British prime minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 this afternoon formally initiating the Brexit process and thereby putting the status of European workers in Britain and on the Continent into question, dealing a blow to the hopes of many members of the British community in Luxembourg according to a statement from BRILL — British Immigrants Living in Luxembourg — a group representing more than 1,000 British nationals, many of whom the group says have lived here for more than ten years.

“This [is] a day we hoped would not arrive,” the group said in a statement, adding, “BRILL is convinced that the UK is making a huge mistake in leaving the EU, which has been a source of peace and solidarity in Europe for 60 years.”

BRILL was established shortly after the Brexit referendum in June last year with the aim of preserving the existing bundle of rights that British workers in the EU and EU workers in the UK currently enjoy.

More than 6,000 British nationals currently live and work in Luxembourg, and their position now hangs in the balance of negotiations between London and Brussels, notwithstanding recent informal reassurances from the Luxembourg government that UK nationals would not be deported after Brexit.

The group's statement highlighted that while BRILL welcomes the comments from the Luxembourg government, the right to remain is not on its own enough for people to build their lives, relationships and careers upon.

“It is of the utmost importance that all of our EU rights are protected and maintained as an indivisible whole,” the statement said.

Accordingly, BRILL said that it calls on all the negoitaing partners to resolve the status of EU nationals living in the UK and UK nationals living in the remaining 27 member states as a matter of urgency.

“UK nationals in Luxembourg and other EU countries, as well as nationals of other EU Member States in the UK, should not have to put their lives on hold whilst the EU and the UK negotiate for the next two years.

"People are not bargaining chips,”