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Brexit: How to prove you are a resident in Spain by December 31st

What do you do if you can’t get a residency appointment at Spanish extranjeria office before Brexit deadline?

Published: 5 October 2020 17:56 CEST
Brexit: How to prove you are a resident in Spain by December 31st
Photo: Patrick Dobeson/Flickr

Under terms ratified in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement the rights of British citizens to live in Spain are guaranteed as long as you are resident in Spain by December 31st 2020.

READ ALSO: 

The long standing message from British and Spanish authorities alike is to start the process to register as a resident as soon as you can but as the end of the transition period draws closer and thanks to complications resulting from coronavirus pandemic, it has become increasingly difficult to secure an appointment with extranjeria offices.

This is required in order to register for the new TIE card for British nationals resident in Spain, the biometric card which replaces the former green residency certificates.

The green paper certificates and new TIE biometric cards show legally residency but what if you can't get an appointment?

 

So what if you haven’t been able to register as a legal resident when the deadline comes?

The British Embassy says not to panic.

“Whilst you should continue to try and get an appointment, your rights as UK nationals in Spain are guaranteed not by possession of the residence document itself but by being legally resident in Spain before the end of the transition period,” explained Lorna Geddie, regional consular policy advisor at the British Embassy in Madrid in a recent Facebook video.

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This means living in Spain and satisfying the residency requirements of being a worker, self-employed or having sufficient income and health care cover by December 31st.

The embassy advises those unable to get an extranjeria appointment to make sure they have all the documentation in place to prove that they met requirements and were living in Spain by December 31st.

These include

  • Padron certificate
  • Utility bills
  • Rental agreement
  • Work contract
  • Health care registration

The embassy also advises those struggling to get an appointment to take screenshots to show that you tried and that none were available.

More information:

  • Spain's government has a dedicated Brexit page for UK nationals HERE
  • Check out the UK Foreign Office latest advice on Living In Spain HERE 
  • Follow the British Embassy Facebook page for updates as well as Live Q&A sessions HERE
  • Check our Brexit section for all the latest news and updates: HERE

 

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RESIDENCY PERMITS

Why is it so hard to get an appointment at some of Spain’s foreigner offices?

One of the reasons Brits in Spain say they haven't got a TIE residency card yet is the apparent impossibility of getting an appointment at their local extranjería office or police station. So is there any truth to this?

Published: 17 May 2024 10:34 CEST
Why is it so hard to get an appointment at some of Spain's foreigner offices?

Anyone who has tried to do anything official in Spain will be well aware of the dreaded cita previa system, whereby they must first make an appointment.

For foreign residents, this is not a simple task. It’s not just a question of simply making an appointment as more often than not, there aren’t any available.

And it’s not like you can just log-on a day later and find more. Many people spend weeks or even months trying to make these appointments, so they can carry out mandatory bureaucratic procedures.

These appointments are needed for everything from applying for or renewing your TIE if you’re non-EU to getting your EU green residency card. They’re needed again when going in for fingerprinting or even just trying to pick up your card once it’s ready.

Earlier this week, the British Embassy in Madrid stressed that it’s “really important” that the 200,000+ UK nationals in Spain with a green residency certificate exchange it for a TIE card “as soon as possible” to avoid issues with the EU’s new Entry-Exit System. 

READ ALSO – ‘Get the TIE now’: Brits in Spain urged to exchange residency document

The problem is that the exchange has never been made compulsory, only strongly encouraged and around half of British residents in Spain still haven’t gotten their TIE after Brexit.

In reaction to the announcement by the British Embassy, numerous British residents in Spain commented how hard it is get an appointment at their local police station or extranjería (foreign affairs) office.

Could the difficulty in getting an appointment be one of the reasons to blame for this?

So why are these cita previas so coveted and why are they so difficult to get?

Unfortunately, it’s not just a question of simple Spanish bureaucracy. There’s something slightly more sinister going on here. The fact of the matter is that if you go to certain relocation companies, firms and agencies they can get you an appointment straightaway – if you pay for it.

A year ago in May 2023, Spain arrested 69 people for blocking appointments at immigration offices. They were accused of booking up all the available appointments via a computer bot to later sell to foreigners to make a profit, despite the fact that this process should be free.

Arrests were carried out in Madrid, Albacete, Alicante, Almería, Badajoz, Barcelona, ​​Vizcaya, Burgos, Cádiz, Córdoba, the Balearic Islands, Marbella, Murcia, Tarragona, Tenerife, Toledo and Valencia, which gives us an idea of how widespread the illegal practice is.

Although Spanish police managed to dismantle this particular ring of criminals, it did not solve the problem.

Just seven months later in December 2023, ONG Movimiento Por la Paz (MPDL) confirmed to Levante news in Valencia that the ministry’s network had been hacked for two years and that it was unfair to foreigners who were being discriminated against because of it. 

They also claimed that the police and foreign ministry knew about the problem and still let it happen. 

Vincente Marín, CEO and lawyer for Parainmigrantes website aimed at foreign residents and those wanting Spanish nationality, confirmed this in a video he posted on the site.

He explained that bots hack into the system and that whenever appointments become available, they can book them up in seconds and then sell them on the black market for between €100 and €200, admitting it was a big problem for his firm too.

The initial screen of the appointment page (cita previa) on Spain’s extranjería website, and where many foreigners find it impossible to book residency official processes.

Fast forward to February 2024 and a group of lawyers and gestores from Castellón and Valencia denounced the system, saying that it was “controlled by criminal mafias”. They also cited the problem of bots hacking the system and complained that some of their clients still hadn’t been able to get appointments in five or six months.

In May of this year, the issue is still ongoing. Balearic news site Ultima Hora reported several readers who had been trying to get appointments for months in Mallorca and had been unsuccessful.

One has to get an appointment before her residency card runs out in June and was even considering paying an agency who were asking for €200 to help her get one.

Wherever there’s a sizable population of foreigners, from Barcelona to Valencia, the extranjería website has generally been ‘hacked by bots’.

In order to improve the situation more national police have been called in to work at the Immigration Office in Orihuela (Alicante) because of the number of foreigners living in the area. The police there have confirmed that they have allocated more resources for the issuance of documents too, to try and speed up processes. 

If you’re trying for an appointment the best option is to aim to not pay for one if you can help it, as you’re only fuelling the problem.

Reputable law firms may still be able to help you get one by dedicating more resources to applying for them manually, but you shouldn’t have to pay over the odds for what should be a free service. 

Here are our tips on how to get a cita previa when it seems impossible. 

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