Sweden turns down British residence applications at three times the rate of any other EU country — about 2,500 people told to leave
Sweden rejects applications from British citizens for post-Brexit residence status far more often than any other country in the European Union. Of roughly 14,200 applications made in Sweden, close to 4,000 have been refused. That is a refusal rate of 27.5 percent, against an EU average of three to four percent, and three times higher than the next strictest member state. The figures come from an analysis by the British foreign ministry, and around 2,500 British citizens have been told to leave Sweden since Brexit — about a third of all such decisions taken across the 27 member states.
The background is that when the United Kingdom left the EU, its citizens stopped being EU nationals and lost the automatic right of residence. Britons already living in Sweden had to apply for a special residence status under the withdrawal agreement. The deadline for doing so was 31 December 2021. A late application can still be accepted, but only where there are reasonable grounds for the delay.
That test is where most refusals are decided. The Swedish migration agency's position is that a late application is possible only in exceptional circumstances, and that stating you were unaware of the requirement is not in itself a sufficient explanation. Being registered in the population register with a certificate showing a right of residence is also not accepted as a reason on its own. British government sources say Sweden applies the rules considerably more strictly than other EU states, and that having late applications accepted here is unusually hard.
If this affects you, there are still routes worth knowing. In exceptional cases you can apply for residence status even now, but you must explain in writing why you were prevented from applying in time. Family members of a British citizen who already holds residence status can still apply in their own right. Anyone refused can also apply under Sweden's ordinary immigration rules, and a refusal can be appealed. One widow in her seventies, refused after more than twenty years in the country, has become the case most often cited in the debate.