Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Information and questions about the Law in Spain and Andalucia.
pensure1988
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Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby pensure1988 » Sat Mar 20, 2021 8:44 am

What a shambles Brexit is regarding Brits living Spain. Obviously the Withdrawal Agreement did not go far enough.I blame David Cameron for starting it all and Boris Johnson for finally closing the deal. Brexit should never have happened reading through the lines. The UK public were lied to and nothing was explained to them in detail when the Referendum took place. The vote and outcome might have been quite different if all had been revealed to them in the first place. See articles below for further info.

https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news ... ce-brexit/

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/b ... penalties/


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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby Beachcomber » Sat Mar 20, 2021 9:01 am

Why were they not already registered as residents?

They were already living here illegally under the radar as 'long term non-residents', paying no taxes, driving illegal foreign registered vehicles with no MOT and invalid insurance and and taking advantage of Spanish healthcare facilities as though they were short term tourists. Not only that but many of them boasted about the fact and ridiculed those who were paying taxes and trying to keep themselves legal.

They had five years to get their paperwork in order or leave the country and I have no sympathy for any single one of them or the hypocrisy of the abysmal Olive Press.

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby El Cid » Sat Mar 20, 2021 9:07 am

I totally agree. The rules were well published and they had more than adequate time to regularise their position.

As far as I am concerned, good riddance.

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby Wicksey » Sat Mar 20, 2021 11:50 am

http://www.surinenglish.com/local/20210 ... 911-v.html

A similar story last week that puzzled me. You have to prove you were living here before 31 December so why start a health insurance policy on 1 January?

This has been in all the papers and magazines here (and I think on English language radio stations) for years so how can people claim ignorance of the rules coming in? Serves them right I say. I know people who have only moved here in September last year but have managed to get their TIE started and driving licence appointments sorted out in that short time, so there's no excuse for those that have lived here for longer not to have registered for residency at the very least.

As I see it the Brexit vote was for those who live in the UK and have to put up with the expense and rules forced on them/lack of sovereignty through being members of the EU. The amount of people actually affected by the 90/180 day rule must be very a small percentage of British citizens, only those that can afford to live elsewhere for half the year at a time.

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby katy » Sat Mar 20, 2021 12:06 pm

Well said Wicksey. I do sympathise with those with second homes (more so that they can't go at all right now) but in the big picture it was no reason to stay in the club. I said before , I have printed off a few useful posts on here and sent them to elderly friends on the CDS who don't use internet However, they have their head in the clouds, in denial.

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby ashtondav » Sat Mar 20, 2021 12:30 pm

1. Buy a property for >€500,000
2. Apply for a Spanish “Golden Visa”
3. What problem?

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby peteroldracer » Sat Mar 20, 2021 3:16 pm

Learn enough Spanish to be able to go to a driving school and pass a test in Spanish...?
Maybe if someone can afford a half million house they will emply a chauffer?
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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby katy » Sat Mar 20, 2021 3:23 pm

Wealth of house is meaningless as to a persons wealth. Depends when and where they bought it.

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby elusive » Sat Mar 20, 2021 7:12 pm

They had 4 years to get legal ontop of all the years they have been here. These are the same type of people who voted for or supported it. So they can suck it up. .one of the very few good things about Brexit is seeing all the illegals scrambling.

It will be intresting to see if the police do a run on uk plated cars after march 31st.as either way they are illegal overstayers or residents driving an illegal car

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby elusive » Sat Mar 20, 2021 7:15 pm

ashtondav wrote: Sat Mar 20, 2021 12:30 pm 1. Buy a property for >€500,000
2. Apply for a Spanish “Golden Visa”
3. What problem?
Great if you have mothers/grannies ex council house in the south the east of England to sell :silent: although its not that simple

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby katy » Sat Mar 20, 2021 10:10 pm

What is this often repeated about selling council houses for a life in Spain. Is it what some of you do?

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby El Cid » Sun Mar 21, 2021 11:02 am


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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby gavilan » Sun Mar 21, 2021 1:10 pm

I think some of you are being somewhat judgemental re expats who have not yet got themselves residencia here ... I dont blame them when the system is so complicated and frustrating ... I found it pretty terrifying, altho I had all necessary papers, I still was sent from one office to another (4 in all) ...

also sometimes there are reasons why people hesitate eg I have a friend (he will be 50 this year) ...in his youth (30 years ago) he went on demontrations in London, one of which involved him hitting a policeman ...which in turn resulted in a court appearance and a 'criminal record' ... as he and I understand it, that record remains on his UK file for life ... so he would not be accepted for residence in Spain ...

it also occurs to me that Spain will lose income from those expats it expells ...'shooting themselves in the foot' in my opinion!

