02 Mar 2023 9:12 AM:
For those that want to follow updates on the campaign to change the 90/180 rule I suggest that you follow the Facebook pages covering this, search for 180 days in spain
one chap Andrew Hesselden has been leading the campaign and here is his response to letters campaigners have been receiving from the Foreign office.
Please Note and to clarify the situation, the EU have not implemented this rule on the UK for Spain, it is Spain alone that has taken this stance against the UK since it left the EU.
you will read that Spain already has 19 identical visa wavers in place with other countries in a similar 3rd world situation and could resolve this very quickly in Madrid, but are choosing not to.
have a read....
Second Dissection of FCDO Standard Fob-Off Response
Hello.... This one is for those of you with MPs who are forwarding letters onto the UK Foreign Office and who are receiving replies from James Cleverly (the new Wendy Morton).
I've been through his standard boilerplate response and attempted to take them to pieces.
I hope this will help those of you who are wondering how to respond:
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The Government appreciates the impact of the ending of free movement on British citizens who previously travelled to the Schengen Area for long stays, including those who own properties in EU Member States.
>>>> It appears that Mr Cleverly doesn't fully appreciate that someone who has a home in an EU country, and uses it for part of the year does not "travel to the Schengen Area for long stays". They live there full-time, for part of the year. It is their home, as much as the place they live in the UK, and this should have been considered when protecting other British nationals under the withdrawal agreement. To add insult to injury, a Spanish tourist coming to the UK can spend more time here than someone who has a part-year home in Spain who happens to have had too many trips to France or Italy in the past 90 days.
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During negotiations with the EU, the Government discussed mobility arrangements in a number of areas, including future arrangements for British citizens travelling to the Schengen Area. Regrettably, in these discussions the EU consistently maintained that British citizens would be treated as third country nationals under the Schengen Borders Code following the end of the transition period. This means that, as of 1 January 2021, British citizens are able to travel visa-free for short stays, such as for tourism, for up to 90 days in a rolling 180-day period. This is the standard length of stay that the EU offers to nationals of eligible third countries, in line with existing EU legislation.
>>>> We already know that most Schengen countries have bilateral treaties with a number of third-countries (some signed before Schengen came into effect and some after). Here is a comprehensive list and you'll notice that Spain already has 19 bilateral agreements with third countries that give them 90 days over and above the allowance provided by the Schengen Visa Waiver. Examples are https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/c067e92d-5a8b-11e9-9151-01aa75ed71a1. Examples include Japan, Singapore, USA, New Zealand, Canada and more. I would specifically like you to ask Mr Cleverly why the UK has not made similar bilateral agreements with Spain or other EU/EFTA countries during the transition period, and when they expect to do so. And if not, then why not. This seems to be a vital element of making Brexit work for UK citizens and equalising the significant gap between the access the UK gives to EU27/EFTA4 visitors and the access those countries individually give British visitors, let alone bona-fide part-year residents since before Brexit.
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Your constituents refer to the UK’s visitor provisions for EU citizens. Under the points-based immigration system, the UK treats EU and non-EU citizens equally.
>>>>>> The specific problem here is that the EU does not treat EU and non-EU citizens equally. Nor even UK and other third country citizens equally. Those are the precise problems that need to be resolved.
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Similarly, the EU has legislated to grant British citizens the same visa-free
travel permissions they offer as standard to all other third countries, including to
nationals from the USA and Australia.
>>>>>> Many Schengen countries allow Australians to stay for 90 days irrespective of the time they have spent in other Schengen countries during the past 180 days. A similar provision for British citizens would resolve some of the problems faced by people like me.
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The UK’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU confirms that both the UK and EU currently provide for visa-free travel for short-term visits for each other’s nationals in accordance with their respective laws.
>>>>>>>> The issue here is that the respective laws are not even remotely similar and while an EU27/EFTA4 country citizen can stay in the UK for 6 months per visit, a UK citizen can stay in each Schengen country for a total of 3.46 days twice a year (90 days divided by 26 countries).
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Closing remarks:
>>>>>>>>> To treat British people fairly after Brexit, each EU & EEA country and Switzerland should have individually reciprocated the UK's more generous 6 month per visit visa waiver, rather than assuming the 26-country Schengen Visa Waiver would suffice as some kind of replacement for the Freedom of Movement we used to enjoy. The Withdrawal Agreement's 6-month cut off for protection matches up with the UK visa waiver but does not match up with 90 in 180 shared between 26 different countries.
>>>>>>>>>I really must ask ########## (insert name of MP) to challenge current government policy with regard to making agreements on Visa Waivers. This many not have been necessary in the past, when the UK was a long-standing EU member, but after Brexit, we must change our outlook on the world if British citizens are not to become significantly disadvantaged following Brexit.
Thread:
Spain to apply to the EU for the abolition of the 90 / 180 rule for British citizens
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