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BREXIT

Reader question: Does Spain’s TIE residency card always have an expiry date?

Does the residency document issued to non-EU nationals (including Britons now) living in Spain always have to be renewed after a period of time?

expiry date tie card spain
Image: anncapictures/Pixabay

The Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero (Foreign Identity Card) – more commonly known as the TIE – is the residency document foreigners from outside the EU/EEA need to get to live in Spain.

It’s now also the residency document being issued to UK nationals in Spain who hadn’t registered as residents before July 2020 (when it first replaced the old green residency documents).

Does the TIE always have an expiry date? Yes.

Unlike many of the older green Certificado de Registro residency documents for EU residents in Spain which have no expiry date on them, or the NIE foreign identity number which always stays the same and doesn’t have to be updated, the biometric TIE card does have an expiry date, even if you’ve been living in Spain for more than ten years and could by then apply for Spanish citizenship. 

When you are issued with your TIE card for the first time, it will initially be valid for a period of five years, after which you can apply for permanent residency and will receive a 10-year TIE card.

This card needs to be renewed every 10 years, by applying for a renovación or renewal. You will need to start the renewal process three months before the expiry date.

It’s also worth noting that if you do become a Spanish citizen, you have to renew your DNI Spanish ID card every ten years if you’re aged between 30 and 70, after that the document has no expiry date.

To apply for your TIE , the Spanish government website states that you need:

  • your completed EX17 application form
  • your passport
  • recent photographs of yourself
  • The resolution of the authorisation of the card
  • Proof of payment of the corresponding fee
  • Proof of registration in the Social Security system, if this applies to you

British residents in Spain 

Brits who were already residents don’t need to change their green residency document for a TIE but have been strongly encouraged to do so by both the Spanish and the British authorities. 

British Ambassador to Spain Hugh Elliott explained: “ As was always said, the green certificate is a valid document to prove your residency and your rights under the Withdrawal Agreement in Spain, and that’s not changing. However, both we and the Spanish government would now strongly encourage you to take steps to exchange the green certificate for the new biometric TIE.”

When you exchange your green residency card for a TIE, it will be valid for either five years or ten years, depending on how long you have been living in Spain.

If you apply for the TIE and have been resident in Spain for less than five years, you will be issued with a temporary TIE, valid for five years. If you apply for the TIE and have been resident in Spain for more than five years, you will be issued with a permanent TIE, which is valid for 10 years.

According to Perez Legal Group “If you have already been living in Spain as a resident, then this time counts towards the five years. For example, if you moved to Spain two years ago, you only need to wait three years to apply for long-term TIE card”.

Once you have your 10-year permanent TIE card, you will continue to renew it every 10 years, just like all other non-EU residents. The renewal process is exactly the same as described above. 

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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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