The United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020. This had significant consequences for tens of thousands of British residents in the Netherlands. The IND took action and arranged a unique Brexit line, newsletter, and residence permit, among other things.
To continue living, working, and studying in the Netherlands, the British nationals concerned had to apply for a special residence permit after Brexit before 1 October 2021. On that date, the so-called grace period ended. Anyone who had not yet applied for a Brexit residence document before then would receive an illegal residence status, with all the associated consequences. These include loss of benefits, subsidies, permits and work. In addition, it is no longer possible for them to have health insurance, receive allowances, or to take out a mortgage.
Since February 2020, the IND has processed around 40,000 applications for Brexit residence permits. Since British nationals were generally already legally resident in the Netherlands, it was relatively easy to assess their applications for a residence document.
The IND worked closely together with various organisations and government agencies to reach as many British nationals in the Netherlands as possible. Several British nationals also offered their help, including several people from "British in Europe". They helped to check and provide feedback on forms, letters and social media.
Brexit coincided with the corona pandemic. These two events caused the IND to opt for a number of new working methods. In August 2020, for example, we started with home delivery of residence documents. The Interdepartmental Postal and Courier Service collected all the residence documents from the IND, registered them in a computer system, and delivered them to the homes of British nationals. The IND scored good marks for this in the Good Practice Awards of the Network of Public Service Providers, for originality, topicality, and applicability to other organisations among other things.
About a thousand British nationals in the Netherlands had not yet applied for the new residence permit. Although the application period has expired, the IND still wanted to help them. Therefore, these British nationals could still apply for their required documents until 1 October 2022. After the IND granted the application, they would then retroactively again become eligible for insurance, benefits, and permits, among other things.
The flexible policy ended on 1 October 2022. From that moment on, British nationals without a Brexit residence document will be treated in the same way as other third-country nationals. Exemptions will be granted only to minors who apply for a Brexit document as soon as they turn 18. In this way, children will not suffer the consequences of any negligence on the part of their parents.
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