Spain: Expert explains ‘repercussions’ for British expats in 2021
Britons living in the EU were listening carefully when France’s senate voted to amend the country’s immigration law earlier this month.
The vote was a move towards giving British second homeowners the automatic right to a long-stay visa, rather than being limited by the 90-day rule. French members said they had voted the amendment through for those who had been “punished by Brexit”.
Some 60,000 British nationals are believed to own second homes in France, a handsome figure, though nothing compared to the estimated one million Brits who own property in Spain.
Just days after the French vote, Spain’s acting Minister of Tourism, Hector Gomez, hinted that those in his government also wanted to work with the EU towards some sort of “exception”.
But British expats living in Spain have told Express.co.uk that they are not hopeful anything will come of it, lamenting the iron grip Brussels has over its member states’ immigration rules.
READ MORE: Key tax rules for UK expats in Spain – including one ‘always forgotten about’
“It’s really screwed things up for people,” said Simon Wade, an estate agent who has lived in Alicante Province for many years.
“It’s affected my industry because it’s put people off the idea of moving to Spain, which is a shame because it’s a wonderful country.”
While his business hasn’t been overly affected due to his international clientele, he said some estate agents who cater solely for Brits will have undoubtedly experienced a decline in business.
“It’s difficult to put a number on it, but since Brexit and the new rule came in, I’d say sales have dropped by at least a third year-on-year,” he added.
The 90-day rule dictates that Britons can only stay in the Schengen Area of the EU for 90 days in a 180-day period. After the 90 days are up, visitors must return to Britain and leave at least three months before they can go back out.
For so-called swallows — Britons who used to spend their winters in Spain and summers in Britain — their old way of life has now been taken away.
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Tony Reddin, owner of the Come Buy With Me real estate developer on the Costa Del Sol, said he felt the power strings were being pulled not in Madrid but thousands of miles away in Brussels.
“It’s not Spain,” he said, “it’s Brussels — it’s Brussels getting their own back. Why is it that someone from Europe can come to the UK and stay for up to six months? It’s totally ridiculous.”
He added: “If I was in the position of the people who couldn’t stay for more than six months, I wouldn’t pay my community base, my local taxes. I’d only pay for when I was actually there — you watch them change it then.”
Mr Gomez, the tourism minister, speaking earlier this month expressed similar anger at Spain’s position when it comes to the 90-day rule.
He said: “Unfortunately, the rule is not something Spain has established by itself or can get rid of. It is in our interest to lobby and convince the EU that we can try to work an exception with them. But the solution must come from them.”
While Spain may be hopeful that the EU may allow for some sort of deal, Bill Anderson, the first ever Briton to serve on Mijas Council in Murcia, is less optimistic.
“I’d like to think the Spanish government and the EU might come to some sort of agreement,” he said.
“But the EU is a very strange beast, and it is concerned about Europe as a whole and not necessarily about individual countries.
“For countries like Spain, and also France, I’m not sure they will make a special rule that will be just to the benefit of those countries.”
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