The Hague: The Netherlands will give Britons a 15-month grace period to apply to stay after Brexit if Britain crashes out of the European Union without a deal, a Dutch minister has said. The Dutch move is aimed at calming fears of chaos for people and businesses in the event that there is no withdrawal agreement for Britain to leave the bloc on March 29. Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said late Monday the approximately 45,000 Britons and their relatives living in the Netherlands would no longer be able to claim residency as EU citizens if there was a no-deal Brexit.
“To prevent this, the cabinet proposes a 15-month transition period from the start of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU,” Blok said in a letter to parliament. During that period Britons who lived in the Netherlands before Brexit “will keep their rights to live, work and study in the Netherlands.” “British citizens and their relatives will be asked during the course of the transitional period to hand in a request for a definitive residency permit,” he added.
