HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO SPEND IN SPAIN AS UK TEMPORARY RESIDENT HERE?

There seems to be a lot of confusion on the time that you need to spend in Spain while you still have your temporary residencia (when you have been legally registered as resident for less than 5 years), now that UK is not longer part of EU and the citizens are 3^rd country citizens.

 

I have compiled some information that might be helpful for you.

 

With regards to your residencia, if you got it under the Withdrawal Agreement or before was a thing,it is called temporary because you are not considered permanent resident until you have been legally registered in Spain for 5 years, but the residencia you have gives the right to live in Spain permanently.

 

Residencia is thought for people that live here. In order to be able to renew your residencia in 5 years time, you are supposed to spend in Spain at least 4 of the next 5 years.

This is the general rule for all 3rd country citizens.

They started stamping passports in Jan 2021, so they will be able to start checking how long you spend in Spain and how long you spend out of Spain. When you apply for the permanent residencia in 5 years time you will have to produce current passport and previous one (the one you have now) and they will count the days. If you have not been in Spain for long enough they will not renew the residencia.

If they do not stamp the passport they will also register your entry in the country electronically, so it is the same.

The Withdrawal Agreement did not require physical presence in the host state (Spain in this case) at the end of the transition period – temporary absences that do not affect the right of residence and longer absences that do not affect the right of permanent residence are accepted.

Those protected by the Withdrawal Agreement who have not yet acquired permanent residence rights – if they have not lived in Spain for at least five years – will be fully protected by the Withdrawal Agreement, and will be able to continue residing in the host state (Spain) and acquire permanent residence rights in the host state (Spain) after accumulating five years of residence.

Source:https://ec.europa.eu/info/relations-united-kingdom/eu-uk-withdrawal-agreement/citizens-rights_en

 

This takes you to our law: Real Decreto 557/2011, de 20 de abril, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento de la Ley Orgánica 4/2000, sobre derechos y libertades de los extranjeros en España y su integración social, tras su reforma por Ley Orgánica 2/2009, about the rights and freedom for foreigners in Spain and their right to live here permanently

 

The article 148 of this law, which you can find in our Spanish National Gazzette, where our laws are published officially:

https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2011-7703

 

Article 148. Assumptions.

1. Foreigners who have resided legally and continuously in Spanish territory for five years shall have the right to obtain a long-term residence permit.

 

Likewise, foreigners who prove that they have resided continuously in the European Union during that period, as holders of a Blue-EU Card, will have the right to obtain said authorization, provided that in the two years immediately prior to the application, said residence is has produced in Spanish territory.

 

2. The continuity referred to in the previous section will not be affected by absences from Spanish territory of up to six continuous months, provided that the sum of these does not exceed the total of ten months within the five years referred to in section 1, except that the corresponding departures had been made irregularly.

 

In the event of absences for work reasons, the continuation of residence will not be affected by absences from Spanish territory of up to six continuous months, provided that the sum of these does not exceed the total of one year within the required five years.

 

In the case of requesting a long-term residence permit based on the provisions of the second paragraph of the previous section, the continuity of residence as a holder of a Blue-EU Card will not be affected by absences from the European Union of up to twelve continuous months, provided that the sum of these does not exceed the total of eighteen months within the required five years of residence.

 

This means that in the next 5 years you would only be allowed to be out of Spain a maximum of 18 months (if due to work), but no more than that.

 

Also, you can not spend out of Spain more than 6 months in any of the given years. This also means you will become fiscal resident in Spain, whether you would like it or not. You would need to speak with a financial advisor or accountant if you have not done so.

Have a good day!

HOW TO ADJUST TO YOUR NEW LIFE IN SPAIN

One of the things that you might notice when you move to Spain is that at first everything is amazing, lovely, good, and you are ever so happy to spend so much quality real time with your family ...

And then a few weeks later you might come to the conclusion that you are fed up of being on each other's pockets.

Because you might still not know many people, you end up doing everything together, which at first is a novelty and you like it, but then you start needing your own space back!

Picture from http://trucosdemamas.com/cronicas-una-madre-estresada/

If you are working and have work colleagues it will be an easier transition, but if you are retired or looking for a job can be definitely challenging.

And this is why it is so important to find new things to do: join a club, start practising sports, learn new skills. And do it alone. Let your partner/offspring to find their own hobbies. If you don't know where to start looking, join your local Facebook group, and ask other expats, or go to your local town hall as they normally have loads of activities for people all ages. And if you are registered in the padrón, the majority of them will cost you next nothing or they will be free.

