British widow, 78, who has lived in Sweden for 22 years may be deported and have to leave her son and grandchildren behind after saga with post-Brexit residence application

A British widow who has lived in Sweden for more than two decades is set to be deported due to a Brexit-related application form.Joyce Thomas, 78, moved to the country 22 years ago with her husband and son but did not make a formal application immediately after Brexit to stay in the country.The grandmother was only alerted to the problem several years after the EU-UK withdrawal agreement. Now, subsequent applications and appeals to stay in Sweden have been rejected and Tuesday marks the last day she can leave the country voluntarily.After the UK left the EU on January 31, 2020, Brits were no longer EU citizens and so could not automatically stay in European countries.Britons already living in Sweden could apply for residence status in the 12 months following the UK's departure – but Ms Thomas said she and her husband, who passed away three years ago from cancer, did not know about the application.It was only after she left the country in 2023 that she had trouble re-entering as she could not provide authorities with her residence documents.Despite several years of appealing her expulsion, the Migrationsverket, the government agency responsible for migration in Sweden, informed Ms Thomas that she had to leave by September 8, forcing her to leave behind her son, grandchildren and friends.'I'm tired, I really am tired and I'm not young anymore,' she told the BBC. Joyce Thomas, 78, who has lived in Sweden for over two decades, is set to be deported due to a Brexit-related application formMs Thomas, who regularly visits her husband's grave, added: 'Where is the empathy? I've lived here for more than 20 years - I've got friends, I've got family.''This is absolute hell. I can't sleep, I can't eat. You get up in the morning, you don't know what's going to happen,' Ms Thomas added. More than 20 people, including doctors, friends and priests, testified in support of Ms Thomas being allowed to stay. The grandmother, who is a frequent churchgoer, was reportedly still waiting today to hear back from the government following her lawyer's latest arguments. Her legal representatives previously told a court in Luleå that upheld the decision to deny her application that it was 'not proportionate for [Ms Thomas] to be deported solely because she missed a deadline due to insufficient information'.'Furthermore, it is not acceptable that the Swedish authorities failed to inform her that she needed to file an application and of the deadline by which it was to be filed,' they said.Under Article 18 of the EU-UK withdrawal agreement, people who are late to apply for their residence status can still have it granted if they have 'reasonable grounds' for doing so. In the court ruling, authorities decided she was not 'particularly vulnerable' and still had a pension in the UK, as well as another son. Swedish authorities told the BBC that they will assess whether there are any measures that can be adopted to 'make the process easier for those affected'.'I don’t take anything from this country. I am self-sufficient, I put money in this country, have no criminal record,' Ms Thomas told The Guardian last week. If she does not leave voluntarily by September 8, Ms Thomas could be denied re-entry and put on a watch list that would prevent her from being able to visit a Schengen country. Sweden has reportedly already deported or forcibly removed 458 British citizens since Brexit.Last week, a 34-year-old Brit was deported from the country despite having lived there since he was ten and marrying a Swedish national. And last month, a family was battling to stop an elderly man, who receives specialist care for his vascular dementia and vascular Parkinsonism, being deported despite living in Sweden for more than 20 years.