Spain post Brexit for British residents.

The current Spanish Foreign minister has this week announced his government will offer all British people permanent residency papers if there is an exit from the EU without a deal. This offer includes an amnesty for those who have lived illegally in the country.

In addition, ALL residents Brits during any transition period will have to apply for a foreigners registration card before January 2021. In the case of residents who have already permanent status on the green A4 sheet, the process will be automatic. Others will have more bureaucratic hoops to jump.

The plan is entirely dependent on Spanish people in the UK receiving similar treatment.

https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/03/01/inenglish/1551427780_768403.html

Only a maybe

Yesterdays Euro Weekly News

Exactly, a free advertising rag.

The Royal Decree states that British citizens with residency will have to get a Foreigner’s Identity Card before December 31 2020. 

These measures last until 2020. After that who knows? The Brexi limbo goes on and on.

I am sure you are correct Mickyfinn. It seems a bit of a waste of time and a job creation scheme to get 310,000 fully documented Brits to swap one bit of paper for another. Would bureaucrats ever survive or be employable in the real commercial world?

Not just job creation I imagine but fee creation. Nice little earner.

I tend to agree Mickyfinn, it’s just another extortion scheme with no consideration at all of the time, trouble and inconvenience Brit residents will be put to. Maybe if the new document is so essential the authorities could visit 310,000 homes with a camera, take the photos and issue the new cards free of charge.

So much time and inconvenience for the Spanish authorities...it really does make you wonder why Spain ever voted for Brexit, doesn't it? And so much time & inconvenience for Brits who believe they can leave the EU, but still enjoy all the advantages & benefits of membership. The mind boggles!

The only reason UK citizens currently resident in Spain don't have ID cards issued by Spain is that as a citizen of the EU, their national (i.e. UK) ID is deemed acceptable. Only the UK, Ireland & Denmark don't actually have national ID cards, so they have to use their passport or driving licence, for example, as ID instead. Once the UK is no longer a member of the EU, British citizens will be considered no different from other non-EU citizens resident in Spain, and will therefore have to have Spanish ID cards, just like every Spanish citizen.  

Exactly, Roberto. Much, much easier to just carry around a piece of card saying we are foreign EU citizens residing in Spain even when we won't be. But so what? Makes it easier all round. 

I'm off to America next week. Shan't bother getting one of those ESTA things as, after all, we are Brits and I'm sure the American authorities will let me in without one when I explain that to them. 

Methinks it's more a reciprocal arrangement. Since the UK is compelling EU residents in Britain to register as foreigners the EU states are likely to mirror same.

Very sad concequence of political stupidity and in my view utterly unnecessary.  

Not entirely sure what you're point is (Hard to tell sometimes these days whether someone's being sarcastic, or actually stating a point of view!) The new ID cards will obviously NOT say we are foreign EU citizens residing in Spain; they will obviously show that we are NON-EU citizens residing in Spain. If you're refering to the EU foreigner's registration cards that we currently have, they are NOT a form of ID since they don't have a photo on them (and are therefore largley pointless)

Those of us who have been (legally) resident in Spain long enough to remember the residency cards that we used to have, will welcome the return of a proper card-sized form of ID, even if it means jumping through a few hoops to get it (we're well used to that!) As for being a "nice little earner" for Spain, maybe so, but I can't see any logical reason why Spain should issue them free of charge, since the cost incurred producing them is hardly their fault. I'm quite sure Spain (and the rest of the EU) would really rather not have to bother with all the extra bureacracy that Brexit has created for them. Like I said before, it really does make you wonder why they voted for it. (And for those who didn't spot it first time, that's sarcasm)

I must have misunderstood. When Brexit ever occurs a British passport must become a worthless and unrecognisable document and not a valid ID document, so will the A4 green residence document even though it was issued by the Spanish authorities and it is in Spanish with all it's fancy stamps. This maybe why larger handbags are selling well on E-Bay in order to carry more unnecessary extra crap around with you. Or could it be a case of bureaucrats making up extortion schemes to punish Brits for leaving the EU? What next, certified CBRs, school reports and swimming certificates.

I have been resident in Africa, Asia and Saudi Arabia and they just issue a resident stamp in your passport, the UK does exactly the same to Spanish Nationals. Obviously too simple for Spain thinking, it's all nonesense game playing by idiot Spanish bureaucrats. When has a passport with photo never been proper ID?

I'm the first to admit that Spanish bureacracy is a complete pain in the backside, but I still struggle to understand why Brits should expect to be treated differently from any other non-EU citizens once we have left the EU? Spain didn't think up Brexit.

Africans, Asians & Saudi Arabians all have to have foreigner's ID cards if they become resident in Spain. 

Roberto, why have a valid photo ID passport that can be stamped with anything and then need a separate ID card? That question applies worldwide.

Kavanagh is confirming my point. Because we are British we don't need ID cards as we have passports.

National identity cards are issued to their citizens by the governments of all European Union member states except Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom

Everyone else, including the  Spanish, have to have an ID card but we, somehow, are special. And the cost of these new ID cards will not be more than a Spanish citizen pays for their ID cards.

Tell me, Kavanagh, do you carry your passport around everywhere you go? If so, wouldn't it be easier to have an ID card?

And Roberto is right although sarcastically, It is the UK which is leaving the EU and not the other way round.

Mariedav I do understand the need for ID cards as an internal document instead of the expensive cost of a passport if that particular country believes it’s necessary for it’s nationals for whatever reason. But making a foreigner with a valid photo passport obtain further ID is beyond comprehension. It serves no useful purpose, unless you know something I do not, please let us all know. What is the purpose of a passport which is ultimate identification and status of any person?

‘’Tell me, Kavanagh, do you carry your passport around everywhere you go? If so, wouldn't it be easier to have an ID card?’’

Well I do not have an ID card so I cannot answer that, but have my new man bag that I got from Thailand, they all the fashion now.

Well, at least the Spanish ID card will have your NIE number on it (assuming you have one), which is a lot more useful than your passport number. A passport is essentially just a travel document, but I suppose you'd say you could have your NIE number stamped on a page somewhere inside your passport as well. (I thought rubber stamps were kind of old fashioned, but never mind) Perhaps you're right though, an ID card is pointless. Just as the possible requirement to have an International Driving Permit as well as a valid UK licence to drive in the EU in the event of a no-deal Brexit seems pretty pointless.

As is asking questions such as why do countries "worldwide" require their residents to have ID cards. How would I know? The fact is, Spain does, so live with it or leave. If you really want to discuss the ultimate pointlessness, let's just get back to discussing Brexit.

Thank you for your understanding; I was only trying to point out how idiot bureaucrats seem to introduce nonsense requirements in order to create jobs for themselves. Perhaps they are not the idiots, but us for standing for it no questions asked.  

And I was simply trying to point out that in this instance, it's pointless blaming Spanish bureaucracy for something resulting from an idiotic vote in another country that Spain had nothing to do with.