I am Spanish, and I came back from UK nearly 3 years ago. Even being from here we found ourselves feeling lonely as we were missing our friends. We had to start from scratch having to find new ones and our space again. But now we are back on track, and we don't have enough time in the day to work and to enjoy all the activities we have joined!

Just be patient, don't give up if it takes you a little while to find your feet. There is a lot of people on your situation that would love to meet you! In my case, I joined Manilva Netball Club, the drama club and started learning flamenco dance. Thanks to this now I have my own friends' group and I am enjoying my life a lot more.

               

SPANISH BUREAUCRACY: HOW NOT TO DIE TRYING TO SORT OUT YOUR PAPERWORK

You have finally decided to take the plunge and have found your dream home in the sun, and have decided to make an offer.

In order to buy a house in Spain you need to have a NIE: Número de Identificación de Extranjero (Foreigner Identification Number).

And because you have decided to make a permanent move, you are going to need Residencia.

And because you are becoming self employed you need to register with the Social Security office.

And you need to register yourself and your family with at the GP surgery. Or if you are retired you need to transfer your pensioner health care to the Spanish system.

And then you have to enrol your kids at the local school.

First thing in the morning, you take yourself to the local police station. There nobody speaks English, so it takes you a while to understand that you are at the wrong police station. Local police doesn’t deal with any of those issues, you need to go to the Policía Nacional, which might or not be located in your town.

The following day you go to the closest Policía Nacional station. There you find out that you are unable to do any paperwork because you don’t have an appointment. You request an appointment, and the next available one is in 4 weeks time.

4 weeks later you go back to the Policía Nacional station. And you take with you the documentation that you have read online (on the official website) that you need. Then the funcionario (government employee), which is always a very jolly and approachable person (yeah, right), informs you in very strong terms that you don’t have all that you need. And obviously nobody speaks English, and even if they do it is not good enough and a lot of things get lost in translation.

3 visits later you manage to get your NIE.

Now you can try and register with the Social Security office. And everything starts all over again.

4 visits later, once you have managed to register as autónomo (self employed) with the Social Security, you go back to the Policía Nacional station for your residencia, where again it takes you 4 visits to get all the paperwork done.

And you still have to fight your way through registering with the doctor, the school…

At this point, if you have any hair left, it has gone all white and you are wondering if it was at all a good idea to move to this forsaken country where we love to move papers from one desk to the next.

And you are right. Our bureaucracy sucks (excuse my French).

But everything will be a lot easier (and potentially you will be able to do each formality in just one visit), if you bear in mind certain basic points:

• You are now in Spain, do not expect any public employee to speak English. They do not have to do so as English is not one of the official languages in Spain. If they do it is a bonus, but the onus is on you to know the language or to take someone with you to help you.

• Always ask at the particular office where you are going to do the paperwork which documents THEY want. Because the info on the official website is obscure and subject to interpretation, each office will ask for similar but maybe different things. It doesn’t make sense, I know, but it will save you some trips and irritation to do so.

• Smile, even if you feel like ripping off the funcionario’s head. You need to bear in mind that public government employees are, by default, permanently in a bad mood because someone is making them work, when their actual right in life is to read the newspaper at work and go for breakfast. So, breathe in breathe out and put into practice the British good manners and say please and thank you for everything, like if you were treating with royalty. If you manage to have a good relationship with one funcionario you will be able to go back to him/her forever and will be always helpful to you. Just never go there when your favourite one is on holidays or on a sick leave.

• Patience. A lot. You are now living in a place with a different pace of life. The sooner you get used to it the better, and you will manage to not get mad every 2 minutes.

• Our opening times are sacred. If the place closes at 2 pm, they will close the window on your face, regardless. So be there early and with plenty of time to spare.

• Bring originals and copies OF EVERYTHING, and several copies too. And translate your documents by a sworn translator. And make copies. Of everything.

• Make copies of everything.

• Make copies.

• Oh, and take photocopies of everything with you.

• Positive attitude. Just go everywhere with the mind frame that you are not going to get it done that day. So if you manage to solve everything there and then you will feel so much happier!

• Finally, it is a very good idea to pay some €€€ to someone to do all the paperwork for you, be that your relocation agent, your solicitor, gestor, your cousin or the next door neighbour. That way you will be totally relaxed and will spend your time on what is really important: living your dream.

