New member seeking advice

Hi everyone. It's good to virtually meet you all.  I am in process of getting residencia and am interested in knowing do you get a cooling off period with healthcare insurance, the reason I'm asking is we plan to do this in July but there is a chance we will have to return home ( personal reasons). 
any advice will be appreciated. 
many thanks. 
elaine 

Your post read's to me.. like you want to take out health insurance .. then apply to be a Resident on the strength of having a health care policy and then cancel it as soon you have provided it along with the other appropriate documentation that you require to become a Resident .am I right .

Lol. No that is not our intention. As I said there may be reasons where we have no choice but to return home. 

Spain will be your new home / country of residence anytime you visit the UK after January 2021 as a Spanish Resident you will need private health insurance in place to gain access to the UK NHS...

Elaine.
 I have a state retirement pension from uk and 'free to me" health cover which DWP  pay spain £4,700 a year.  I have an EHIC  issued by DWP

Re "Spain will be your new home / country of residence anytime you visit the UK after January 2021 as a Spanish Resident you will need private health insurance in place to gain access to the UK NHS..."

When I am back in UK I get free health cover as a right. 

The original poster is obviously under UK retirement age ...so if they become a resident of Spain they will require a private health insurance policy in Spain and in the UK...this is something that people seem to forget although you originally came from the UK .. when you emigrate to another country and  become a resident of the likes of Spain you have absolutely no right to UK NHS treatment especially after  January 2021.

Not actually the OPs original question.

Will they actually need anything in the UK, even if they are British citizen’s resident elsewhere? Many believe it is the World Heath Service in the UK (WHS) just walk in legal or not.

What’s the truth here, rule book or reality?

Kavanaugh...the original poster question was can they take out a private health insurance policy ..and apply to become Residents of Spain ...then cancel the policy I assume straight after they become Residents ....  ( which will only be granted on the strength of having the policy )... then return back to UK ...it doesn't take you to long to work out what they are trying to get up to... people from the UK and the EU have got to understand that no longer will they be able to duck and dive from the EU / UK as we are leaving the EU on January 2021 ...no longer will the UK tax payers have a legal obligation according to the  EU to pay Dole. Money and give free council houses to the likes of the 6,000 Romany gypsy family's that turned up from the EU at Rotherham councils door demanding to be housed and Dole money as it was their rights according to the rules that have been set over in Brussels....the UK has no intention of stopping so called Freedom of movement any EU citizen will be welcome to come to the UK on holiday ..if they want look employment and  live in the UK... provided they for fill the points base systems that will be introduced to stay then they will be made very welcome ...what I fail to understand is why the Spanish can impose demands from the UK Citizens that want to reside in Spain and the UK couldn't do likewise ...why did the EU refuse David Cameron's request to implement basically the same rules ...so I guess it's the fault of the EU that brought on the Brexit.

Windtalker, I do understand your allegations regarding cancelling a policy once residency has been obtained, I am sure many do it. It’s a loophole in the system.

But all your comments about UK tax payer handouts and dole and other benefits to EU citizens seems strange since the UK taxpayer has treated NON EU citizens for many years with every benefit possible. I doubt much will change and the UK will still be perceived as benefits paradise.

Going back on track, hopefully, but I don't think you can get a furlough on your annual insurance. Reading on another site, a couple were told they couldn't pay their premium in monthly instalments because the police station required to see proof of one complete year of medical insurance to issue residency.

Anyway, as a matter of interest, all residency appointments for Brits are cancelled for the time being. From now, all requesting residency will be issued a TIE (foreigner's ID card) instead of the green ones we have at the moment and they are updating their systems to cope with it. Any requests for residency made will be honoured until July 1st 2021 but only if you have made the application before December 31st 2020.

The green cards most of us have will continue to be valid so there is no need to rush to exchange them for the TIE at this time.

Just on the point of cancelling an insurance policy 

I asked sanitas if we could cancel a policy which is paid quarterly.  They said it could only be done at the time the policy comes up for renewal, which is 7 months away and that we were required to give at least one months notice.

Perhaps this is all a silly game dreamt up by some bureaucrat. Unless a health insurance policy can be monitored and enforced for the time period needed then the requirement becomes worthless. Basically it would seem a get my residency status need then bin the insurance policy. Of course an S1 may kick in at some stage, so is it OK to say you are non resident and use EHIC illegally until S1?

In many countries throughout the world foreign residents have to visit immigration every 3/6 months with fully verified documents, if not it’s a free ride to the airport and no return ever. It may be harsh but the UK and EU don’t really know who’s who in their own country.    

@mariedev. That was an interesting post. When you say appointments are on hold but that applications still have to be made before the end of the year....I thought the appointment was the first step....how does one get the application in train without getting an appointment? Thanks, Guy.

The appointments are only hold for about a week or so whilst they are updating the system. 

The option of UK citizens that was on the Alicante cita previa site is no longer there. If you just select application for residency then UK does not appear on the list of countries at the moment.

Pretty sure they'll all reappear shortly. 

Prior to this, you could ring 060 and register your intention of applying for residency and that was the date they based the application on. I think that was put on hold during the state of alarm and they are now going to get the new system in place. Hopefully it won't take too long (Hay Viva Espana).

@mariedev. Thanks for the info. I was chatting to a Brit friend in Greece yesterday who is going through the same process. He mentioned in passing.... "You won't believe the way Greeks make things unnecessarily complicated and generate so much paperwork" 

We are not alone. 

@GuyT

New procedures for Brits requiring residency start today. For initial residency, a form EX20 is required which is an application for UK citizens to obtain a TIE under the Withdrawal Agreement of Article 50,  Virtually same procedures as before but you will get a receipt that you have requested one and this will be a legal document allowing you to stay in Spain until your TIE arrives.

For those who are residents already , you can apply for a TIE on an EX23 form but this is not yet compulsory and your current green card is still valid. You simply need your passport, ID photo (smaller than a passport one) proof of residency with your green card and the fee (about 15 euro).  No proving income or health care for this. For those who have been residents for less than 5 years, the TIE will start from the date your green card did and will be valid for 5 years when you can renew it for a further 10 years when the 5 years is up. For those who have been resident for more than 5 years it will be valid for 10 years and automatically renewed after that if still required.

The appointment system is back up and running and those who have had appointments cancelled will be contacted to rearrange them (or so they say).

Residency for those arriving now and acquiring residency first time can be done online through accredited inmigration lawyers. We can assist you with this.

Saying that "acquiring residency first time can be done online" is completely false.

Reporting post as spam and misleading to boot.

Bytesized:

Our Inmigration Law Specialist has reiterated to us that is correct. Since 6th of July

M

Recent regulation on Brexit residencies below: you can read on Provision Cuarta ( Fourth), Number 3.d) that if the UK National is still not holder of a resudency registry certificate, the application can be submitted either by him of his representative ( that is the reason professinals charge a fee), in the Foreign Office of the provice he resides or plan to resides or through electronic means. Once this is granted, he will have to go to Police Offices where the document will be isssued after payment of corresponding fees.

So, it s not that it is essential to use a representative to file a residency application but there might be people who will find that doing it online and trough a representative is a convenient way to start the process and be sure that all is made according to the rules, specially in a foreigh country.

Official publication of the said regulation below:

https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2020-7276