Danish MP Mads Fuglede is fighting to stop the deportation, which he says is a breach of the spirit of the withdrawal agreement to protect the rights of EU citizens. However, after last week’s election and with no new government in sight in Copenhagen, worried that help might not come in time for Philip Russell. The 47-year-old financial services manager received his first removal order in May and was devastated to learn it was because he was four days late with new residence papers and didn’t realize he needed them after Brexit. He was sure someone would see that this was a small mistake, but on Monday he received the bombshell news that his deportation appeal had failed and he must leave the country, his job and his fiancee. “You must leave Denmark no later than one month from today’s date, which means no later than December 6, 2022. As a consequence of our decision, you no longer have the right to work in Denmark without a work permit. We will therefore inform your employer of our decision,” they said. “I feel completely devastated. I’ve already been through 11 months of hell, with no end in sight except my deportation, so this means I’m going to lose my job, my house, my fiancee, to be flown back to London,” Russell said. He considers such a punishment for the delay in applying to be completely disproportionate to the alleged offence, but is now fighting against time to overturn the deportation order. Fuglede, who has taken up his case, said he had written to the former home secretary to ask for the law to be changed to allow late applications to be considered, as is the case in the UK. “I know he missed the deadline, but we have to look at it politically and make sure there is room for Philip and others like him. That was not the understanding when we passed the law. The spirit of the withdrawal agreement was to ensure that every British citizen in Denmark had an easy path to stay. “There are probably others going through similar anguish that is not what we wanted,” he said. He wrote to Kaare Dybvad, the former immigration minister, about Russell’s case but had not heard back until last week’s election and says it could be weeks or months before a new government is formed. “Philip will need the help of a lawyer which is a lot of money. In a perfect world there should be a delay in decisions for late applicants,” Fuglede added. Russell’s fiancé, Frederikke, said she was ashamed that her country had treated her like this. “I’m in a bit of shock, it’s my worst nightmare come true. I’m still devastated. “I feel desperate and helpless. I feel like we are fighting against a system that just doesn’t want to help. They set the rules so hard. So to deport someone four days late on an application they never told us we had to do? I have to admit that I am very ashamed of my country, of all EU member states, which treats citizens like this,” he said. Frederikke, who suffers from clinical depression and anxiety, said the past year had been so stressful that she had to quit her job to deal with the turmoil. Russell said that not only does he need to be with her because they love each other and have planned a future together, but he is the main support for her illnesses. “I’m very shocked because we made sure we did all the things that were required of us to make sure Philip could live and work here,” she said. “We even went to their offices to have a meeting, to ask ‘is everything good, do we need to do anything more?’ and they told us ‘no, everything was fine’ and we trusted the authority,” he said. Russell moved to Denmark to be with his fiancée in October 2020, three months before the end of the Brexit transition period in December 2020. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Denmark was among several countries to extend the deadline for EU citizens to apply for residency post-Brexit by a year, but Russell says he has received no notice that he had to do anything despite several communications with him since 2020 . The first Philip and Frederikke knew about Denmark’s post-Brexit residency program was when he applied for a job on January 4, 2022, and his potential employer asked to see his national residence card. “I said ‘what the hell are you talking about?’ and they said, ‘oh, you should have submitted it four days ago.’ “Then I started frantically searching various online forums and websites and learned that the Danish authorities should have written to me at least twice, maybe three times last year asking me to apply for a residence permit,” he said. Siri, the Danish immigration authority, said it could not comment on a specific case. However, Siri said it and other government agencies and private organizations had launched information campaigns with “extensive information on the consequences of Brexit and guidance on how to apply”. Siri said it had sent three information letters to around 19,000 resident British citizens and their families and had set up a Brexit hotline for questions and had records of 290 late applications. It added that it would “consider all the circumstances and reasons” that someone had applied late and would process the application if there were “reasonable reasons” for not meeting the December 31 deadline. When assessing a late application, “SIRI will also consider the applicant’s personal circumstances and ties to Denmark, e.g. length of stay, links to the labor market and the impact on the applicant’s next of kin,” it said. It added that its decisions were subject to review by an independent appeals board and advice was available to unsuccessful applications on how to make a complaint. A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office said it was in contact with a UK national in Denmark about his residency status, but gave little further comment beyond the rules as outlined in Siri’s statement.
