Brexit: Liz Truss 'has not shown political will' says EU policy chief

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Britons who moved to Portugal before Brexit were promised their rights to remain in the EU would be unhinged and a new residency card would be issued for them. But despite being told the new permits would arrive “soon” since July 2019, new ID cards are still being issued for many.

Without the new residency IDs, UK nationals are now being deprived of basic rights as well as being unable to travel across the bloc with their families.

Some have been blocked at airports in other EU countries as their paperwork was not accepted by border security.

Tig James, co-president of the British in Portugal campaign group, told Euronews: “We are in desperate straits.

“It has paralysed and damaged UK nationals’ lives emotionally, physically and financially.”

She added: “Two people were recently detained in Germany because of out-of-date residency documentation.”

In an email, Portugal’s Immigration and Borders Service (SEF) “clarifies that the current residence documents of British nationals living in Portugal continue to be accepted”.

But British resident Nicola Franks said she still encountered issues travelling to Amsterdam with her husband with a temporary ID.

She told Portuguese TV SIC: “The border control official looked at these papers he had obviously never seen before and decided they were not legitimate, that, in fact, they were only applications for residency.

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“To make a long and frightening story as short as possible, he turned me back to Portugal.”

Ms James continued: “SEF are consistent in saying the paperwork they have given is sufficient which it most certainly isn’t.

“Without a WABC you can’t register for health care if you move address (people seriously ill, potentially terminally ill, cannot get treatment), doctors refusing treatment, appointments cancelled.”

Britons have also had issues converting their UK driving licences to Portuguese ones, while students applying for EU university fees are being rejected.

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Ms James said: “Portuguese institutions or businesses are simply refusing to deal with UK nationals or provide a service.

“The Portuguese social security office has ceased family allowance payments until a WABC can be produced and the birth of a child cannot be registered.

“Only on one family employing a lawyer were they able to finally register their child and, by the time all the negotiations were completed, the child was ten months old.”

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