A 65-year-old British man deported from Sweden arrived at Heathrow on Tuesday with two bags and no place to go, after a five-year legal battle ended with his removal from the country and separation from his Swedish wife. Doubled over a baggage trolley, Charles told reporters he was exhausted after being taken off a plane in London following detention in Sweden. He said he has no home, no property and no immediate support in the UK, and that his only aim is to return to his wife in Sweden. Charles said he does not want his full identity published. But he provided a message from the British consulate setting out where people leaving on immigration decisions can seek assistance at Heathrow. Deportation After detention and rejected residency bidCharles said he was marched onto a plane in Stockholm and separated from his home and wife after being held for about two weeks. He described being detained shortly after receiving a text instructing him and his wife to attend a local police station to discuss their migration case. He said he and his wife believed the meeting would relate to their attempt to establish that they had remained lawfully in Sweden after Brexit. Instead, he was detained and told he would be deported. He said he had tried to avoid detention, offering to return voluntarily, but authorities told him the decision had already been made. He also said he asked whether he could drive back to Britain to take some belongings, but was refused. According to the account he gave, he has lived in Sweden for nearly nine years, moved there close to the time before Brexit, and has spent recent years seeking residency. He said his most recent attempt followed a decision under the Aliens Act after a residency application submitted before Brexit was rejected. Limited belongings, little help in the UKAfter disembarking, Charles sat in an airport café processing what had happened. He said the only items he has are those carried by his wife in a bag for him, plus a small set of belongings returned to him by staff on the aircraft. He said the items include a sealed envelope marked with the Swedish Prison and Probation Service and a few toiletries and personal effects that he received in a detention centre during his two-week confinement. He also described receiving documentation from a captain before landing, including a police document indicating he did not need to be escorted, and another document stating he was being deported following a failed residency application. Charles said he last returned to the UK in 2022 for about a week. Before emigrating in 2017, he said he had not been in the UK since then, and he has no children, an only child, and no property there. Deportations continue despite second-chance promisesCharles’s case is part of continuing removals of British citizens from Sweden after Brexit, he said, following refusals of residency applications. Stockholm has deported 458 British nationals after rejected requests, a figure he provided as being higher, proportionally, than any EU member state. Opposition parties, who are preparing to form a government, have said they will introduce urgent legislation to allow Britons a second chance to apply for residency. Charles said he felt he had been treated as a criminal despite years spent trying to integrate in Sweden. He said he learned some Swedish, worked to take part in society, and made contributions to the Swedish economy. He said that experience has been humiliating, adding that he previously worked in public service helping prisoners and unemployed people start businesses. Withdrawal Agreement Implementation Under ScrutinyBritish in Europe has criticised Sweden’s approach to Britons after Brexit, saying some cases raise questions about whether implementation matches the intent of the withdrawal agreement. Jane Golding, the chair of the group, said Charles now faces homelessness in the UK, despite having means and a home and wife in Sweden. Golding said the withdrawal agreement was designed to allow citizens broadly to continue their lives as before. She also pointed to the absence of a statutory body in EU member states to oversee correct implementation, saying support for UK citizens trying to enforce rights is not comparable with the UK’s independent monitoring arrangements. She said volunteers attempting to help are overwhelmed. Golding also noted that recent cases had become election issues in Sweden, including the removal order issued to a 78-year-old British widow who had been in the country for 21 years, a 74-year-old British man with dementia ordered to leave after 25 years, and another British man, aged 34, who has lived in Sweden since he was 10 and was deported in January. Join the discussion? 21 September 2026
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