John Sellers, 34, who moved from the UK to Sweden aged 10 and lived there for 24 years, was deported to the UK in January despite marrying his Swedish partner Caroline. Sellers says he endured a near seven-year legal struggle to remain, that he applied for Swedish citizenship in September 2021 and was rejected, and that three attempts to stay under family or national migration rules failed. He told the Guardian he feels like a tourist whenever he returns to England and blamed Brexit for the outcome, saying none of this would have happened without it. Sellers’s parents moved from Essex to Sweden under EU free movement rules; his father died when Sellers was 16 and his mother returned to England. Sweden’s migration minister Johan Forssell faces calls from MP Håkan Svenneling to review the post-Brexit treatment of British residents after other cases emerged, including 78-year-old Joyce Thomas, who must leave by 7 September, and George Mason, who won a temporary stay until 28 September while authorities consider enforcement obstacles. Caroline, who has chronic conditions including fibromyalgia and long Covid symptoms, says the deportation has caused severe stress and disrupted the couple’s plans to build a family in Gothenburg.
