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How UK Armed Forces veterans can get help with residency in Spain

Age in Spain is reaching out to Spain-based UK Armed Forces veterans (of all ages) and their families, dependents and carers to offer free help with the Spanish residency process post-Brexit. Here's how they can assist.

How UK Armed Forces veterans can get help with residency in Spain
A British soldier at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in Camberley, southwest of London. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP

UK veterans and/or their family members living anywhere in Spain (and whatever their age) can contact Age in Spain for information and varying levels of support – according to their residency needs.

“As Patron of the Royal British Legion in Spain, I am committed to making sure that veterans living here get the support they deserve,” British Ambassador to Spain Hugh Elliott said.

“Therefore, if any veterans of the UK´s Armed Forces, or their family members, living in Spain are struggling with the residency process, I encourage them to access the free support available from Age in Spain, Babelia and IOM who the British government has helped fund so that they can provide the help to those who need it most, supporting them to continue their lives in Spain.”

“It is important to remember that, as with other UK Nationals, Veterans who were legally living in Spain before December 31st 2020 can apply for residency under the conditions of the Withdrawal Agreement, even if they have not yet started the process,” writes Age in Spain.

“Theres still time.”

Veterans and their families can contact the Age in Spain Residency Helpline on: +34 932 20 97 41 or email [email protected]

READ ALSO:

BREXIT: When is the deadline for Brits to apply for residency in Spain?

Why some residency applications by Britons in Spain are rejected (and how to appeal)

Commenting on the importance of reaching Armed Forces veterans, Age in Spain Director, Helen Weir, said: “There is a special sense of achievement when we help someone who is a veteran of the UK’s Armed Forces. Partly that’s because of Age in Spain’s longstanding relationship with the network of great services organisations and with individual veterans in Spain and in the UK.

“But there’s also the sense of privilege when it’s our turn to serve, sometimes in very little ways, people who served us – sometimes in unimaginably important ways.”

How Age in Spain helps Armed Forces veterans with obtaining residency in Spain

One example of how the Age in Spain residency helpline recently helped an Armed Forces veteran’s family is the following:

“John (name changed) phoned the Age in Spain Residency Helpline to ask for help as he was the full-time carer for his disabled mother, who had been resident in Spain for 20 years but Jonny needed to start his own residency process.

“He had previously not seen himself as resident but only his mum´s carer but the end of the transition process made it clear that he needed to act to secure his rights.

“He was worried as he did not seem to meet the criteria as he was an informal unpaid carer with no salary.

“Age in Spain discussed John’ss options for residency with him and he has now requested all his documentation, opened a bank account and is progressing with his residency application with confidence on how to meet the criteria.”

Which organisations are offering help to Britons with registering in Spain?

Age in Spain is one of three organisations delivering the United Kingdom Nationals Support Fund (UKNSF) in Spain.

The UK Government recently announced it was extending its support for potentially at-risk groups including pensioners, disabled people and those with language difficulties who live in Spain by continuing the activity of the UK Nationals Support Fund (UKNSF) and supplementing it with an additional £1 million.

In Spain, the UKNSF is delivered by Age in Spain, Babelia and IOM.

Age in Spain is the acting as the point of contact for Armed Forces veterans who need help with residency from anywhere in Spain.

For the general UK National population , Age in Spain supports people living in Aragon, Asturias, Balearics, Basque Country (Pais Vasco), Canary Islands, Cantabria, Catalonia, Galicia, La Rioja, Navarra).

·       Age in Spain website

·       email: [email protected]/[email protected]

·       Age in Spain contact form

·       helpline: +34 932 20 97 41 available Mon to Fri, 9am to 6pm

Member comments

  1. Don’t enjoy too much of that real strong sun in that area of the world. Luke’s book 12 and 14 forsake everything, and everybody, and your life 4 Him.
    Matthew’s 5-7 work for Me, never for money, then I’ll give you the food and clothes.
    Mark’s 16 share the Truth to everyone.
    John’s 17 work together, to show love.
    Do not take the Mark of the Beast; right hand or forehead, only way to buy or sell (not a mask or vaccine, but could be a quantum implant or tattoo thing). The Revelation 13 + 14.
    USA maybe the Babylon, to be destroyed with fire in 1 hour. Revelation 17 + 18.

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GIBRALTAR

UK soldiers expelled from Spain after crossing from Gibraltar posing as tourists

Spain has expelled four Royal Navy servicemen who crossed the Spain-Gibraltar border on foot three times in a single day while dressed in civilian clothing, with Spanish media claiming they were checking the porosity of the border.

UK soldiers expelled from Spain after crossing from Gibraltar posing as tourists

Spanish police expelled four British soldiers from Spain on Monday night, removing them from the country and sending them back to Gibraltar after it emerged that the four Royal Navy personnel had entered Spain illegally while “posing as tourists”, as the Spanish press has reported.

The incident comes a week after the British Navy carried out military drills in the waters surrounding Gibraltar, the British overseas territory that Spain still claims sovereignty of, and amid the seemingly never-ending negotiations between Spain and the UK to finally settle a post-Brexit deal.

READ ALSO: Gibraltar Brexit deal ‘close’ as Brits crossing into Spain use fake bookings

The expulsions, now reported in the Spanish press by Europa Sur and confirmed to El Periódico de España by official sources, occurred after the four soldiers arrived in Gibraltar on a civilian flight and entered into Spain. They also had return tickets via Gibraltar.

They then reportedly passed themselves off as tourists and entered Spain on foot, staying at a four-star hotel in La Línea de la Concepción, the town in the Cádiz province of Andalusia that borders Gibraltar.

Stranger yet is that they crossed the border at La Línea on up to three occasions in the space of a few hours.

READ ALSO: What Brits need to know before crossing the border from Gibraltar to Spain

Spanish authorities detected their presence because two of the soldiers tried to return to Gibraltar at night.

At the border, Spanish police officers enquired as to the reason for their entry, to which the soldiers replied that they were on their way to work and brandished British military documentation.

The police decided that their entry into Spain had been irregular because they did not meet the Schengen Borders Code requirements demanded of non-EU citizens entering EU territory.

According to Europa Sur, Spanish police then asked the two soldiers to call their colleagues in the hotel in order to collect their luggage and return to Gibraltar, which took place at midnight on Monday 18th March.

The Spanish press has stated that it is common for soldiers to try to stay in Spanish territory by concealing their military status and entering while posing as tourists.

The motive for the soldiers’ presence, particularly their repeated trips across the border, remains unknown.

The military drills in the area seem to suggest that the soldiers may have taken part in or be due to take part in further exercises and wanted to enter as tourists.

Spanish media also suggests that they could have been testing the porosity of the border, though these claims remain unsubstantiated.

Gibraltar’s post-Brexit status still remains unresolved. The EU and UK government are now onto their 18th round of treaty negotiations after the framework agreement between London and Madrid made on New Year’s Eve 2020 essentially ‘fudged’ the border issue, leaving Gibraltar’s status within the Schengen area undefined.

Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said in late-2023 that “we are very, very close” to finalising a Brexit agreement.

“I would sign a deal with Britain over Gibraltar tomorrow,” Albares told journalists at the time. Yet no agreement was made, despite the Minister’s positivity, nor the appointment of former UK Prime Minister David Cameron as Foreign Secretary.

Albares’ comments came at a time when it was reported in the Spanish press that many UK nationals have been using fake hotel bookings in order to try and bypass the Schengen rules and trick their way through border checks.

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