Mark Tullett always had a dream of retiring to Spain after spending frequent holidays in the country. But he and his partner brought their dream of emigrating forward after slowly growing tired of the rat race in London.
They moved to a town just south of Barcelona, in Catalonia.
Since living in Spain he has taught English at local language academies and published six books. He also manages a property that is rented out to tourists.
He has decided to become a Spanish citizen, a process that officially requires you to give up your British nationality and passport.
A recent poll on The Local Spain's Facebook page revealed that wouldn’t put the majority of people off. .
Some 63 percent of respondents saying they would renounce their British citizenship to become Spanish.
Mark Tulllett is one of those prepared to do so. Here he tells The Local Spain why giving up his British passport is not even an issue for him.
Mark Tullett: I always had the idea of taking Spanish nationality at some point but Brexit made me make the final decision.
I have lived here just South of Barcelona, in Catalonia for almost 15 years, having bought our apartment 30 years ago this May.
The first time we came here felt like coming home which is why we decided to buy and we knew we'd live here some day.
With less connection to British contemporary society and culture I feel less and less British and more Spanish, so giving up the passport isn't important to me. Also with everything that's coming out of the UK these days related to Brexit I am more than happy to renounce my passport. Having a British Passport means nothing to me anymore. Being British is just an accident of birth and geography.
Whether this will change will probably depend on what happens in the near future, but I would never consider moving back to the UK nor giving up a Spanish passport once I get one.
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On my first ever visit to Spain I had a sense of belonging, a sense of coming home. Moving here with my husband (partner at that time) we worried about acceptance in the small 'village' we moved into, but were immediately accepted and became part of the community in no time.
When we married here we were treated with dignity and respect throughout the process by everyone, and when my husband died recently our neighbours and friends were more than supportive.
I cannot imagine any of this happening in the south east of London which is where we lived before we moved here, and we were there 20 years. I have experienced nothing but kindness here, in London it was not the same.
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For years we’ve watched the classist, entitled, delusional Eton/Harrow-trained post British “Imperialists” shift their Taking-and-Blaming act from the former colonies to the middle and lower class on their own damp island. All whilst “cleverly” scapegoating all the disasters in the U.K. (trains, NHS, general cruelty and callousness) on those damned Krauts, Frogs and Wogs {yes, post-colonial British racism, still “at its finest.” Of late we’ve seen that the one thing that unites the Tories (other than racism, scapegoating and “trickle up economics”) is their stunning incompetence. Were I a Brit living in the EU, I would be “GONE” from my evidently mass-suicidal “home” country. A chin-on-chest thing to have watched all these years.
For years we’ve watched the classist, entitled, delusional Eton/Harrow-trained post British “Imperialists” shift their Taking-and-Blaming act from the former colonies to the middle and lower class on their own damp island. All whilst “cleverly” scapegoating all the disasters in the U.K. (trains, NHS, general cruelty and callousness) on those damned Krauts, Frogs and Wogs {yes, post-colonial British racism, still “at its finest.”} Of late we’ve seen that the one thing that unites the Tories (other than racism, scapegoating and “trickle up economics”) is their stunning incompetence. Were I a Brit living in the EU, I would be “GONE” from my evidently mass-suicidal “home” country. A chin-on-chest thing to have watched all these years.