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Britain has been swapping elderly expats for young Spanish workers

The number of British expats retiring in Spain has more than doubled in the past ten years, according to new official data.

Published: 30 June 2017 10:57 CEST
Britain has been swapping elderly expats for young Spanish workers
A bar in Orihuela, which is home to the biggest proportion of British expats. Photo: AFP

And at the time of the Brexit referendum – when immigration became a key issue – there were more than twice as many Britons resident in Spain as Spaniards living in the UK.

And while Britain exports its over 65s to live out their days on the costas in the sun, those Spaniards moving in the opposite direction are younger and take up jobs in the education, healthcare and catering industries.

READ MORE: UK makes pension and healthcare pledge to expat Brits

A joint report published by the Office for National Statistics and Spain’s INE recorded that there were 296,000 British citizens who had been living in Spain for more than 12 months in 2016, and 40 percent of them are over 65.

Meanwhile the UK was home to an average of 116,000 Spanish people between 2013 and 2015, less than half the number of Brits making their home in Spain.

And while around 40 percent of Britons in Spain are retired, a figure that has more than doubled in the last decade, the Spaniards relocating to Britain are a whole lot younger.

Around half of the Spanish citizens resident in the UK are aged 20-39 and 59 percent of the total 116,000 have permanent employment.

READ ALSO: Expats or immigrants in Spain? Is there a difference? 

According to the report, 78 percent of Spaniards working in Britain are employed in three sectors; education and health; banking and finance; and hotels and restaurants.

The ONS/INE report is the first in a series commissioned in a bid to learn more about the British population in other EU countries in the run-up to Brexit.

The exact number of British expats living in Europe is unknown with estimates for those living in Spain ranging from the official 296,000 registered with their town halls up to 1 million who own property and spend a significant amount of time there..

Since the Brexit vote, Brits in Spain have feared being used as bargaining chips in negotiations and urged Theresa May’s government to set out clear guidelines concerning EU nationals living in the UK and their British counterparts living abroad.

In a speech to the British parliament on Monday, May laid out the UK’s offer to EU nationals living in the country after Brexit with key pledges on pensions and health that will be of interest to British nationals living in Spain and other EU countries.

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BRITONS IN SPAIN

FACT CHECK: Spain’s ‘£97 daily rule’ isn’t new nor a worry for British tourists

The British tabloids are at it again causing alarm over the so-called '£97 daily rule’ which Spain is apparently imposing on UK tourists, who in turn are threatening to ‘boycott’ the country. 

Published: 15 April 2024 14:28 CEST
FACT CHECK: Spain's '£97 daily rule' isn't new nor a worry for British tourists

American playwright Eugene O’Neill once said: “There is no present or future – only the past, happening over and over again – now”.

In 2022, The Local Spain wrote a fact-checking article titled ‘Are UK tourists in Spain really being asked to prove €100 a day?‘, in which we dispelled the claims made in the British press about Spain’s alleged new rules for UK holidaymakers.

Two years on in 2024, the same eye-catching headlines are resurfacing in Blighty: “’Anti-British? Holiday elsewhere!’ Britons fume as tourists in Spain warned they may be subject to additional rules” in GB News, or “’They would be begging us to come back’: Brits vow to ‘boycott Spain’ over new £97 daily rule” in LBC.

The return of this rabble-rousing ‘news’ in the UK has coincided with calls within Spain to change the existing mass tourism model that’s now more than ever having an impact on the country’s housing crisis.

Even though Spaniards behind the protests have not singled out any foreign nationals as potential culprits, the UK tabloids have unsurprisingly capitalised on this and run headlines such as “Costa del Sol turns on British tourists”.

READ MORE: Why does hatred of tourists in Spain appear to be on the rise?

What is the so-called ‘£97 daily rule’?

Yes, there is theoretically a ‘£97 a day rule’, but it is not a new rule, nor one that applies only to UK nationals specifically, and not even one that Spain alone has imposed (all Schengen countries set their financial means threshold).

As non-EU nationals who are not from a Schengen Area country either (the United Kingdom never was in Schengen), British tourists entering Spain could have certain requirements with which to comply if asked by Spanish border officials.

Such requirements include a valid passport, proof of a return ticket, documents proving their purpose of entry into Spain, limits on the amount of time they can spend in Spain (the 90 out of 180 days Schengen rule), proof of accommodation, a letter of invitation if staying with friends or family (another controversial subject in the British press when it emerged) and yes, proof of sufficient financial means for the trip.

Third-country nationals who want to enter Spain in 2024 may need to prove they have at least €113,40 per day (around £97), with a minimum of €972 (around £830) per person regardless of the intended duration of the stay. It is unclear whether this could also possibly apply to minors.

The amount of financial means to prove has increased slightly in 2024 as it is linked to Spain’s minimum wage, which has also risen. 

Financial means can be accredited by presenting cash, traveller’s checks, credit cards accompanied by a bank account statement, an up-to-date bank book or any other means that proves the amount available as credit on a card or bank account.

Have Britons been prevented from entering Spain for not having enough money?

There is no evidence that UK holidaymakers have been prevented from entering Spain after not being able to show they have £97 a day to cover their stay, nor any reports that they have been asked to show the financial means to cover their stay either. 

17.3 million UK tourists visited Spain in 2023; equal to roughly 47,400 a day. 

Even though British tourists have to stand in the non-EU queue at Spanish passport control, they do not require a visa to enter Spain and the sheer number of UK holidaymakers means that they’re usually streamlined through the process, having to only quickly show their passports.

The only occasional hiccups that have arisen post-Brexit have been at the land border between Gibraltar and Spain (issued that are likely to be resolved soon), and these weren’t related to demonstrating financial means. 

Therefore, the British press are regurgitating alarmist headlines that don’t reflect any truth, but rather pander to the ‘they need us more than we need them’ mantra that gets readers clicking. 

To sum up, there is a £97 a day rule, but it is not new, it has not affected any British tourists to date, and it is not specific to Spain alone to potentially require proof of economic means. 

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