Laurence Dollimore
SPAIN has opened a Brexit desk in its London embassy.
The special desk is designed to resolve doubts concerning the effects of the UK’s divorce from the EU on Spaniards living in Britain and Northern Ireland.
A Foreign Ministry statement today said the desk will provide information on issues such as residence permits, health care, pensions, education and grants.
Some 132,000 Spaniards are registered as living in the UK and Northern Ireland, while more than two million visited in 2015.
There are currently 11,000 Spanish students studying in universities across the UK.
There are thought to be tens of thousands of more Spaniards living in the country unregistered.
The office’s opening was timed to coincide with Britain’s triggering of article 50, which officially begins its departure from the EU.
The letter informing the EU that it will leave the bloc has now been received by Brussels.
Well Pablo. “There are thought to be tens of thousands of more Spaniards living in the country (UK) unregistered”. What say you?.
I hope the personnel are better trained than those in Spain’s Chicago Consulate – a source of mis- information on visas and residency.
“There are thought to be tens of thousands of more Spaniards living in the country unregistered.”
And there are more than 1 MILLION Brits living in Spain unregistered.
1.3 MILLION Brits living in Spain if you add the “registrados”.
And yes, you are right,… those 1 MILLION are a burden for the Sistema de Salud and for the taxpayer.
Thing is Pablo, you don’t know how many people there are, do you? “Thought to be” is not the same as “There are”. The issue cuts both ways, in many different European countries.
As for the health service in Spain, the patient must have legal residency in Spain in order to access it. In this day and age it is possible to see is a person owns a property, is paying taxes, is using a bank account, using a car, or if they have a child in school etc. If Spain cannot coordinate and access such a plethora of information to prove a persons residency, then the fault is with the Spanish authorities and their inability to coordinate and access such information. If Spain can coordinate with FATCA to stop tax evasion, why can’t they determine if an expatriate is resident or not? People can live “off the grid” in Spain, but when it comes to accessing the health service or other state benefits, they will need paperwork and evidence of residency. Your assertion that all of these people are a burden is fundamentally wrong in this respect.
Hey Pablo, 46.7 million Spaniards have been a burden on the UK taxpayer for over 30 years. EU handout, more EU handouts etc etc etc..
Not sure where you get your figures from Pablo but perhaps I can enlighten you some-what with actual figures from the United nations.
https://fullfact.org/europe/how-many-uk-citizens-live-other-eu-countries/