A Scottish woman and her French scientist husband have decided to quit the UK because of Brexit after his application for permanent residency was rejected by the Home Office, despite him working in the country for more than 20 years.

Emma Pollet said the family had not taken the decision lightly, but were not confident their rights would be protected after Britain left the EU.

She accused Theresa May of “completely ignoring” the plight of the British citizens suffering as a result of the Brexit vote and said she could not risk staying in the UK because she had no faith in the prime minister ensuring that she, her husband and their son, aged two and a half, could live together in the UK.

“I don’t trust the government at all, they have not shown me any positive signs they will sort this out. Theresa May before the referendum was pro-remain and now, all of a sudden, she’s the worst nightmare for remainers.

“To use their phrase, I have to take back control of my life. I can’t leave my family’s life in the hands of the government,” said Pollet.

“The most important thing is not the permanent residency card, but my family. We don’t know what the government is going to do post-Brexit and we don’t want to risk the family being split up.”

Although few expect EU citizens who have been long-term residents in the UK to face any issues in remaining once Brexit negotiations are complete, the Pollets’ story nevertheless highlights the fear among Britons who have found their lives directly affected by the referendum result because of their relationships. There are no statistics recording how many Britons are married to people from continental Europe, but anectdotal evidence would suggest the numbers are substantial.

“There are already reports of non-EU nationals who have been deported despite being married to British citizens due to changes in circumstances beyond their control. We do not wish to live our lives worrying that if our circumstances change in the future, my husband’s right to live here may be removed,” said Pollet.

Their decision to move to Scandinavia, where Bruno Pollet’s specialism in renewable energy can be harnessed, comes as the House of Lords prepares to vote on an amendment to the article 50 white paper giving unilateral rights to EU citizens in the UK.

Bruno Pollet came to Britain in 1991 as part of an Erasmus programme when he was studying in Grenoble. He ended up staying, and married Emma six years ago.

Now a visiting professor of energy and environment at Ulster University and a researcher for a power company in Swansea, he told the Guardian last October that he felt like a second-class citizen, but had decided that in order to protect his family’s right to remain in the country he was reluctantly going to complete the 85-page application form for permanent residency.



He felt confident he would succeed in getting the residency card as he was scrupulous about paperwork and also had gone to the trouble of obtaining 100 pages of HMRC records of tax paid in the UK since he worked in a pub as a student.

On 4 February he received a letter from the Home Office telling him his application was rejected.

May has consistently said she wanted to resolve the issue of EU citizens settled in the country as early as possible, but she has said she cannot do so until the other 27 countries in the EU reciprocate for British citizens living in the EU.

Emma Pollet said this was not good enough. “I don’t think Theresa May actually cares about the citizens of this country who are married to EU citizens. She specifically mentions her desire to protect EU citizens in the UK and British in the EU, but she has completely ignored another group of British citizens in Britain married to EU citizens.

“She’s an intelligent person, she can’t just have ignored us, she’s just deliberately chosen to do this and use us as bargaining chips, too. I don’t have any faith there will be any change at all.

“We could stay and fight, but the question is whether you want to wait around and do that or pick up the pieces and say, ‘This country will appreciate our contribution, let’s go there.’ We are now very much looking forward to a new life in a country where family is of utmost importance.”

The Home Office told her husband its decision was because during his 25 years in the UK he had spent three years in South Africa, as part of his professional development as a scientist.

They told him he qualified for permanent residency before he went to South Africa in 2012, but because he had stayed there for three years he was unable to show that he had “continuously resided in the United Kingdom without an absence exceeding two years since your qualification for permanent residence”.

The permanent residency card was designed for non-EU citizens coming to the UK to live and is not required by law for any EU citizen living in the country.

However, in the absence of any guarantees from the government, many EU citizens have seen it as a route to establish their legal right to remain in the country post-Brexit.

The couple knows they can appeal against the Home Office decision, but as a family they have decided they have a more secure future in Europe.

“They took the decision regardless of [me] being married to a British woman and having a British kid. That they will not even accept that as a factor, that’s quite worrying,” said Bruno Pollet.

The 85-page permanent residency application form has been heavily criticised as not fit for purpose, with some Europeans rejected because of some bureaucratic mix-up that meant they were sent letters asking them to “prepare to leave” the country.

More than a quarter of EU citizens are having their applications for permanent residency in the UK rejected since the UK voted to leave the EU, according to new analysis of the government’s migration data.