AIBU to think Brexit has caused unnecessary family separation?

No languages are not notriously hard for Brits to learn. They just often don't bother because they assume (correctly) that they can continue speaking English wherever they go. As far as I know, Sweden is repatriating Brits who failed to apply for residency on time. Apparently, as well as learning the language, it is also beneath them to follow the laws of the country they reside in. I am sure they can solve it by returning home and reapplying for spousal visa - the same rule Brits imposed on everyone else.

So it was ok for brits to go and live off of others/the foreign state/the British state?

Plus we voted out 10 years ago...thats 10 years to get your shit together and apply for residency/citizenship.

Why didn't he do it day one?

Funny how when it's a Brits living abroad deported back to the UK, it's a sobbing story but when it's a foreigner deported from the UK, it's a celebratory story!

In any case, this is just sobbing drama. Like most people who lived in the EU pre Brexit, he could have taken the steps to remain. He clearly failed somewhere or left a lot out of his story.

And finally, torn apart from his family ...really! If my husband was deported to go back to an economically stable and only a couple of hours flight away, I'd be moving with him and applying for a visa to stay in his country.

Very few.

There isn't enough detail in the article to understand what actually happened in this case, but Brexit is undoubtedly a shitshow. Its cheerleaders will never admit that though.

The people in the article seems to have lived in Sweden for years without attempting to sort their status. Like I said, I am no fan of Brexit, but it’s also not difficult to sort out your status one way or another after 10 years or whatever in another country.

Ok but not everyone is entitled to leave to remain

Leave to remain isn’t citizenship. Both Sweden and the Uk allows it.

Lots of countries don’t allow dual citizenship

I suspect there is more to that story too personally.
I am a foreigner myself by the way with Leave to remain in the Uk.
I agree Brexit fucked you guys over in the UK, but it’s not difficult to apply to leave to remain
or citizenship. And of course British
people can learn Swedish. Lots do.

and what about the man in the article with dementia who didn’t have the means to do the paperwork. It is not a non story. Loads of lives have been made significantly harder or their options/ability to live in their own country significantly reduced

Agree with other posters.
He just didn’t sort his paperwork. It’s a non story.

I am adding to my previous comment. Apparently all that was needed was to apply for a residency status before dec 2021. I feel that is the issue here. This guy didn’t and probably ignored it for years. Because if he was working legally, this would have been flagged up years ago.

There certainly is an argument that the Swedish immigration agency did not allow enough time. If you consider the extent of the change and the consequences for not applying. But on the other hand there has to be a cut off point and the wish of the uk government was that its citizens are not eu members.

It is a steaming pile of shit and those who don’t have family that are from other counties don’t realise how it can be . But it is what it is and we just have to crack on.

Agree there may be more to the story but probably he’s a victim of being an ‘easy case’ to appease immigration objectors and improve removal statistics.
It’s extremely hard to remove the undocumented people or those from unstable countries but he was a quick win for them. I am surprised he didn’t qualify on compassionate grounds but we may not know the full story.

I agree that it's heartbreaking. The Swedes are taking a very hardline approach to the Brexit agreement, but there have also been lots of issues in the UK as well with the Home Office and settled status. The requirements for anyone moving to the UK now from an EU country with a UK partner are also harsher, especially if the Brit works part-time or in a lower paid profession. Both my DS and I have EU partners. She lives in the UK and her partner already has post-Brexit settlement status but if they were to move to the UK now she would not earn enough to meet the partner visa requirements since he is the higher earner. Her profession is lower paid and she takes on childcare responsibilities, while he works full-time. I know other couples where the woman has had to stay full time in their higher paid profession and take minimal maternity leave so they can meet the financial support requirements for their partner.

It's not just Sweden. The country I live in has the 2nd or 3rd highest number of deportations of Brits post-Brexit. Attitudes to immigration are hardening with right wing parties gaining ground in many EU countries. I applied for my EU citizenship the week after the Brexit vote (been here 20 years now) as I didn't trust to wait to see what the outcome for people like me would be and didn't want to be in the situation where I needed a visa to live in the same country as my children.

Not necessarily, people are doing the paperwork and being denied residency all over the eu due to not meeting the requirements in terms of income etc. Requirements that didn’t exist previously.

He had years to sort out his status and just didn't. He could be living there still if he'd just done the paperwork

Apparently there was a high expectation and relatively short time set by the immigration agency.

British people living in sweden needed to produce 5 years of tax receipts and certificates from employers. Within 2 years. (I don't know what happened if you had been living there less than 5 years.)

But if he did what was asked, he should have been okay.

There would have alot of contact from migrationsverket. There must a lot that is not reported here.

Migrationsverket are hardline. Anyone who knows anyone who's had dealing with them knows that you do what they say. No-one minds when it is immigrants from outside europe. I have a feeling that here, this couple thought that the authorities would be lenient because he is british.

The warnings were there in the remain campaign but were dismissed by lots as being ridiculous and something that would never happen. We should never have left the EU.

Yanbu...it's a shit show but the UK seems to want to live in isolation.

Yes it has, Brexit has unnecessarily resulted in a lot of problems/ things that make things harder for lots of people.
for Brits living abroad with none British partners it is now so much harder to move back.

OP, you are correct but people who voted for Brexit intended that foreigners living in Britain should permanently feel insecure, as it makes them feel superior.

The fact that some British people would be on the receiving end was a case of just desserts for getting above themselves.

You are wrong about languages though - English speakers are perfectly capable of learning forrin languages when it suits, but you’d be surprised how many think it’s beneath them (massive side-eye to my own XH)

Sweden has been much stricter on this than other EU countries, seems especially harsh in cases like the old man with dementia living in a care home - how was he expected to make his application??