Denmark applying within the new deadline are still required to be eligible for ongoing residence in Denmark under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, meaning they legally took up residence in Denmark under the EU’s free movement provisions prior to the UK’s exit from the EU. This does not represent any change to the rules under the earlier deadline.

British residents who must now submit applications by the new deadline should be aware of the distinction between an earlier application being rejected, with it not being processed.

In general, late applications under the old deadline were not processed, unless SIRI deemed there to be special circumstances justifying the late submission. In these cases, SIRI informed the applicant that their application could not be processed, citing the missed deadline as the reason for this.

Persons whose applications were processed but were rejected because they did not meet the criteria for ongoing residence under the Withdrawal Agreement will not be given the chance to reapply, the ministry said.

People who moved to Denmark after the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31st, 2020 are still subject to general Danish immigration rules for third-country nationals.

The deadline extension will require a legal amendment which will be sent into the hearing phase of parliamentary procedure “as soon as possible”, the ministry said in the statement.

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