Sweden Deports British Resident Amid Brexit Agreement Dispute

The Government of Sweden deported a 65-year-old British man, identified as Charles, on Tuesday after he failed a residency application under the Aliens Act. Charles, a former business director who had lived in Sweden for nine years and is married to a Swedish citizen, was detained for two weeks by the Swedish Prison and Probation Service before being flown to London Heathrow. Upon arrival in the United Kingdom, Charles reported being left homeless as he owns no property and has no children in the country.

This deportation is part of a larger pattern in which Sweden has removed or deported 458 British citizens since Brexit, a rate that exceeds any other European Union member state. The campaign group British in Europe argues that this hardline immigration stance may violate the spirit of the legally binding withdrawal agreement designed to protect citizens residing in host countries before the UK's departure from the EU.