BRITS IN SPAIN - SHOULD WE GAIN RESIDENCIA NOW?

After many delays, a lot of confusion and disbelief, Brexit finally happened, thankfully with a withdrawal agreement in place which will allow Spanish citizens already living in UK and British citizens in Spain to keep their rights as they are now.

However this will only happen for those citizens that are already register as EU members living in Spain, which is commonly know as residencia.

In a word, we don't know what is going to happen afterwards, but we do know that any agreements will be reached base on reciprocity.

UK government has recently announced a points system for people wanting to move to UK from Jan 2021, after the implementation period. Anybody wanting to relocate there will have to prove a high English level, a desirable skill or profession, and/or a work contract for at least 31.000€ per year. This will mean the borders will closed for anybody that would like to go there to learn the language and work in a bar, or any other unskilled job.

Based on this information, it is quite possible that the Spanish government will follow the strictest requirements for new British citizens wanting to move to Spain. 

At present you need to prove earnings of 550€ a month per person, as a 3rd country citizen you will need 2200€ per month per person, and this just an example. We don't know if a good level of Spanish will be required, but this could be a problem for many people.

If you are already living in Spain and have not yet registered as resident, you should do it as soon as you can, even though you will have to re-register in the future after the implementation period. This way all your right will be protected. If you don't do it you risk not complying with whichever future requirements are asked for in the future and having to go back to UK. 

You will always be able to come back to UK whenever you would like to do so, but do not leave this big decision out of your hands.

If you are thinking about relocating to Spain in the future, I would suggest you do so before the end of the year, so you will have the time to register as resident in Spain as per current process.

DUMMIES GUIDE FOR NIE AND RESIDENCIA DOCUMENTS

It seems pretty clear that there is still a lot of confusion regarding what is NIE and what is residencia, and what do they look like, so here you have a very simple way to differentiate them:

Lets put some examples, so you can understand me better. Imagine that you call your fridge "freezer". Both fridge and freezer are in the kitchen and have a similar roll, and you can even find them to be part of the same appliance. But a fridge is not a freezer, so even if you would like to call "freezer" the fridge it wont make it true that a fridge is a freezer.

Another example. In Spain we have our DNI (documento nacional de identidad) and our passport. Both documents show our ID number in them, and both can be used to identify yourself. But a DNI is NOT a passport.

It is the same with NIE certificate and residencia documents.

This is the NIE certificate:

And these are the current EU residencia documents. The big green A4 is not longer issued but it is still valid.

The green old residencia A4 document is NOT a NIE certificate, it is your residencia paperwork. NIE literally stands for Número de Identificación de Extranjero (foreign ID number), and it is simply a number that identifies you within the Spanish system.

Having NIE does not mean that you are resident. You are only resident if you have registered with the national police as foreigner living in Spain. They then give you a document commonly known as "green residencia card", which before the current small green card size document it was a green A4 page. 

The residencia card and the green A4 both quote the NIE number, as it is the number that identifies you within the system. But if you check your small green residencia card you will notice that at the back of the card (the laminated part of the card) has a number. That is your residencia card number, and it links the information that it is hold about you in the front of the card with the application that you submitted with the police. And this is why is laminated and why when you are asked to present a copy of your residencia card, you need to photocopy both the front and the back.

Therefore, on your card you have your residencia card number and your NIE number, same as in our ID cards, where we have the ID number and the ID card number, which are not the same. The old green A4 document also has a residencia number, which is located at the top of the page on the right hand corner.

If you are asked to prove that you have a NIE, you can either show your NIE certificate or one of your residencia documents (green A4 or small green card), but if you are asked to prove that you are resident you wont be able to do it if you only have your NIE certificate.

This is the old residencia plastic card with picture, which is not longer valid, and you if never renewed it you will not be considered resident anymore.

And finally, this is the TIE (Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero), which is the residencia plastic card for non EU citizens. Once the implementation period is over, British citizens will have to exchange their current EU residencia documents for this TIE, or to apply directly for it if you have not gained residencia before the end of the implementation period.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NIE AND RESIDENCIA

I have been helping people to sort out their paperwork in Spain for a while now, and often the same questions keep coming up. I have noticed there is a lot of confusion between what a NIE is, what is it for, what residencia is, which one do you need and when do you need to do each one.

First of all, Facebook and other social media sites can be a great way to find information, but at the same time this information is not always accurate, or it is not explained properly, or simple the same process is done in different ways in different areas of Spain. I know that sounds crazy, and if you are applying for the same thing the paperwork required should be the same everywhere in Spain. The reality is that I use 3 different national police stations to sort out paperwork for my clients and in each of them the officers ask for different documents to prove the same things.