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby katy » Sun Mar 21, 2021 1:31 pm

Well at last Gavilan i sort of agree with you :wink: Although I think the article is aimed mainly at criminals and that has always happened. There are UK undercover Police picking up gossip in bars etc. I doubt the Spanish Police would have the resources to do this considering all the drug wars going on. There are thousands of illegal immigrants wandering around Spain not just British.

It would be a lot of pain (ie cost) for no gain.

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby peteroldracer » Sun Mar 21, 2021 1:34 pm

gavilan wrote "it also occurs to me that Spain will lose income from those expats it expells ...'shooting themselves in the foot' in my opinion!"
If the expat is not paying their dues like the native folk then the only income Spain loses is the small amount generated by their purchases - if they register they will contribute and be worth having as a resident.
I shall be watching after March 31st with interest
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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby olive » Sun Mar 21, 2021 2:04 pm

However you view these grey zone expats, CV19 is a godsend fo the police here. For example anyone driving a UK reg vehicle from 1st Aril will be an easy target.Anything that roots out hiding criminals has to be a good thing.

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby katy » Sun Mar 21, 2021 2:22 pm

A little story. After being burned out and some murdered in a ghetto in a Polish town a woman fled with her young child to relatives in another City. She lived there for a while in a mainly Jewish neighbourhood. One Jewish woman had set herself up as a community leader. She found out about the relative as not being registered with the Authorities as was the law (the Gestapo). Thinking she would get some cred for informing. Off to the concentration camp. The child survived, it was my Aunt. The woman who turned them in eventually landed in the camp too. I know this is a bit extreme example but there is nowt as strange as folk. It wont make curtain twitchers or nosy parkers lives any better when they have gone.

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby elusive » Sun Mar 21, 2021 4:39 pm

gavilan wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 1:10 pm I think some of you are being somewhat judgemental re expats who have not yet got themselves residencia here ... I dont blame them when the system is so complicated and frustrating ... I found it pretty terrifying, altho I had all necessary papers, I still was sent from one office to another (4 in all) ...

also sometimes there are reasons why people hesitate eg I have a friend (he will be 50 this year) ...in his youth (30 years ago) he went on demontrations in London, one of which involved him hitting a policeman ...which in turn resulted in a court appearance and a 'criminal record' ... as he and I understand it, that record remains on his UK file for life ... so he would not be accepted for residence in Spain ...

it also occurs to me that Spain will lose income from those expats it expells ...'shooting themselves in the foot' in my opinion!
The only lee way i would give is for people who came here pre internet and didnt have all the info that is out there now. Then im sure it was hard but then there wasnt as many loopholes to jump through so swings and roundabouts. The paper work isnt hard if you research and plan. Thanks to cid and others I had my residencia ,S.S number and healthcare all registared within a week of arriving. Lots of planning and research goes along way. But there is and has been alot of people who think/thought they could just get on a plane and carry on as normal.unfortunatly in my experience those who live under the radar know very much what they are doing its not about giving up cause its all to hard. These type of people never had any intentional to get or be legal They dont want to pay more tax here they want to keep their uk unexportable benefits. Dont want to pay for private healthcare.....dont want to change their plates or licence. Too many people want all the positives of living in Spain but not the negatives. You dont get to pick and chose.

Re income. If they are living under the radar they arent paying any tax ,are costing the uk money everytime they use their EHIC. And other than spending most of their days in expat bars they are putting very little into the economy. Holidaymakers in a week spend more than they may spend in a month. Its the old adage of they need us more than we need them. Tbh i think they prefer the peole with money ie Scandinavian and russians.arabs.

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby gavilan » Sun Mar 21, 2021 5:01 pm

I knew I would get a lot of flack for writing what I did! ... but I think the whole world needs more compassion, sympathy, tolerance ... and as I have never met even one of those thousands who live here 'under the radar', I do not know their reasons/intentions/situations and so cannot make any judgement ... a phrase from 'the old days' comes to mind ...'innocent until proved guilty'

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Re: Thousands of British expats in Spain remain “exposed and unprotected”

Postby elusive » Sun Mar 21, 2021 7:57 pm

Its not flack. Nothing wrong with a good discussion. Its just ,i think for alot of people a sore point as they make the effort to do things by the book.to act as they would in their own country and then you have others who actually like to flaunt the fact they dont pay taxes etc.there are very few who require or deserve compassion and empathy. Especially those who arrived in the last 10-15 years.


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