Move to Spain

permanent with residentcia. I also have 2 mates from my RAF days moved to France.

 

Where abouts are you mate? My sister lives in Lanjaron (where the bottled water comes from) south of Granada in the Alpuharas. Beautiful area round there, convenient for the beach and skiing....

 

They’re ok then. Got in before the Spanish decided to make life difficult for us. Can’t blame them in some ways but, long term, their businesses will suffer from a lack of British spending.

 

Only thing is, the Spanish haven't decided to make things difficult for you.
Those who voted for Brexit made things difficult for you.
When we were part of the EU, here is the procedure for getting long term residency:
1) Go to police station in your nearest town/city in Spain
2) Fill in application form along with photos, passport, rental or house purchase contract, and either contract of employment/job offer or a bank statement showing you had 6,000 euros available, and private medical insurance (about 100 euros a month)
3) Go back to the police station and pick up your TIE residence paper (or card as it now is) a few days (weeks!) later, at the same time giving fingerprints which are scanned into their national computer.

Spain agreed an extension of a year to allow people to move after the withdrawal date, and I myself used this time to apply and get a residence permit.

Then we were no longer EU citizens, and Spain merely applied the same requirements to us as any other non-EU citizen
There are several types of non-EU residency visa, but the most popular is for those wishing to retire and either buy or rent property, and live on either savings or pension, it's called the Non-lucrative residency visa
1) Apply for this at the Spanish Consulate in the country you live in, you cannot successfully apply if you are already inside Spain
2) If you are successful, the visa will be stamped in your passport and you have one month to enter Spain and receive your physical card
3) An applicant for a Non-lucrative visa will need to prove a bank balance of more than 26,000 Euros and recurring income of a minimum of €27.200 (€34.400 for a couple).though each area of Spain can have slightly different rules and you can aggregate several account balances to achieve this. I have seen differing figures in other areas of Spain, but the upshot is that it is now much more financially difficult to move to Spain.
4) Take out a comprehensive private health policy with a Spanish company, which offers full coverage in all areas of Spain, though there is an S1 facility for pensioners which entitles them to the state run health system, paid for by the UK. If you don't receive a pension you will have to pay

In answer to the OP statement about applying after being there illegally for 3 years, strangely this is true. It is called the arraigo procedure, (social roots in English)
Arraigo social is a temporary residence and work permit designed for those foreigners who have been living in Spain for 3 years under an irregular situation. It is one of the easiest ways any non-European Union has to legalizes his or her situation in the country.
And without the need to get it from your country of origin. Why? Because you can enter Spain as a tourist, live during the required years illegally, and get the papers afterwards. And that will be possible as long as you meet all the requirements

• First of all, you must prove that you have resided, albeit illegally, for a total of three years in Spain.
• It is important that you are a citizen from outside the European Union.
• Obtain a favourable report from the regional government from where you are living.
• Pass an interview with your local council.
• No criminal background records, neither in Spain nor in your country of origin, during the past 5 years.
• Obtain a job offer for 1 year (minimum). In other words, you must find a company or self-employed individual willing to hire you to work for him or her over the next 12 months.
• Demonstrate your link with Spanish society, whether at an economic, family or social level.
• If the autonomous community in which you live has a second language, you must show that you understand and speak it. In order to do this, and for example in the case of Catalonia, you will have to take a 45-hour Catalan course.

Well done all those Brexiteers!

 

Yes I’m aware of all of that and, to be honest, have no real ambition to get Residencia. I just wish the EU would lift this totally illogical 90/180 rule so that the thousands of retirees who have flown south for the winter for years can go back to doing that. 90 days is no good to anyone and what possible harm can it do allowing people to at least take 6 months in each country as used to be the case?

 

I agree with that about the 90 day rule, but this is a Schengen agreement and covers only EU nationals who can spend as much time as they want in any country and move, work, and live freely anywhere they like in the area.
You'll know this already.
It was a huge benefit to people when we were members and is a big loss to those who as you say spend 6 months in the Canaries and 6 months in the UK, along with many others.
We can't expect the EU to change the Schengen agreement just to suit the UK. If we wanted to avoid the 90 in 180 day rule we shouldn't have left.
This of course was not highlighted during the referendum campaign (along with a lot of other stuff we weren't told about)
I guess that if the UK was granted some sort of dispensation then every other non-EU country would be clamouring for the same and would lead to uncontrolled mass movement to the EU.
I still do hope that something can be worked out but this is not the fault of Spain or the EU

 

Meanwhile in the St Ives Gazette local fisherman J Dory was commenting on the issues the young of St Ives were having getting on the property ladder because of holiday home precurement by non locals.

 

But the the rule hasn't changed since before Brexit, it just didn't apply to us because we were members. That good old British exceptionalism again....

Maybe after Liz Truss has given away the rest of our manufacturing industry to get a deal with Spain, we might get a change to this rule.

 

Hi pal we are near Albatera, in-between alicante and murcia. It is beautiful that area pal

 

52% of people decided they wanted this. Or far more likely it didn’t apply to them/they were ignorant of the fact. Truly sad times.

 

I looked at a property near there a few years ago, we ended up renting a place in Lucainena near Tabernas but I know the Mar Menor area quite well.

 

I doubt it crossed anyone's mind that this might happen post-BREXIT. Most wouldn't care anyway because the numbers involved are only a small part of the UK population I suppose. We cast our votes some time before buying the Spanish property (Feb 2019) and, at no time in the process, were we warned that severe restrictions were coming for second home owners. Why should we have been warned though? The Spanish lawyers and estate agents just want the business so it's not their fault. It's not ours either because we just didn't know this was going to happen.

In the grand scheme of things you could argue that it's not that important but, as I said above, it certainly is to many people. The "swallows" as they are called were used to locking up in the UK at, for example, the beginning of October and escaping the winter for at least six months, returning to these shores in time for Spring. Lucky them you might say, but where's the harm? A lot of older people suffer from poor health and the chance to escape the winter chill was a godsend for them. I spent five months at our property last winter, arriving the end of October and going back home at the end of March. This was as the new rules were kicking in. The clock started ticking 1 Jan 21 so I had 90 days from then to leave the country. I did so because I didn't want to risk the consequences. I have to admit though that a winter in Spain was very pleasant, even without central heating (it does get cold at night!). Chances are I might do something similar every year as I'm retired, but that option has gone. 90 days maximum now, then 90 days at home, and so on.

Ah well - there's always that warm glow to be had from sitting at Oakwell in the freezing cold watching exciting football. Errr...........

 

The Mar Menor is still suffering from severe pollution. It's been bad for the last couple of years. Shame because it's stunning there but the water is now filthy.

 

it wouldn’t have crossed the mind of those it didn’t affect. I doubt they’d have cared if they did understand though. I know of the situation, my gran was a swallow as you mention for 20 odd years of retirement. It’s a shame no one in Spain told you the rules.

All this isn’t the EU’s fault, it’s not Spain’s fault. I don’t think there’s a deal to be had anytime soon unless the UK agree to free movement. Such a sad insular state to be in.

 

Last time I was there the locals were wallowing in the mud and the water was full of jelly fish. You wouldn't have got me in it for a gold pig.

 

Probably because we were assured by Farage, Johnson and Lord Snooty that we would remain in the single market and customs union and thus retain freedom of movement. The Spanish must have been taken in by it too.

 

They like to blame non locals but the locals are just as bad at procuring property for holiday let’s. Mainly the tradespeople who have the ability to refurbish cheaply and increase the price of the property.