So my first piece of advice is that you find someone that does the service within your area and ask them directly. If you prefer to deal with paperwork yourself, then go directly to your closest national police station and ask them what they want you to bring. This is the only way to avoid having to come back 3-4 times to do just one application.

For NIE and residencia, often people think that if they have a NIE they also have residencia, or they have residencia but think they only have a NIE.

NIE stands for Número de Identificación de Extranjero, which means foreign ID number. When you are in Spain and you need to deal with bureacracy, you need a number to identifiy yourself within the Spanish system. That is your NIE.

In order to be able to get one you need a real reason for it, for example: you have been offered a job, you are becoming self employed, you are buying a car, you are applying for a loan/mortgage ... Simply saying "I am moving to Spain" it is not enough of a reason, there are some police stations that will ask for confirmation in writing of your need for NIE, such as letter from the bank, car sale agreement, job offer, etc.

The NIE comes in a white A4 paper, and it doesn't expire, the number is forever. The actual piece of paper where the number is written (the NIE certificate) used to have an expiry date of 3 months from the date of issue, but this is not the case anymore. Your NIE does not expire.

Having NIE doesn't mean that you are resident in Spain, it means that you have a number that identifies you within the Spanish system. Nothing more. So if you have been living in Spain for 5 years, you have your NIE, and a job and you pay taxes, none of the above means that you are a resident here. It means that you live here, nothing more.

In order to be legally registered as resident in Spain you must apply for your residencia card. For non EU countries this is a must, and it has to be done within certain time period after your arrival to Spain. 

However, for EU citizens, even though it is also a requirement to register as a resident, the system is a bit more lenient, and many people has never registered officially as residents in Spain. 

Now Brexit has shown us the importance of being registered as resident. Our government has already agreed to grant residencia to all UK citizens that are residents here. But this means the ones that are registered as residents officially, not the ones living here but are not registered. 

When you move to Spain you might need a NIE straight away, or perhaps you can apply directly for residencia if you comply with the requirements. If you have not received a NIE by the time you apply for residencia, you will be allocated one there and then. So if you are in a position to wait until you can apply for residencia, then you will be saving yourself time and money by applying only for residencia instead of a NIE and residencia.

This is quite a complex subject, and I could be speaking about it for hours, but I hope that I have managed to clarify some of your doubts.

OBTAINING RESIDENCIA: ABOUT BANK STATEMENTS

I have been helping people to obtain their Spanish residencia card as EU citizens for a few years now, and something strange happened a few months ago that had not seen before.

For the first time 2 clients in a row have tried to gain residencia showing UK bank statements that were overdrawn due to the overdraft facility that they have approved in UK.

Having an overdraft facility with your bank in UK is pretty common, and you don't even need to apply for it. For the majority of customers, after a while of being with your bank and being a good customer, the bank just sends you a letter confirming that you are now entitled to an overdraft facility to make your life easier, and if you keep being a good customer the limit keeps being increased.

Whilst this is perfectly normal in UK, in Spain this is an alien concept. Our banking system is totally different, and in here if you are right now thinking in going to the bank they have already charge you 5€. 

Our banks do not offer overdraft facilities to us regular mere customers, maybe big companies will have it, or if you need one you would really need to beg for it, give the bank huge guarantees, and it will be really expensive to keep.

Even if you are just 1€ in red in your account you will be receiving phone calls from your bank, and if you don't put the account back in black within a fashionable period of time, you will get charged quite a steep fee by the bank.

For residencia purposes it doesn't matter if you have an income of 5000€ a month, if you are receiving that income in a bank account with an overdraft facility of 7000€, because in our mind you are 2000€ in debt. If you are 2000€ in debt you are not able to support yourself or your family.

I totally understand that might not be the case, and that in your country it is normal, but you are not going to be applying for residencia in your country, you are doing it in Spain. Therefore you CANNOT use as proof of enough economical means bank statements from a bank account that is overdrawn, even if you earn thousands of € a month. 

Each country is different and different rules apply. You can't take for granted something just because it is normal where you are coming from. If you have doubts about anything your best bet is to ask someone that deals with Spanish paperwork: your solicitors, your gestor, your friends, directly asking the police ...

Nothing worst that having all paperwork in place and being sent back for a simple misunderstanding!