Britons who had been living and have called other European Union (EU) countries their home stand the risk of losing their rights and legal status in case of a no-deal Brexit.
According to the Office of the National Statistics, about 784,900 Britons are at the moment living in other EU countries, without including those living in Ireland. In other estimates, the number is even higher and it is believed to be as high as more than a one and half million Britons.
Dr. Michaela Benson who referred to Briton leaving in other EU countries as “Brits abroad” painted a picture of retirees who are leaving in other EU countries enjoying the sun, but in plain truth it is a more complex and puzzling situation that needed a thorough attention.
Majority of Britons living abroad are below 64 years of age who are obvious undercounted as they often take short term jobs. If the real figures are well collated the number of Britons leaving in other EU countries will be in the neighbourhood of 2.25 million.
The confusing statistics of the actual number of Britons living in other EU countries make it difficult to accurately determine how many Britons in other EU countries a no-deal Brexit will be affecting and who those to be affect are.
In Theresa May’s Brexit proposal to Brussels, she granted a continued residency and social security rights for both the three (3) million EU citizens resident in the UK and Britons residing in other EU countries alongside granting them the freedom to move across the UK and EU during the planned transition period.
This proposal was voted against on Tuesday by MPs. Giving rise to a situation where UK may likely be crashing out of the EU on March 29, 2019 without a deal which will spell doom in term of healthcare, social security and pension for Britons living in other EU countries.
Another major fear if eventually the UK crashes out on March 29, 2019 without a deal for Britons living and working in other EU countries is the fear of losing their livelihood, inability to work in more than one country and limited recognition of their professional qualifications.
Business owners are also worried of facing a situation that will require them to rebrand or rebuild their business which they have spent several years to build to meet up with the new reality.
The European Commission claims it is “putting citizens’ rights first” in its Contingency Action Plan for a no deal scenario, “but the level of detail in the document’s 12 pages is inevitably bare compared to the near 600-page Withdrawal Agreement”.
In spite of the good intention of both sides of the bargain in terms of citizen’s rights, a no-deal scenario will put Britons living in other EU countries at the mercy of their country of resident and they will be dealt with as individuals in line with their constitution.
Below are some of the ways EU countries are planning to deal with Britons living in their country in case of a no-deal Brexit:
Italy has promised Britons living abroad of their full rights in case of a no-deal scenario. So the MPs vote against Theresa Mays’ Brexit plan and if the UK eventually crashed out of the UK without has a very minimal effect on their rights while living in Italy.
The 45,000 Britons living in The Netherlands has been given a window period of 15 months to apply for a permanent residents in case of a no deal Brexit.
The Czech government in the few weeks will be voting to determine the future of the 8,000 Britons living in The Czech Republic until the end of year 2020.
The 310,000 Britons living in Spain and the 150,000 living in France will have the opportunity to enjoy their full rights even after a no-deal Brexit.
Germany has hinted that they would be restricting Britons from residency title for a period of three months in case of a no-deal Brexit.
The 25,000 Britons living in Austria would be losing their residency permit in a no-deal Brexit. They however requested that the British government would have to fashion out a legal regime which they have not categorically explained how it would look like for them to allow Britons living in Austria to enjoy residency permit in Austria.
